A visit to Penberth cove

We payed a visit to Penberth Cove this weekend, it's been a few years absence but this Saturday Penberth called. Charles wrestled the Landrover off of the road to Porthcurno at a tortuous "beyond-right-angled-junction" and we followed the stream down through the wooded valley before parking beside some Gunnera and walking the rest of the way to the cove. We couldn't help stopping to admire a thatched cottage on the way with white doves in the dovecot under the eaves and the traditional fishing cottages with massive buttresses and deep dark doorways.
Penberth is one of the only remaining working fishing coves in Cornwall and the boats were up out of the the sea that was already starting to toss below the slipway.

We climbed up again out to the cove into the strengthening wind with the idea of eating our picnic on the headland -stopping to admire the cluster of cottages as they grey smaller below us

and making our way out along the ravaged cliffs swept by centuries of storms, serene in the summer and now settling down to withstand the winter gales

we walked on across the heathland our boots scrunching a gritty rhythm on the dark granite laced soil towards the Logan rock before turning once again back to the cove

We found a sheltered bench to eat our picnic of cheddar cheese and pickles watching the sea heave against the cliffs with high plumes of foam. Why do sandwiches always taste so much better watching a growing storm? But time to go, returning up the valley and realising as the roar of the sea diminished we still had the company of the little stream burbling daintily across the smooth stones of its bed and our waiting car to carry us home.

Dine in Style!!

the sun setting this evening
Ssssssssshhhhhh don't tell any one but this special offer caught my eye in our local Cornishman newspaper this week - a special offer set in some very special Cornish Restaurants, including the Victoria inn in Perranuthnoe village. The Victoria inn is just a very short stroll across our fields for supper and a restorative climb back up the hill when replete! Go to http://www.dineinstyle.info/ to download two vouchers entitling a couple to two courses for £14 each. Do look at the terms and conditions though - not arduous but time spent in reconnaissance and all of that! The offer last from the 28th of October until the 2nd of December.........so can we temp you to a weekend in Cornwall?



The sun setting behind the Pampas grass this evening



Autumn is setting in or should i say lingers on her in Cornwall and I took these photos on Tuesday when we took our lunch along to Prussia Cove - The view to the Lizard point caught my eye as we walked down to the cove




The lovely unspoilt skyline and vegetation around the cove

With just a ripple of sea weed brought in by the tide before the gales of later in the week - just right for the final leg of the UK Windsurfing Tour this weekend at Marazion and Gwithian beaches and the promise of a big swell and powerful winds. The contest runs from Friday to Sunday and more details can be found here w.w.w.britishwavesailingassociation.com

personally I think a great restaurant would be even better after all of that fresh air!

From sunset until dawn

Mounts Bay from the garden this morning


A full moon still sailed over Mounts bay as i made my way out into the dawn this morning to find the yearlings already waiting by the gate in the back field to come in for their breakfast, the sky shot with streaks of cerise behind them. Then back to the stables beside the car park for Charles and I to take this years foals and attendant brood mare Diva out into the dawn across the dew laden grass. Toffee (a colt foal) had already discovered that his upturned breakfast bin made a good substitute for a toy drum and there was a certain amount of muttering from the next stable as Charles adjusted a "new" hand-me-down headcollar for him before tackling the reluctant Magic with Toffee's now redundant attire. A short scuffle later that allowed me enough time to finish mucking out Danni we were ready for the morning crocodile to the hard work of mowing the pastures. And then back across the garden to check the Brood mares at the front of the house just as Mounts Bay was caught in the pink light of the dawn.





The church in the valley below Ednovean Farm against the dawn

St Micheal's mount always somehow smaller in photos

The sunlight had already reached the moors that rise behind the Italian Garden

I waited for the sunset yesterday evening, a small golden affair but i always like to imagine the people waking up to its new light as we sink into darkness

The pampas's blooms - dramatic for a moment in the dying sun

the horses now wrapped in their winter rugs for the night enjoying the hay that is the fruit of summer for them

the teasels waiting for the birds

and still magical days or brilliant sunshine for the garden

with the fountain playing in the courtyard caught by the sunlight, glowing in the dusk

and coming back to life just as i returned to the house to start cooking our guests Breakfast with the rays of the sunshine yet to reach the courtyard but with the laundry truck already arriving to collect the linen to start the day. a day form dawn to dusk and back to the dawn at Ednovean farm.

Sunday lunch in a country pub

Charles paying at the bar

Well, Charles treated me to Sunday lunch in a country pub this Sunday. We love the Victoria inn in Perranuthnoe village but it was such a glorious day that we decided to drive across the moors to the Engine Inn. The car park looked promisingly thinly populated and so we thought we might secure a late table. Wrong!! the mountain of bicycles concealed behind the Cornish bank told that other people had enjoyed a trip to to moorland pub tucked under the ruined engine house. And inside there was not a table to be had as hungry cyclist tucked into soup and crusty rolls.........ah well - I'd check out the White Hart in Ludgvan on the way up for another occasion, as I'd read it was under new management and so we did a hasty about turn and secured some delicious roast beef for me and pork for Charles in the quintessentially atmospheric Cornish Inn ...............and I can personally vouch for their Gireau gin served simply over ice with a slice of Lime!




The sun dappled facade of the White Hart inn in Ludgvan beside the beautiful old church




I sneaked the photo when Charles wasn't looking just his coat remained!

Ollie at work

Now Ollie is a very welcoming cat to his human guests an accomplished Maitre D' in fact. He posts himself in the car park to welcome all new arrivals and refuses to come in for the night until all of "his" guests have come home but cats are another matter!

Ollie came from the RSPCA many years ago now with a worning sign on his cage saying "not to be re homed with another cat" and so we realised that Ollie's requirements were clear and firm - sole occupancy and an exclusive contract to greet. And so Ollie took the job and kept a tight ship for many years repelling all boarders as it were, with single minded determination but lately he's been slipping a bit. First of all Wilbur took up occasional cat biscuit rights in the garden room last year and now this autumn, a small wild black cat has been seen living in the back stables and taking over the newly formed mousing position. Ollie apparently hadn't seen this new arrival until yesterday when we were admiring the view out of the kitchen window of St Micheal's Mount and spotted the following Mexican stand off, until the newcomer managed to gain the cover of the shrubs and Ollie as you will see returned triumphantly to his cat washing post.

along the coastal path to kennegy beach

Looking back towards Prussia Cove

Prussia Cove lays just eastwards of Ednovean Farm beyond Cudden point a tiny sheltered cove with tumble down fishing huts still clinging to heath betwixt farmland and sea









I was tempted to venture back to Kennegy beach after talking to some of my guests at breakfast time and hearing of their enchanting morning on said Kennegy Beach. Years ago I remember it was only accessible by rope but they said they had used a metal ladder to reach the secluded sands. Well as someone very keen on avoiding heights maybe, just maybe I could reach the beach..............Well we swung on past Prussia cove down into the valley with its sheltering pines before climbing back up the heath filled cliffs. As we opened the gate to the cove the notice gave dire warnings of emergency use only but I remembered only of small drop of six feet or so to the beach so it couldn't b far.........Eek the new ladder system started much much higher and as I advanced clinging to the rail with my knees becoming weaker by the minute I was fairly sure this was not an emergency! I assured Charles I would double back on my own and take the scramble across the rocks from Bessie's Cove but he nobly escorted me pack, lunch and all back the way we had come to a safer route



berries garlanding the undergrowth in the sheltered valley by the stream



Kennegy beach from the cliffs before I wimped out

Kennegy beach from Bessie's Cove

and sure enough the camera ran out of memory but we had a fabulous couple of hours on a hidden beach just off of the beaten track like so many of the best places in Cornwall.

the october garden triology

As the fabulous October weather continues I wanted to record the garden n October burgeoning with voluptuous grasses, preening itself with verdant palms and enslaving the gardener as the grass just grows and grows





and high in the sky above the garden a buzzard circled on the thermals - I heard him mew and looked up just in time to take a quick snap

Charles hard at work with the lawn mower look out for him in the next two posts but I would point out in my defence that I did the mucking out (stables) today

self seeded echiums enveloping a watering can