Longer days ahead!

My January Breakfast table at Ednovean Farm

At last as we pass the winter solstice we can look forward to the longer days ahead and maybe - just maybe there is a glimmer of light upon the horizon. I can quite understand how early man viewed the winter as a time to chase away the dark spirits and perform rituals to encourage the sun to return. In fact I can quite sympathise with the idea amid the relentless gloom that surrounds us at the moment.

Still I have a few little tricks to brighten up the morning here for our guests and always fill the Breakfast room with candle light with a jug of bright daffodils to distill the winter gloom with the promise of spring just around the corner - because if I cannot encourage the sun to shine or the spring to come, at least I can set a bright cheerful place to start the day.

To read more of my Breakfast tips to start the morning, try my blog next blog about Breakfast at Ednovean Farm

The gentle glow of candles in the morning light

I use an eclectic collection of country chin to give a relaxed feel to breakfast

Merry Christmas!!

I just popped by to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and thankyou for reading my blog and for your comments over the year. Today is a computer free day but lots of Turkey, a little Christmas Pudding, a glass of wine and a snooze in front of the TV with a nice warm puss-cat snuggled down on my lap with a happy purr. so wishing you a very special day away from the everyday routines of life and with hope for the coming year Merry Christmas!!

Christmas time in Cornwall

We eventually found the fairy for the Christmas Tree

The magic moments of Christmas are about to settle over the land and here in Cornwall, preparations have been going on for some time in the house, ready for the festive season. This year I've added a little Christmas  spirit at a time to our home at Ednovean Farm, building layers of Christmas gently starting with the first candle for Christmas and finishing with choosing the perfect Christmas tree for our hall.

2015 and the Christmas Tree is ready at last!

Local Cornish traditions

Mousehole lights

The Christmas lights are making a magical arc around Mounts Bay now, twinkling above the old granite towns and lighting the harbours never more so than at the famous Christmas lights of  Mousehole harbour that draws people from around the country to soak up the Christmas atmosphere in the little sheltered haven from the winter storms. Sadly for one night the lights are switched off leaving only a candle and angle to remember the lost of the Solomon Browne lifeboat crewed by the men from Mousehole, that went out in atrocious conditions to try to rescue people from a stricken ship. It was only as the little if boat went in for the last time perilously near to the rocks that the ship pitched over in the darkness and took the lifeboat and brave crew to the bottom.

Montol Festival

In Penzance the Winter solstice festival of Monool will be underway with a week of celebrations culminating in a candle lit parade of masked participants wearing mock fancy dress

A corner of our hall at Ednovean Farm

Wild swimming in Cornwall

Throughout Cornwall there are a a hardy band of swimmers that swim each day come rain or shine and in Penzance the Battery rocks are a popular launch point. This Christmas on Boxing Day the local, the visitors, the I-eaten-too-much-turkey will race to the Sea in Sennen to plunge into the surf in one of the most popular iconic Christmas events of Cornwall.Try this map to find the nearest spot to you.  Sadly i seem to have mislaid my costume for a while but I love sitting on a quiet cove  with a warming flask of hot chocolate aferra swim in the sea and thee is an amazing wave of warmth that suddenly spreads through your body and a great feeling of peace after a dip in the sea, although personally I've never swum below a temperature of 14 degrees in the sea water!

I hope that you enjoy your Christmas and my little blogs leading up to the celebrations and it only leaves me to wish you a very Happy Christmas!!

October in Cornwall

Looking back along the coastal footpath towards Perranuthnoe and Penzance
with the magical St Michael's Mount

What did we do this October in Cornwall? Well we've been busy running our B&B of course but we have managed to squeeze in a few visits so special places around Penzance with the aid of Lucy land rover.

This year I had a yen to see the vibrantly coloured heathlands around the coast and no, it was nothing to do with the Poldark film crew working around West Penwith! Charles wanted to revisit a Boscawen Un Stone circle  and Carn Euny ancient village and with summer slowly slipping aways we added a couple of afternoons on the beach for good measure.

Of course we've been busy here in the Ednovean Farm gardens and I took lots of photos for my  September and October garden blogs as summer turned slowly to autumn in Cornwall

Looking out to sea at sunset from the Ednovean farm gardens

September days

A statue in the Italian Garden at Ednovean Farm

Is it my imagination or has a certain peace fallen over the countryside now? The frantic energy of the nesting birds; the voluminous growth of the plants as they approached the time to seed; the scurrying of the animals as they reared their young - all has settled down now, the race has been run and there is a gentle acceptance that that autumn is in the air.

The echiums once so dramatic have faded to elegant whispy spires shedding their seeds for future generation

In our garden I love the mellow look of the final emerging grasses but couldn't resist one final look back to summer in my final August blog post  to celebrate those bright blousy summer days. I took the snap above this morning as I cleared a bedroom terrace of their al fresco breakfast - It must have been wonderfully peaceful to sit and look down over the garde towards St Michaels' Mount and Penzance!

Breakfast on one of our private bedroom terraces
(sorry everthing else had been eaten!)

Find the new Ednovean Diary

Sunset behind our courtyard garden

Don't forget that the main Ednovean farm diary has moved now but you can catch still up with all of our news here   What a summer we have had and did you spot our garden in the September issue of Homes and Gardens? We've only managed a couple of walks along the coast this summer from here as we have been so busy with the B&B

A view to St Michael's Mount from the coastal footpath

and finally a special birthday treat a picnic on a secluded
cove

So don't forget to pop by the blog and catch up with our news from Cornwall!

By for now!

The light step of summer

Breakfast in the Garden

Summer has arrive with a light step - still a little chillier than normal but welcome none the less!

Spring in Cornwall has seemed to speed passed this year, yet with the little markers of the season arriving right on cue.  The migrating House Martins that make a home in the stables eaves returned to spend their days swooping a diving over the pastures and expertly re plassering their nests. The first cheeping of young chicks from under the house roof from the nesting   House Sparrows that make a clamour in the courtyard in the mornings. And one day I looked around from my busy daily routine and realised it was Summer!

This year we have reached another milestone at Ednovean Farm with Twenty four years as a Bed and Breakfast I don't know where those days went either of course - maybe I'm not paying attention! Still we were just as delighted as we would have been when we first started to have reached the final twelve in the Dorset Cereal's B&B competition - we'd love you to vote for us of course!!

Breakfast waiting for our guests - we're proud to have reached the final twelve
 in this months Dorset Cereal's B&B awards

The Garden has flourished after the mild winter and you can read about its progress in my April blog Spring in the Ednovean Farm Garden and the final flourish of  May in the Ednovean Farm Garden. June is still full of promise with the Agapanthus about to open and i have been working on a new border but that news will have to wait until my June roundup to tell you about it!

Louis-Cat has selected his spot for the Summer in a sunny border