myCornwall June/July 22

AUTHOR RAYNOR WINN • A MUSICAL APP FOR TRURO • ART: THE CORNISH FAUVE • STREET FOOD IN PENRYN

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LAVENDER ON THE

LIZARD COASTAL HOME STYLE

INTREPID CORNISH EXPLORERS PLUS

Al fresco living Open-air theatre, dining, walks and festivals myCornwalltv JUNE - JULY 2022 ISSUE 72 £3.25 t @myCornwall_ | G myCornwalltv | w www.thatsmycornwall.com 1 n

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Issue 72 | June - July 2022

Hello and This is an unusual view of the King Harry Ferry, and in June, this floating highway will host an unusual event.

Thanks to Philleigh Way Cookery School, it will be transformed into a riparian restaurant for the evening.

It’s one of several al fresco dining experiences to make the list in our Places To Eat feature, along with a beach, a vineyard and a cycle trail.

There’s no mistaking this edition’s cover star. It’s 90 years since Rowena Cade built the Minack Theatre in her garden to host a local production of The Tempest. Today, it’s one of Cornwall’s most popular attractions, and has set the bar high for outdoor entertainment. Plenty have risen to the challenge, including Wildworks and Miracle, both of whom join The Minack in our selection of the best performances from Bude to Penzance.

Have your diary at the ready!

As summer hoves into view, our plein-air theme continues: lavender fields on the Lizard peninsula, a dogfriendly river ramble in Lerryn, a street food festival in Penryn classic boats in picturesque Mousehole and a musical city walk around Truro. Author Raynor Winn explains how important the South West Coast Path is to her ahead of her collaboration with the Gigspanner Big Band, and in a packed art section, Stephanie Sandercock and Sharon McSwiney reveal how they are inspired by the coastline and artistic community of St Ives.

If you’re stuck indoors through no fault of your own, interior designer Charlotte

Dawson

shares

some

tricks of the trade that will bring the coast to your home, 24/7. That way, even when you can’t be in Cornwall, Cornwall can come to you.

Oll an gwella Kirstie

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Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust: Celebrating 35 years Lovely Jubilee: How will you mark the big event?

Things to do in June/July Dog-Friendly Cornwall: A walk along the Fowey at Lerryn Enys Food Jam: Street food in glorious gardens Outdoor Theatre: Open-air productions around the county this summer #Hearyourcity: A new app takes users on a musical tour of Truro Saltlines: Author Raynor Winn collaborates with Gigspanner Big Band Cornish Lavender: In fragrant flower on The Lizard Sea, Salt, Sails: Mousehole’s biennial festival returns Adore My Store: Just Delights, Penryn Homes and gardens: How to achieve the coastal look, plus two open gardens Towers of strength: Cornwall’s historic churches

Intrepid Explorers: Peter Mundy, Samuel Wallis and Richard Lander My Cornish Roots: Janine Turner, nee Flamank Cornish language: Plen an Gwari

Art News Gallery Focus: Whitewater Contemporary, Polzeath Lizard Art: Hidden treasure at Trelowarren Through the eyes of... Sharon McSwiney, St Ives Tim Newman: The Cornish Fauve Stephanie Sandercock: a spiritual connection with the Cornish coastline VIP: Yew Tree Gallery, Morvah

Food Bites: A new restaurant for Charlestown, and a summer menu at St Enodoc Summer sessions: What’s on at the Alverton and Greenbank Taking flight: Mother’s Ruin 1751 gin from Torpoint Places to eat: Al fresco dining Weekend Away: London Experience: Shackleton at the Shipwreck Museum

EDITOR Kirstie Newton kirstie@mycornwall.tv

CONTRIBUTORS

01209 314147

thatsmycornwall.com myCornwall magazine, Box 27, Jubilee Wharf & Warehouse Commercial Road, Penryn, TR10 8FG

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Elizabeth Dale

DESIGN Paul Blyth

Issue 72 | June - July 2022

ADVERTISING

Jeni Smith jeni.mycornwall@gmail.com 01209 494003

ON THE COVER

By Matt Travis on behalf of the Minack Theatre. Matt is a freelance designer living and working in Crantock. He studied graphic design at Falmouth University and specialises in branding, editorial and illustration.

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myCornwall magazine welcomes contributions. We reserve the right to edit, amend, correct (or not use) anything submitted. Contributors must obtain all necessary permissions and credit all sources. All rights to works submitted are supplied for use by myCornwall and its parent company in all media (present and future). Whilst reasonable steps are taken to check the accuracy of work contained within the publication we cannot take responsibility for mistakes or the views submitted by contributors. Unsolicited contributions that fail to state they require payment or do not have a payment agreement in place will not be paid for but may be published. In order to avoid any confusion please state if you seek payment.

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35 YEARS OF SAVING LIVES In 1987, Cornwall became the first county in the UK to launch an air ambulance helicopter, a vital service that has proven time and again its importance in such a rural destination.

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n April 1, Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust (CAAT) celebrated 35 years since that first emergency callout, with staff past and present and former patients invited to celebrate and share their memories.

paramedics arriving, he was whisked to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro. His name is now on the underside of the helicopter, along with more than 1,000 others as part of the Heli Heroes campaign, raising over £120,000 for the charity.

The service has attended more than 31,000 emergency missions since its launch. In 2021 alone, Critical Care Paramedics were called to 1,092 patients in need, attending everything from medical emergencies to trauma-related incidents across the county and beyond. The helicopter reaches incident scenes in an average of just 12 minutes, and significantly reduces the time taken to get seriously ill patients the treatment they need, whether on scene or in hospital.

“I have no doubt the air ambulance saved my life,” says Derek, now 81. He has since dedicated much of his time to fundraising - “The air ambulance is top of the list” - while his daughter, Debbie Henshaw, was so inspired by events she applied to work for the charity and is now senior fundraising manager.

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The original crew members were trained by Dr Peter Cox, who had attended many road traffic accidents. His daughters, Caroline Cox and Vicki Ashton-Cox, were present for the celebrations. “Dad was passionate that anyone who arrived on scene as first responders, regardless of hierarchy, should have the correct training and know what to

do, and what not to do,” recalls Caroline.

“He was effectively training the first paramedics, which was ground-breaking at a time when ambulance staff weren’t trained to be anything more than drivers; many in the industry doubted it was a good use of money, but it has proved its worth.”

In 1989, Dr Cox had a heart attack and was himself airlifted to hospital by crew members he had trained. “He had firsthand experience of the service, and we got an extra 30 years out of him,” says Vicki. “I feel rather emotional – it's nice to see how far it’s come, and to think Dad was involved at the very beginning.”

Geoff Newman was the first pilot, and has written a book about the history of the air ambulance. “It was very exciting when we went for the first alarm call, and to be able to demonstrate from the get-go why we needed such a resource in Cornwall,” he says. “A student had jumped from

Paul Westaway climbs on board the first helicopter

rocks in Porthcurno and suffered spinal injuries; she needed extra-special care and transport, and was miles away from the land ambulance, whereas we were able to land on the beach. She made a full recovery and I have met her twice since. To say I am proud to have played my part in this service is an understatement.”

Having travelled to Germany to check out its air ambulance provision, medical staff secured three months’ funding and CAAT was born to raise the rest to get it flying seven days a week. Paul Westaway was the first paramedic in the helicopter.

“At the time, they had only just introduced paramedic

training,”

he

recalls.

“It’s

incredible to think that 35 years later, there are 37 air ambulance services across the country. It all started here in Cornwall, and care is improving all the time.”

Jeremy Griffiths had served two years on land ambulances when he was recruited to the air ambulance crew in 1998. He has been with it ever since, flying in all its various aircraft. “There have been such massive changes over the years, in equipment, training and machinery,” he marvels.

“We could never have fitted so much into the original helicopter, which was military

craft designed for rapid access and transfer.

While that still stands, we have better patient access now and more room means more capability and extended care. We carry monitors and ventilators, and since 2020 we have even carried blood - transfusions are among the medical interventions we can carry out on the roadside.”

Truro mayor Steve Webb was a patient in 1991, when a swimming pool fundraising marathon went awry – a misplaced dive resulted in a broken neck, leaving him wheelchair bound. “I had just raised £1,800 for the air ambulance, little knowing I would need it myself before the day was over,” he says. Steve was airlifted to Salisbury, and was keen to catch up with original crew members. “It’s amazing to see how the air ambulance has evolved,” he said.

As the service enters its 35th year, the charity is looking to the future, ensuring the service continues to provide and serve the people of Cornwall at their greatest times of need. Part of this has included welcoming two brand new Rapid Response Vehicles to the roster, with more plans in motion to extend the current airbase. This follows the arrival of the AW169 helicopter in 2020, extending the hours the helicopter could fly thanks

to a public fundraising campaign which raised almost £3 million.

The service costs just under £5m per year to operate, with no National Lottery or direct government funding. “There is no doubt that this lifesaving service is vitally needed in this county,” said CEO Tim Bunting. “But what’s more amazing is that it’s completely funded by the generosity of the people of Cornwall and beyond.

Without that support, our crew could not do what they do – help to save lives and keep more families together in Cornwall.”

CAAT will host a new one-day festival on July 16: Helifest will celebrate blue light services across the region with a day of family fun. Revellers can expect live music, stalls, circus entertainment and more, all intended to connect families to Cornwall’s vital emergency services. It will also be the first chance for the community to get up close to the new air ambulance, as well as other emergency services, among them Devon & Cornwall Police, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, RNLI and Cornwall Blood Bikes, each showcasing their crucial work in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Tickets £5pp. l cornwallairambulancetrust.org/helifest

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LOVELY JUBILEE! Wondering how to celebrate this momentous occasion? Here are a few suggestions.

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1. Visit an ancient tree Two Cornish trees have been chosen to join a nationwide network of 70 ancient woodlands and trees to be dedicated to The Queen as part of an Ancient Canopy.

The twisted beech at Tehidy Country Park, near Camborne, was planted during the reign of George III as part of a picturesque pleasure ground for Francis Basset, whose family grew rich from tin mining. Tehidy is now owned and managed by Cornwall Council and free to enter. At Antony in south-east Cornwall, the American Black Walnut tree (Juglans nigra) is a New World species introduced to the UK in the 17th century. This example dates back to 1785, and is now cared for by the National Trust.

2. Plant your own tree The Queen’s Green Canopy aims to raise awareness of the importance of conserving trees for future generations. Individuals and organisations across Cornwall have planted a variety of species and registered them on an interactive map. These include St Keyne Garden Club and St Mellion Ladies’ Golf in south-east Cornwall; Brannel secondary school in St Stephen and Tregolls primary school in Truro; Penryn WI, and the Duchy of Cornwall and Royal British Legion in Newquay; Penmorvah Manor Hotel in Falmouth; and the Association of Jewish Refugees in Penzance. For more information, visit queensgreencanopy.org n 8 |

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3. Attend a beacon lighting ceremony Cornwall Heritage Trust is hosting two free events as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, lighting beacons at Sancreed, near Penzance (7pm), and Castle an Dinas near St Columb Major (8.30pm). Having lit a beacon to warn of the imminent arrival of the Spanish Armada in 1588, St Michael’s Mount will mark happier times in much the same way at 9.15pm.

4. Play Jubilee Top Trumps They’ve covered classic cars, ancient monuments and film franchises; now St Austell company Top Trumps has committed HM Queen Elizabeth II’s life and reign to its playing cards, featuring 30 highlights from births and marriages to pets and residences. Will Windsor Castle trump Buckingham Palace? Do corgis trounce horses? Which Royal Wedding scores the most? Play to find out. toptrumps.com 5. Stay like a sovereign The Headland Hotel in Newquay has seen its fair share of royal guests, including King George V and Queen Mary (pictured). You can enjoy similar treatment during June. A two-night package in a Fistral, Ocean or Best suite includes daily breakfast, a three-course dinner in the Samphire restaurant and a glass of champagne on the first night, a twocourse supper in The Deck on the second night, a Platinum Jubilee Afternoon Tea, and use of the spa facilities. Prices from

£570 per night. Call 01637 872211 or visit www.headlandhotel.co.uk 6. Enjoy community art Arts Council England and UK Community Foundations have made grants across the UK, including to projects in Calstock, Bodmin,

Mousehole

and

Falmouth.

Mevagissey & District Museum received £1,800 towards a Jubilee commemorative mural, working with all generations to celebrate the area’s maritime heritage.

Schoolchildren have been invited to create bunting and Mevagissey Cork Gobies traditional handmade sailing boats – using recycled material. These will be added to the museum’s permanent exhibits. In Chacewater, street artist Tech Moon will work with attendees to create large-scale street murals, and tiles created by local children will transform a wall in the village car park.

7. Scoff a Platinum cream tea St Moritz Hotel, near Rock, offers a limited-edition Queen's Platinum Jubilee Afternoon Tea, featuring a selection of the Queen’s favourite sweet treats: savarin, Battenberg,

fondant

fancies

topped

with edible silver leaf and choux buns.

Add finger sandwiches and warm scones topped with strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream, and you will leave feeling royally full. Served from 12.30pm to 4pm. www.stmoritzhotel.co.uk l

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1. ROYAL CORNWALL SHOW

3. SOLO SINGERS

5. FESTIVAL FEVER

It’s back, after two years of pandemicinduced cancellations. The Royal Cornwall Show (June 9 to 11) is the county’s biggest annual event, full of exhibits and activities from entertainment and shopping to the best in food and farming. For more than 200 years, this has been a time and place to meet old friends, conduct business and enjoy Cornwall in all its glory - and thousands do.

This is a top agricultural show with hundreds of competitive classes, from cattle and sheep to dogs and birds. Main ring entertainment is mounted on a grand scale and the traditional steam fair is a colourful extravaganza. It's good for agriculture, good for tourism, good for the economy, the environment and good for the soul! www.royalcornwallshow.org

St Buryan singer Sarah McQuaid embarks upon a six-week tour including three dates in Cornwall: Penlee Park openair theatre in Penzance (June 17), into Bodmin at The Old Library (June 18) and Redruth Drapery (June 19). Tony Christie checks into the Acorn, Penzance on June 20; and St Ives singer/songwriter Bailey Tomkinson plays a fusion of surf rock, Americana and pop at Launceston Castle on Saturday, July 30.

Take your pick of the big events. There are big names aplenty, with Tom Jones headlining at Tunes in the Park in the stately grounds of Port Eliot (June 22), while Shaggy and Paul Weller lead the pack at Tunes in the Dunes in Perranporth (June 24 to 26). Foodies will not want to miss Rock Oyster Festival (July 29 to 31), with Jack Stein and dad Rick on the chef line-up, and Laura Mvula and the Happy Mondays on stage. In Bude, Leopalloza runs from July 22 to 24 with headliners including the Sleaford Mods and Lianne La Havas.

2. BIZET’S CARMEN Travelling opera company Regents Opera presents Bizet’s opera Carmen, with four cast members (including mezzo soprano Lilly Papaioannou) and a piano, fully staged with lighting and costumes. The show is directed by Paul Higgins of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Royal Opera House.

Thursday, June 23: Trevince Estate, near Redruth; Friday, June 24: Launceston Town Hall; Saturday June 25: St Endellion Church. n 10 |

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4. RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY There are two opportunities to raise money for worthy charities on Saturday, June 18. Children’s Hospice South West’s Rainbow Run returns to Newquay; 1,500 people took part in 2019 and raised £80,000 for the charity which runs Little Harbour children’s hospice in St Austell. www.chsw.org. uk/rainbow And Truro Branch hosts the Samaritans National Walk on Saturday, June 18. There are three walks – 7.5, 13 and 25 miles – all starting and ending at Truro College, with a party in the evening. Entry £30pp. For further information call 07817 352331 or email samaritansnationalwalk2022@gmail.com

6. THE DOGGY SUMMER GARDEN PAW-TY Dogs love a good pawty as much as anyone, and that’s what you’ll get at Scorrier House near Redruth on July 2. There’ll be a range of fun activities – including a doggy tea party (book ahead online), dog show, woodland walks, canine olympics and agility tests – as well as dog products and services, and opportunities to learn more about your best four-legged friend’s health and wellness. www.scorrierhouse.co.uk

7. GET UP CLOSE WITH NATURE Cornwall Wildlife Trust holds its annual 30 Days Wild campaign in June, connecting

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10 11 12 people to nature on their doorstep. The big event is the Big Wild Weekend on June 18 and 19, including an open garden family day at Lethytep in South-East Cornwall on June 19. Sign up for a free pack at www. cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk . Alternatively, visit a farm and find out about the sto­ry behind our food and how farm­ing affects our every­day lives. Meet livestock, enjoy nature walks and more. Cottage Farm in Jacobstow opens on June 12; Tregullas Farm on The Lizard (meet infamous pet goat Curry!) on June 19; and Cornhill Farm, Camborne on June 26. farmsunday.org

8. GOONHILLY 60 Goonhilly Earth Station’s major satellites are named after Cornish legends - Guinevere, Isolde, Merlin and of course Arthur, responsible for transmitting TV pictures of the Apollo 11 moon landings to 600 million viewers globally. Goonhilly 60, on July 23, is a family-friendly event celebrating six decades of space exploration with an interstellar programme of curated music, talks and educational workshops, all set against the backdrop of the breathtakingly beautiful Lizard Peninsula. The line-up includes: The Pink Floyd Experience, playing Dark Side of The Moon; Kaleidoscope Orchestra – a Daft Punk interpretation; Outer Space party with Jelly Jazz & The Mongolian Disco Show; and DJs, workshops, talks, films and more. It’s a rare opportunity to visit the site which is usually closed to the public. Tickets from £28; camping options available. Visit Goonhilly.live and follow @apollocontrol on Facebook and Instagram.

9. TRURO BANDSTAND CONCERTS

11. A TRADITIONAL CORNISH FEAST

Bandstand concerts have returned to Truro’s Victoria Gardens following two years of cancellations due to the pandemic. Concerts will take place every Sunday until September 11, from 2.30 to 4pm. They are free to attend and no prior booking is required. This year’s performers include City of Truro Wind Orchestra, Camborne Youth Band, Lanner & District Silver Band and City of Truro Male Choir. Pollen in the Park will also serve refreshments from 10am to 4pm. Please be aware that both gardens and café may close in instances of bad weather. For updates, contact the Visitor Information Centre on 01872 274555 or visit www.visittruro.org.uk

There are many traditional celebrations in Cornwall this month. Mevagissey Feast Week (June 26 to July 2) returns following two years off. It has taken place in June since 1754, when its parades gave thanks to St Peter, patron saint of fishermen for a plentiful harvest. These days, you’re as likely to find live music, a fish auction, children's activities, brass bands and a grand finale firework display. In Penzance, Golowan venerates St John, and this year goes “Back to the Future”, reminiscing over 31 years of community celebrations and looking forward to joys to come! The fun begins on June 17, ending with Mazey Day and Quay Fair Day on the weekend of June 25 and 26.

10. FOR LITERATURE LOVERS Penzance Literary Festival (www.pzlitfest. co.uk) runs from July 6 to 9, a vibrant mix of author talks, performance poetry, interviews, signings, workshops, tours and outreach events. Look out for festival patron Patrick Gale discussing Mother’s Boy, his novel about Launceston poet Charles Causley’s early years; memoirist Cathy Rentzenbrink (pictured); romantic fiction queen Liz Fenwick; and talks covering everything from science fiction, crime and travel writing, to how to submit work to agents and publishers. Elsewhere, the authors of Wild Swimming Walks are on tour with North Cornwall Book Festival. Hear them reminisce about their adventures: Thursday, July 21, St Endellion Hall; Friday, July 22: Edge Of The World Bookshop, Penzance; Saturday, July 23: The Poly, Falmouth.

Tickets: www.ncornbookfest.org/whats-on/

12. CORNWALL STREET FOOD FESTIVAL The first Cornwall Street Food Festival takes place Newquay’s Barrowfields over the Platinum Jubilee weekend (June 2 to 5), hosting over 25 of the tastiest traders in global cuisine - your taste buds won't be disappointed! From Afghanistan to Mexico, halloumi fries to gourmet burgers via crepes and waffles, the festival has everyone covered. Just grab a FREE ticket and arrive hungry! Check the social media page @cornwallstreetfoodfestival for updates and competitions to win delicious treats. The event will be cashless, family- and dog-friendly; entry is free but ticketed, with attendees scanning a barcode at the entrance. Book now at streetfoodwarehouse.co.uk/cornwall/

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FOWEY TO LERRYN This beautiful riverside walk takes you along the magnificent Fowey estuary inspiration for Wind in the Willows - to Lerryn, a charming village on the upper reaches of the tidal creeks of the River Fowey. It’s fairly easy to follow but remember dogs should also be kept on leads around livestock.

Start: Caffa Mill car park, Fowey, PL23 1DF Length: 5.5 miles Time: Allow 3 hours.

Terrain: Some stiles and steep hills.

Dog-friendly pit stops: The Old Ferry Inn, Bodinnick; The Ship Inn, Lerryn.

NB: This walk is linear. Buses from Lerryn to Fowey run weekly, so you’ll need to use two cars or book a taxi if you don’t want to walk both ways!

• From Caffa Mill car park, cross on the Bodinnick Ferry - passenger tickets £2 each way; ferry runs until 8pm from May to September, 7pm from October to April. For latest fares and timetable, visit www.ctomsandson.co.uk • Once you disembark from the ferry, look to your left for a footpath signpost which leads you over a stile. Follow the path

• Bear left following the track towards the estuary and follow the signposted path across a field. At Penpoll Creek follow the path and then a track along the inlet. Here you will pass an old limekiln and a lovely old watermill.

• Follow the road up the hill until you come to a fork. Bear right and continue uphill towards St Veep. Here you’ll find a church which is very pretty, and pretty remote!

• From here, follow the footpath across the road and climb over the stile. Cross the field and climb over another stile.

Continue with the hedge to your left, on to the next style and on to Pennant Farm.

A path takes you around the back of this farm. From here, turn left and follow the road until you come to a signpost marking the footpath towards Cliff.

• Cross the stile and turn left with the hedge on your left. You get to see some

really beautiful views of the estuary here.

Go over another stile and continue down a steep hill towards the woods ahead.

• Keep going to the edge of the woods and go through a gateway on your left, following the track beyond to the edge of the estuary. Here you’ll find Cliff, a tiny village on the edge of the river. Follow the path to the estuary and walk along the shoreline.

• From here, look out for the path back into the woods as you leave Cliff. It’s marked by a gate, and will take you to Lerryn. Follow the path along the creek until you come to the village centre with its shop and café.

Just up the hill to your right is the dogfriendly Ship Inn. l For a map to accompany this walk, as well as other maps and dog-friendly adventures, visit www.dogfriendlycornwall.co.uk

through the field and down the hill. You’ll soon arrive at Mixtow Pill, a small creek off the main Fowey river. Here you can see the dock used to transport china clay.

• Follow the road behind the Pill and continue along the road up the hill.

Watch out for the footpath which is signposted on your left. Follow it across the stile and continue across the field to the next stile.

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Photography by Paul Massey

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ENYS FOOD JAM OUTDOOR THEATRE #HEARYOURCITY SALTLINES CORNISH LAVENDER SEA, SALT, SAILS ADORE MY STORE HOMES AND GARDENS TOWERS OF STRENGTH

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A few miles east of Penryn, the beautiful gardens and woodlands of Enys are carpeted with bluebells in late spring.

But there are many other activities going on through the season, including the annual Food Jam festival, showcasing street food and global cuisine on July 9 and 10.

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This year’s traders will include: • Paddle & Basil, serving Neapolitan-style pizza from vintage VW bus Lagertha; • Cookie Queen, who during lockdown started supplying cookie-related delights to the nation from her Redruth HQ; • Filly Vanilli, a brother-and-sister team selling Callestick Farm ice cream from a vintage horse box; • Secret Spot Hospitality (Ssh) - St Merrynbased specialists in al fresco dining surrounded by nature and under starlit skies; • Bangers on the Go, serving handcrafted gourmet burgers, hot dogs, slow-cooked pulled pork, dirty nachos, fries and other treats including veggie/vegan dishes; • Bien Manger, authentic savoury snacks and patisseries prepared by French chef Vincent; • Daddy D’s Kitchen, dishing up Caribbean fare; • Cold Start Coffee – coffee and cocktails served from a 1972 Royal Enfield motorbike and sidecar; • Food of the Gods – raw chocolate from St Just-in-Penwith; • Cornish Wild Food – a wild gin workshop, foraging walks and cookery demonstration with expert forager Matt Vernon; • Emma Gunn – a taster foraging walk and cooking demo led by the author of Never Mind the Burdocks; • A bar stocked with local brews and spirits.

Inside, you’ll find traders including Rebelicious Sauces and Riverford Organics. If more than one stall tickles your tastebuds, or you have a small appetite, consider buying taster portions for just £3 in the Graze Trail.

Visitors can also enjoy inspiring talks and demonstrations; live entertainment from

Hedluv + Passman, Stone Roots, Me & The Devil and The Eyelids; and family activities including a discovery trail, forest school, wild yoga with Helen from Yoga Splice and Hickory Dickory Rock classes.

The event has been running annually (Covid permitting) since 2015, and is “pretty chilled out and laidback” according to organiser Emma Powell-Thomas. “Enys has 30 beautiful acres of garden, so even when we have a lot of people through the gate, it feels very relaxed,” she adds. “It’s a great three-generation day out – activities and music for the kids, food and drink for the parents, gardens for the grandparents.

It ticks all the boxes.”

The event also offers the opportunity to explore the estate, which has been passed down through generations of the Enys family since 1272. The house we see today was built in the 1830s, after a previous Tudor style house burnt down. The gardens and mansion fell into disrepair during the 20th century, and when retired optical physicist Gordon Leonard Rogers inherited the estate in 1980, half of it had to be sold to pay inheritance tax. What little money was left had to be directed to parts of the estate which were occupied and active, with the gardens maintained as funds allowed.

By 2010, Enys had been largely uninhabited for 60 years, with leaky roofs, dry rot and resident bats. Gordon’s children, Wendy Fowler and Chris Rogers, have since continued their late father’s work of sustaining and improving the estate, and its ancient buildings are gradually

awakening from their long slumber.

The gardens are perhaps the oldest in Cornwall, and are mentioned in ancient texts. Originally laid out in an Italianate style, major alterations in the early 19th century created less formal gardens which now offer a tranquil and unspoilt experience. Highlights include the open meadow Parc Lye, the New Zealand garden – inspired by two Enys brothers who lived in the country at the turn of the 20th century, and sent back many plants to enrich the gardens; the elegant Broadwalk, the sculptural Stumpery, collections of rare Cornish apple trees and global conifers, two champion trees and a Ginkgo biloba believed to be the second tallest in the UK after the one at Kew. l Food Jam 2022, Enys Gardens, near Penryn TR10 9LB. Opening hours: Saturday, July 9 and Sunday, July 10; open from 10am, last entry 6pm.

Facebook/Instagram: @nsfoodjam www.enysgardens.org.uk For best value tickets, book online; adults from £8, family tickets from £18. Some activities will need to be pre-booked and added to your tickets. Enys season tickets can be used after 2pm on Sunday.

Enys is open until September 30, Sunday and Monday 10am to 5pm (daily during school holidays). Look out for further events, including: • July 24 to September 4: Dragon & Fairy Trail • August 25 to 27: Miracle Theatre presents King Lear

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Al Fresco Entertainment When it comes to open-air theatre in Cornwall, as the song goes: “Nobody does it better.” The 2022 season offers opera on the lawn, fairytales on the beach, proms on the cliffs, Dickens in the garden and Shakespeare – well, just about everywhere. Your only problem will be how many productions you can fit into one summer.

Wildworks: I AM KEVIN, Carlyon Bay

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The Minack The Minack celebrates its 90th anniversary this summer, having first opened its gates to the public in 1932 for a local production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in Rowena Cade’s cliff garden. Commemorative events include a new production of The Tempest by the Hertfordshire Players (August 15 to 19) and a special exhibition telling the story of the first performance, when the theatre was just a grassy space and open-air theatre a novelty. Other season highlights include the first collaboration between the Minack and Tête à Tête opera: The Firework-Maker’s

Daughter,

an

opera

for both children and adults based on a novel by Philip Pullman (June 21 to July 1, followed by a performance on Sunday, July 3 at Prideaux Place in Padstow). It will run in tandem with The Odyssey, the Ancient

treats include literary classics Jane Eyre (June 5 to 9), Vanity Fair (July 3 to 7) and David Copperfield (July 25 to 28); Mozart’s great dramatic opera Don Giovanni (July 11 to 15); and Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic opera The Pirates of Penzance (July 17 to 22), staged by Cornish company Illyria in its 30th anniversary year. www.minack.com

Bedruthan Hotel, Mawgan Porth Make yourself comfortable on the lawn at this funky hotel, with a fabulous backdrop of the Atlantic coast. Shows include A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Reluctant Dragon by Quantum Theatre on July 19 and 23 respectively, and Heartbreak Productions' Much Ado About Murder on August 16, as well as fairy tales Rapunzel (Immersion Theatre) on August 12 and Cinderella (Chaperhouse Theatre) on August 23. www.bedruthan.com

Greek epic interpreted by ex-Kneehigh actor David Mynne and described as

Miracle Theatre: King Lear

"proper Greek stuff (sex, swords, sandals)

An exquisitely dark tale about a family squabble that grows out of all proportion,

with all the boring bits removed”. Further

Miracle’s King Lear features Rosie Hughes in the title role. This fresh and fast-paced adaptation of Shakespeare’s text tells a shocking yet tender story of ageing and madness, fuelled by ambition and fired by betrayal. Venues in July and August include Carn Marth (Redruth), Penlee Park (Penzance), Trelissick (near Truro), St Agnes Beacon, Boconnoc (near Lostwithiel), St Martin’s & St Mary’s (Scilly), The Island (St Ives), Sterts (near Liskeard), Stowe Barton (Bude), Newquay Orchard, Trelowarren (near Helston), Tregrehan (St Austell) and Enys (near Penryn). Bring seats, blankets and picnic. www.miracletheatre.co.uk

North Coast Arts Based in Bude, North Coast Arts promotes an exciting menu of high-quality arts events at a range of distinctive venues.

Its summer 2022 programme features more than 20 open-air theatre events, including adaptations of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream, as

Minack at Dawn © Lynn Batten

Bedruthan Hotel

Miracle Theare - King Lear

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well as David Walliams’ Awful Auntie and classics galore: The Importance of Being Earnest, Great Expectations, The Three Musketeers, The War of The Worlds, The Odyssey, Peter Pan and Jane Eyre. Venues include Crackington Institute, Sandymouth, Little Pig Farm Shop, Ebbingford Manor, The Parkhouse Centre, Norton Barton Artisan Food Village, Stowe Barton and The Arthurian Centre in Camelford. Tickets are available from Bude TIC, Seventh Wave Gallery, Spencer Thorn Bookshop, Ark Angel Christian Bookshop or online. www.northcoastarts.co.uk

Park House Opera, near Truro Park House is nestled between Truro and St Clement on the peninsula that was once the ancient Forest of Moresk (12th century romance of Tristan and Isolde). Owners and opera buffs Robert and Sam Salvoni were keen to open up their home as a venue for Duchy Opera, and there are three public dates this summer: Simply Opera (£20) on

Wednesday, July 20, and Italian Reception, Dinner and Opera (£50) on July 22 and 23. www.parkhouseopera.com

Penlee Park Open Air Theatre This theatre in the park at the heart of Penzance celebrates its 74th annual season this year, with more than 80 events ranging from theatre and music to circus and children’s shows. The fun begins on May 30 with David Walliam’s classic family tale Awful Auntie, presented by Heartbreak Theatre. Further highlights include the only Cornish performances of Julius Caesar from London’s Globe Theatre on tour; the 30th anniversary tour of Illyria’s The Pirates Of Penzance, Peter Pan and A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Noel Coward's timeless comic farce, Blithe Spirit; The Fisherman's Friends’ fifth concert in the park; The Last Baguette Theatre’s fun, farcical and anarchic version of King Arthur; and Gin & Jazz events curated by Caspyn gins. www.penleeparktheatre.com

Pentillie, near Saltash Much-loved children’s author Michael Morpurgo presents The Carnival of the Animals on Saturday, July 16: a magical evening of music, storytelling and poetry in aid of Farms for City Children, a charity enabling children from disadvantaged communities to experience the adventure of working together on farms at the heart of the British countryside. Inspired by composer Camille Saint-Saëns’ humorous musical suite, Michael Morpurgo has penned accompanying poems on each animal, to be accompanied by cellist Clare O’Connell.

Sterts, near Liskeard Following an exciting site redevelopment, Sterts offers a unique Cornish theatre adventure. Nestled into Bodmin Moor, this tented amphitheatre guarantees a wonderful family-friendly experience which is never at the mercy of the elements. The summer programme includes fantastic CONTINUED OVER THE PAGE

Sterts Theatre

Michael Morpurgo © Phil Crow

Penlee Park

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family shows including Matilda The Musical (May 31 to June 2), and Honk! (July 8 to August 27), an adventurous musical comedy about the Ugly Duckling. You can also journey to Neverland for a refreshingly clever retelling of the classic story in Wendy & Peter Pan (July 14 and 15), and enter the Houses of Parliament to witness an insightful, gritty Royal Family power struggle in King Charles III (July 28 & 29). If that isn't enough, there are plenty of one-night only performances, including Illyria Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (July 21), Miracle Theatre’s King Lear (August 6 & 7), David Walliams' Awful Auntie (August 17), Sounds of the ‘60s with The Zoots (August 28) and Seth Lakeman (September 9). There is #MoreOnTheMoor this summer, so don't miss out - book your unique Cornish theatre experience now. www.sterts.co.uk

Trebah Garden, Mawnan Smith This exotic garden has a charming amphitheatre for touring productions, as well as their own. Look out for Theatre6’s Estella,

inspired by Great Expectations, on July 8; A Midsummer Night’s Dream from Duke’s Theatre Company on July 21 & 22; The Munch Mission from Brave Bold Drama on August 5; and EM Forster’s A Room With A View from Bodkin Theatre Company on September 2. www.trebahgarden.co.uk

Much Ado About Nothing

Wildworks: I AM KEVIN

Hero and Claudio are in love and engaged

Wildworks presents I AM KEVIN from August 6 to 20 at Carlyon Beach in the heart of St Austell Bay. Described as “a fairytale to set the world on fire”, showgoers will be taken on a dark, humorous, fiery and honest journey of impossibility. Written and directed by artistic director Mydd Pharo (co-written

by Hannah McPake) and created with the communities of Cornwall, it invites audiences to dive into the darkest depths of their consciousness and rewrite the stories that try to define us.

Recommended for adults and brave children over the age of 12. Adults £24, concessions £18. wildworks.org.uk

Sun & Moon Theatre tours Cornwall with a joyous, vibrant production of Shakespearean comedy Much Ado About Nothing. It's 1945, the war has ended, and Messina’s young men have returned ready for peace, celebration and... romance? to be married, while Beatrice and Benedick are in a perpetual ‘merry war’, engaged in battles of wits and wills. But not everyone has come back unscathed, not all scars are visible, and the spread of misinformation has its consequences... Suitable for all ages. See it at Little Pig Farmshop and Café, Bude (with North Coast Arts) on Friday, June 10; St Austell Arts Centre on Friday, June 17; Sterts, near Liskeard, on Saturday, June 18; St Day Old Church on Saturday, June 25; Penlee Park, Penzance on Sunday, June 26; Mevagissey Jubilee Hall on Saturday, July 9; and Cardinham Woods

Café

Garden,

Illyria Theatre - A Midsummer Night's Dream © Gordon Scammell

Trebah Garden - Estella

Much Ado About Nothing - Sun & Moon Theatre

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Bodmin

IntoBodmin) on Saturday, July 23. l

(with

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A

s if going to the theatre isn’t exciting enough in itself, the Cornwall Playhouse – the Hall For Cornwall’s principal performance space - has commissioned Cornwall composer Graham Fitkin to work on a new app that will track your pedestrian journey in music.

Due for release on June 1, Geography is designed to link music and location by allowing perambulating listeners, using their mobiles with headphones, to improvise journeys through the cityscape, with each direction governing how the music unfolds. Upon reaching your destination (be it the theatre or otherwise), you’ll have a unique homogenous piece your own personal ‘mix’, if you will - that can be shared in 21st century style with your friends on social media.

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combine working with Graham Fitkin and new app technology as part of our History and Heritage programme fused, it seemed to be a perfect blend.”

The idea first came to Graham in 2008, with a very different city in mind. “I was composer-in-residence for the London Chamber Orchestra,” he recalls. “We had a trip to Damascus planned, working with Syrian musicians, and I was asked to write something that would take into account the topography of the city. I thought it would be wonderful if people could wander around and come across live musicians as they traversed the city.

“When I visit a new city for rehearsals and performances, I love exploring. I often go for a run, without a map – I let myself be led towards things that look nice, and I rather enjoy the fact that I might get lost.

Of course, I’m also intrigued by sound, so I wanted to use the app to explore a city aurally as well as visually.”

The Damascus trip never happened and the proposal remained hypothetical – until

now, following a chance conversation with Cornwall-based producer Michael White.

Michael thought the idea could fly with modern technology, in Truro; he facilitated the collaboration with Cornwall’s leading auditorium, and secured funding from the Arts Council of England.

Graham has spent two years working on the app. First he researched the city and walked its streets (a luxury afforded by living locally), making recordings as he went along. The bells you hear really are those of Truro’s magnificent cathedral; due to a current paucity of city centre bovines, however, Graham resorted to recording a Guernsey cow closer to his home in West Penwith, as the basis for a moo-sical symphony at Truro’s crown court, the site of a cattle market as recently as 1985.

The result is around 200 individual pieces of music – around four hours in total – which will stitch together to make different pieces depending on your journey. “Unlike many audio walks, which take you somewhere specific to hear a

Explore Truro using a new app devised by composer Graham Fitkin in association with the Hall For Cornwall

recording, there is no prescribed walk, nothing set in stone - the music reacts to where the user goes.”

As such, it presented a very different way of working for the composer. “I have never composed for video games, which is perhaps the nearest comparison to this,” he muses. “It’s not like conventional composition, which is linear, or at least the end result will be.”

While major landmarks – the Hall For Cornwall, the library, the Lander Monument - and routes (roads, footpaths, pavements) are represented, you might be taken by surprise on hitherto unnoticed corners, and it’s definitely worth diverting down some of Truro’s fascinating “opes” (breathe in – they are narrow!).

Graham takes me into the back-end of the app - devised by Ignacio Rodriguez and his Sonic Maps platform - and shows me a colourful visual representation of all the musical extracts overlaid onto a road map of Truro. (App users will see something more sleek and subtle, and with good reason: “I don’t want people

to wander around glued to their screens, determined to hear a particular piece of music. I want people to look around them and see Truro.”)

The catchment area is wide, from the railway station and Redannick over to Moresk Road and Newham. Individual pieces range from 20 seconds to two minutes; some areas have one, others several which are designed to play in harmony together.

closer, or double-back to pick up something you’ve dropped. As you move from one location to the adjacent zone, specialist software synchronises the beats between two pieces of music, enabling the perfect segue.

The feedback has been gratifying. “People who have roadtested it said, ‘It wasn’t the sort of thing I’d previously have thought of doing in my own city – it made me look.’

That’s exactly what I wanted.”

Styles range from sedate strings melding with birdsong in Victoria Gardens, to strident synths and jingling cash in commercial Boscawen Street - and, inevitably, percussion for Tim Shaw’s Drummer statue.

Listen out for a hospital bed beep, courtesy of the Royal Cornwall Hospital, on Infirmary Hill – once the site of City Hospital, it retains its medical connections in the form of major GP surgery.

Asked if this is a template that could be rolled out to other cities, Graham doesn’t say no, but adds (with a nervous laugh): “It has been an awful lot of work, more than I ever imagined – and it’s my own fault, because it was my idea. It has driven me mad at times. It will either shorten my life or open up neural pathways I never knew I had, giving me another 50 years. Perhaps I’d do it again, if I had a long life.” l

The music you make will depend on the speed at which you walk and how you interact with your surroundings – say, whether you pause to inspect something

With thanks to National Lottery Heritage Fund. The Geography app can be downloaded at fitkin.com

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A celebration of the South West Coast Path in words and music

“

630 uninterrupted miles of coastline, crossing wild headlands with the calls of oystercatchers and the smell of salt laden air ever present.” The South West Coast Path (SWCP) is thus described by Raynor Winn, who walked every single mile with her husband Moth in 2013.

Faced with homelessness after a business deal turned sour, they took off with just a few belongings and a tent. Their journey was the subject of The Salt Path, Raynor’s best-selling memoir, published in 2018; its sequel, The Wild Silence, explored what happened before and after. Together they have sold over a million copies worldwide, the author praised for her lyrical descriptions of the environment and her frank depiction of the reality of homelessness.

One reader who was captivated by The Salt Path was Deborah Knight, agent and manager of The Gigspanner Big Band - a collective of high-profile names on the

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folk-roots scene, including Steeleye Span fiddle player Peter Knight and Bellowhead melodeonist John Spiers. While on the SWCP herself, it occurred to Deborah that such a well-trodden trail must hold many more stories of love, loss and the natural world – and that these might be found in the traditional songs and tunes handed down through generations and logged by Victorian song collectors such as Cecil Sharp.

This seed of an idea has developed into an exciting collaboration between author and band. Saltlines travels the length of the coast path in July, starting in Somerset and ending in Dorset, taking in three Cornwall venues on the way: St Endellion Church, Princess Pavilion in Falmouth and the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno. Folk songs chosen for their resonance will be interspersed with Raynor’s words, written especially for the occasion.

Folk music fan Raynor was “touched and honoured” to be approached. “I thought

about it for five minutes, then said yes, absolutely yes,” she laughs. “How could I turn down the chance to work with names that light up the folk music world? I followed them, and they in turn were inspired by my book, so it’s a two-way collaboration.”

However, “this is not The Salt Path set to music”. While Raynor will draw upon her own experiences of the coast path, hers will be just one of many stories to be told during the evening. “Like the songs, the words will reflect the path and the South West, our history and traditions - some that still exist, others that are slipping away - a feeling of our past and present,” she explains.

“It has been a revelation, liberating even, for me to be able to concentrate my thoughts and words into a shorter form. Also, while The Salt Path was a personal reflection on my own life, it’s been a pleasure to look beyond that and see the path in an external way, finding its essence within these stories.

“When we’re walking, we tend to be focused on our own lives and thoughts. If you give yourself the time to look a little deeper into what makes an area work, these stories are there to be gathered in historical records or simply from the people you meet. They are all around us.”

Raynor is already a seasoned face on the literary festival circuit, but Saltlines represents a different experience – more performative, and with a tour bus thrown in. “It’s an entirely new avenue for me,” she admits. “I’ve never had anything to do with music before, and I’m just going with the flow. With such an incredibly talented group of musicians, I don’t think anything can go wrong.”

At the same time as losing their home and livelihood, Moth was diagnosed with a potentially terminal illness. An unexpected outcome of the SWCP pilgrimage was that the intense daily exercise staved off the degenerative aspects of his condition.

Today, the couple live on a farm near Polruan, where they are working to restore an orchard using the principles of Moth’s degree in sustainable horticulture. They are also still walking, and recently completed a trek from the north of Scotland to their home, a distance of over 1,000 miles – this will form the basis of Raynor’s third book, due out in September.

The success of The Salt Path was equally unexpected. It was written as an aidememoire for Moth, a record of their monumental experience, but has become a worldwide phenomenon and opened up a new career for Raynor, who has been asked to represent organisations from the South West Coast Path Association (for whom she is an ambassador) and the homeless charity Emmaus.

at all, let alone being approached by such big names to go on tour. It’s quite surreal.

“But I’ve learned over the past few years that I can put a few words together, and I hope that by doing so with an incredible bunch of musicians, we can give people something really memorable.” l Saltlines visits St Endellion Church on July 10, Princess Pavilion in Falmouth on July 12 and the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno on July 16.

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NO - PORTHALLOW! A farm on the Lizard peninsula is reaping the fragrant rewards of small changes in the Cornish climate. Words by Jane Reynolds

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he sound hits you before the scent does. On gently sloping fields facing south into Falmouth Bay, bees gather in their many thousands to feed on the lavender planted by Mark and Sam Hall-Digweed. It’s an arresting sight – neat rows of varying purple hues against the wilder greens, browns and gorse yellow of Cornish hedges.

born Sam had enjoyed a career with the BBC in London, while Mark came from a Gloucestershire farming family. When they bought their house and land just outside Porthallow, its free-draining, alkaline soil seemed perfectly suited to a lavender farm (although it’s not their only crop – there are also 600 apple trees destined for cider brandy production).

conditions. Obviously sunny, warm dry

Sam and Mark have seven varieties of lavender at Roskorwell. “It means we have a longer growing season,” explains Sam, “with each peaking at a different moment in the summer.”

The pair planted thousands of lavender plants by hand in 2016, with a successful harvest the following year. But 2018/19’s severe winter wiped out all their initial good work. Undeterred, they set about replanting seven acres of lavender. Last year was their first harvest following the false start, and they gathered enough lavender to distill 24 litres of pure essential oil. This year, with those first plants maturing and further acreage under cultivation, they expect half as much again.

45kg of flowers at a time, and Sam uses the oil

One of the reasons Mark and Sam expect to go from strength to strength is the climate. They’re loath to suggest fullon climate change, which would see Provencal conditions moving north to the Lizard; but, says Mark, subtle changes are afoot: “Last year many of the older locals and farmers said they’d never encountered such a long period of drying easterly winds in the springtime. Our lavender loves a dry spring, and as long as it’s not too cold, will thrive in those

because we wanted the freedom to use our

More importantly though, the different varieties have different strengths and uses.

“Long stemmed, dark blue Grosso, for instance, yields oil which is well suited to candles, while the English varieties such as bluey-purple Hidcote are especially good for the skin.”

Roskorwell’s lavender flowers from late May, when Melissa, a soft lilac-coloured variety, comes into bloom, and extends all the way through to August when Grosso peaks. It means summer is spent not only harvesting, but being available for the visitors who book to bask in and photograph the stunning sight.

The couple’s love affair with lavender began when they honeymooned in the Luberon region of France. Cornish-

summers are crucial too.”

Harvest time at Roskorwell happens in two ways: either by hand with a small scythe, for gathering flowers for lavender bags and confetti, or mechanically for essential oils.

Oil production is an important part of the business. A custom-made still on site takes to make candles and soaps, as well as selling it neat as essential oil or as more diluted room and linen sprays. “It’s important to us,” says Sam, “that we only use our own homegrown lavender. We never supplement by buying it in from elsewhere.”

In

contrast,

Roskorwell’s

lavender

is

becoming highly sought after. “Last year, we were approached by French perfume houses looking specifically for a Cornish blend,” says Mark. “We declined, though, own essential oils locally. It’s important to us that this is Cornish lavender, processed and sold in Cornwall.” l Roskorwell is open to visitors from Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays and July 2 and 3). Pre-booking essential.

Self-guided tour: £5 (under 14s free) plus £1 booking fee. Guided tours available.

For

further

details,

visit

www.roskorwellfarm.co.uk

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The biennial festival brings traditional sailing vessels to Mousehole from July 1 to 3, writes Kirstie Newton n 30 |

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he sight of a traditional sailing boat on glistening azure seas is quintessentially Cornish and swells the heart of even the most hardened landlubber. When those waters are in a harbour as picturesque as Mousehole, with the opportunity to see numerous classic vessels in one place, what more could one ask?

Such is the experience of Sea, Salts & Sail, a biennial festival that takes place from July 1 to 3 and will fill Mousehole harbour with the sights and sounds of a bygone era of sail, with not an engine to be seen.

The vibe is nostalgic: wooden hulls, spars, topsails and canvas are framed against the majestic beauty of Mount's Bay. On Friday, July 1, the team at New Dawn Traders, who work with sailing cargo vessels to import Fairtrade produce – salt, chocolate, rum, almonds - across the Atlantic Ocean and along European coastlines, will call into Mousehole and unload its cargo for sale shoreside. And on Saturday and Sunday, the boats will tack back and forth in a parade of sail, out of the harbour and around St Clement’s Isle 500m away, in moving tribute to the days when fleets of Cornish luggers would have headed out to their fishing grounds.

Some 2,000 visitors are expected to converge upon the fishing village to see more than 50 vessels which are not just boats but characters, the wind in their sails the very breath of life. “Fitting them all into the harbour is quite a feat – like a giant game of Tetris,” laughs festival committee member Rob McDowell. “Equally, getting them all out is frantic. Some don’t have engines, some are very big. It’s all good for spectators.”

Many of these boats once worked hard for their keep, their origins identifiable from

their sails and rigging and reflected in their names: Edith, a 24ft Polperro Gaffer dating back to the 1890s; Ellen, a 17ft Gorran Haven Crabber built in 1882; Falmouth Working Boat Winnie, from 1897; and from further afield, the Morecambe Bay Prawner, Lowestoft Smack and Bermudan sloop. Drekly, a 16ft pilot gig, was built in Cornwall 100 years ago and is now used on the River Thames in Richmond.

Others were built more recently by enthusiasts in tribute to their ancestors.

Take Agnes, a pilot cutter built in Truro and modelled on the last of her kind to work out of the Isles of Scilly; Port Isaac lugger Rebecca Kate, built in 2001 along the lines of a vessel fished out of that harbour over 100 years ago; gaff cutter Holly Mae, who has crossed the Atlantic since being launched from Penzance in 2010, and Maia, a St Ives sailing punt built by Jonny Nance in 2015.

Rob is also a trustee of the Cornish Maritime Trust, which has around 150 members ranging from sailing pre-teens to “wise old armchair elderlies!” At its heart is Barnabas, a 40ft St Ives mackerel driver built in 1881 – last year, she celebrated her 140th birthday. One of the few survivors from St Ives’ thousand-strong fleet of lugrigged drift net fishing boats, today she is used for training and leisure purposes.

Her layout and shape have changed little; there’s no sink or shower (although there is a toilet, mercifully) and sleeping quarters are tight. But there is no shortage of crew, and in 2015, Barnabas successfully circumnavigated the UK with crew changes nearly every week.

Once, fishermen would have sailed boats like these in all weathers, with several tons of pilchards slopping around the bilges, to bring home that day’s pay. Today, most

trips are weather dependent and for pleasure. “We have been known to sail into Scilly, tie a bowline around a tree and sleep on the beach, under the stars,” says skipper and fellow trustee Toby Floyer.

“It’s hard work, but it’s also adventure and reward. Ultimately, it’s fun.”

It costs £50,000 per annum to look after Barnabas, and the way to raise this sum is simple, according to Rob: “Sail her more.

Using a boat like this helps to preserve it; sea water pickles the wood, where being moored up in fresh water leads to rot.”

As well as Barnabas and Gorran Haven crabber Ellen, the trust also looks after smaller boats: Soft Wing, a Truro River oyster dredger, and the dipping lugger Silver Stream, acquired in 2014 and ideal for training younger crew members before they graduate onto her big sister Barnabas.

Not only are such craft better for the environment, but they also feed into the belief that blue spaces are beneficial for our mental and emotional wellbeing. Falmouth mental health charity Sea Sanctuary recently announced the acquisition of Irene of Bridgwater, a 100ft Westcountry trading ketch built in 1907. This historic tall ship has featured in several films and adverts, including Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, and will now offer day-long and longer-term residential excursions to those who need wellbeing support.

But ultimately, as sailing writer Tom Cunliffe wrote of pilot cutter Lizzie May: “To lay amongst these timbers listening to the sea rushing past is to feel seafaring’s lost heartbeat.” Rob agrees, adding: “It’s a real privilege to be able to sail from here.” l www.seasalts.co.uk cornishmaritimetrust.org

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The Penryn homewares store was established in 2006 by mother-and-daughter team Daun and Jemma e spent a decade in the French town of La Rochelle.

In

the

days

before the internet, my parents Good

subscribed

to

Housekeeping

for me as a reminder of home. It was there I read about someone moving to Mevagissey, and I thought: “If I ever go back to the UK, I’d like to live there.” We discovered Penryn when Jemma studied at Falmouth University. Life here suits us the old market town is beautiful, and the people are so open and friendly.

Jemma and I both really love older pieces of furniture with character and back stories. I always have - my parents were in the furniture trade. In France, I would scour antique shops, or spot adverts in newspapers and wind up collecting stuff from people’s barns. Metal was my thing – no fear of woodworm! Iron bedsteads, benches - I’d get them sandblasted and paint them up. That was what I had in

mind when we established Just Delights in 2006.

The building is an old car showroom, hence the plentiful parking! It’s not at all what we were looking for, but having rented a small part of it, we wound up taking it all on, and it helped us to evolve. We now offer a wide range of products, from beautiful homewares to gifts for all, greetings cards and an extensive range of stationery.

Jemma and the team aim to create a friendly environment for customers to browse both in-store and online, and our stock changes regularly so there’s always something new.

We try to stay up-to-date with the latest interior trends. Right now, people are more eco-conscious so that is an important factor when choosing our products. Dried flowers and artificial plants are one of our biggest sellers this year. The plants are amazingly real, and customers often mistake them for the real thing. At Christmas, Jemma comes into her own and people come especially to see our festive display.

Commercial Road has also developed over the 16 years. It has become a little destination in its own right. There are cafés, galleries and many more independent businesses, which is a joy to see. There are also great walks along the river – and central Penryn just a stone’s throw away, with its illustrious history that can be seen in all its glorious architecture.

Jemma and I complement each other. She has a good eye for certain things, mine is different and we join together really well.

We are both “people people”, and love meeting customers of all ages. Jemma is so gentle and kind, and I’m a chatterbox.

It’s not just about being a shop for us – we are part of the community. l Just Delights, Commercial Road, Penryn, TR10 8AQ. Open 9.30am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, noon to 4pm Sunday.

Tel 01326 379075 just-delights.co.uk

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How to Achieve a Coastal Interior Words by Charlotte Dawson of Chestnut Interiors The psychological impact of living by the sea is well-documented. Studies find coastal dwellers are happier and have better mental health than those living inland. Small wonder so many seek to draw on the restorative effect of water, or simply a year-round holiday vibe, by bringing the coast closer and into their home.

Coastal interior style encompasses everything you see, hear and explore from the South West Coast Path, from the vast beaches that wrap around this county to the tumbling hills above them. Exceptional interior design inspires and is inspired by all senses. Follow the tips below to experience the emotions evoked from being by the sea.

Colour From a colour psychology perspective, coastal interior style is anchored by a palette of calming blue, while green brings feelings of growth and grounding. It’s a gorgeous combination that promises to evoke peace and balance. Start with white and neutrals as your key colours to bring a light and airy feel to rooms, and then layer with accent colours found in the ocean and hills: azure blue, khaki green and dusky grey. This base colour scheme then benefits from being accessorised with a sharp contrast of either rich yellow, reminiscent of beautiful gorse, or violet blue like the sheep's bit scabious found flowering on cliff tops.

Light Think bright and breezy! Natural light should be maximised - bring in as much as possible, using white and neutral window n 34 |

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dressings that won’t detract from the abundance of light through the windows.

As the sun sets, bring some warmth into the room by layering your lighting with ceiling pendants, wall lights, floor and table lamps. Use internal glass doors to borrow additional light from other rooms, and/or mirrors strategically placed to bounce light around the room.

Texture Drawing upon the contrast of smooth and coarse coastal textures is key to bringing interest and character to your home.

Combine pale toned, rustic wooden furniture - limed oak, for example - with coloured glass, low-maintenance linen, imperfect ceramics, rugs and woven textiles in baskets. Fabrics should be gentle and free from shine, as should accessories which will rarely be glitzy – strictly no bling!

Furniture As hinted above, furniture in rustic woods is well placed in a coastal-style home. However, painted furniture, particularly in neutral and white tones, also enhances the look.

Avoid furniture being too matchy, and with upholstery, choose fabrics that flatter one another - for example, a beaumont striped chair, a relaxed linen sofa scattered with coral print cushions, and a ticking stripe ottoman.

This style shouldn’t be overwhelming, so ensure the amount of furniture in the room is balanced and proportionate - there doesn’t need to be something against every wall and in every corner.

Plants A final, very simple way to add some beach vibes to your home is to bring in some plants.

Think breezy palms, fiddle leaf fig trees and aloe. Try to cluster plants in groups of three, and again, add interesting textures with pots and baskets - this is another opportunity to add colour and pattern.

Remember, coastal design should feel effortless and serene. Keep things simple and clutter-free so you can enjoy the tranquillity in your home. I’ve chosen selected perfect pieces for a coastal home from some of my favourite local interior shops. l 1. Hemmick pure cotton bedspreads, £140 each. From Jenny Aves, 16 Fore Street, Mevagissey PL26 6UQ www.jennyaves.com 2. Botella throw, made using 35 recycled plastic bottles, £40 (matching cushions also available). From Just Delights, Commercial Road, Penryn. www.just-delights.co.uk 3. Seaweed prints by Comb Cornwall.

Cotton rag prints start from £20, framed seaweed pressings from £50. combcornwall.co.uk 4. Cambridge Rose Gold bell-shaped ship pendant light, £144. From the Soho Lighting Company. www.soholighting.com 5. Flower jute table runner £32 and rug £45 by Chickidee. From Circa 21, 21 Market Jew Street, Penzance. www.circa21.co.uk 6. Baskets from £15. Grey Lurcher, 20 High Street, Falmouth www.greylurcherfalmouth.com

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Lower Penbothidnow

In Cornwall, 50 gardens are opening for the National Garden Scheme (NGS) this year. Funds raised through entrance charges and refreshment sales will support charities such as Macmillan, Marie Curie, Parkinson’s UK, Carer’s Trust, Hospice UK and The Queen’s Nursing Trust. In 2021, £3 million was raised nationally, including £28,000 in Cornwall.

I

In 2021, £3 million was raised nationally, including £28,000 in

Cornwall. Here are just two

gardens

open

to

visitors in June/July; one an old hand, the other a first-timer. Both offer home-made teas and are also open for groups by arrangement.

Trenarth, Constantine TR11 5JN Open Sunday, June 19 from 2 to 5pm.

Admission £5 (children free) This year marks the 26th anniversary that Lucie Nottingham has been opening her stunning garden for the NGS. Lucie recalls feeling rather nervous before that first opening in 1996, but was rewarded by very good attendance on the day. “People are always interested to see a new garden opening to the public for the first time,” she says. "We’ve been delighted to welcome plenty of visitors every year ever since, and have raised lots of money for charity.”

Trenarth is a gem of a garden, a plantsman’s treasure trove and a family-friendly oasis all in one, blooming with rare and unusual species and alive with swallows, bees and butterflies. Such wildlife is actively encouraged by providing appropriate habitats and food sources. Summer is the time to be dazzled by the prolific collection n 36 |

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of Angel’s Fishing Rods (Dieramas), their gently arching stems swaying gracefully in the breeze, creating a dreamy haze.

Lucie likes to welcome visitors at the gate and answer their questions; she especially enjoys talking to visitors who remember the place ‘in the old days’ when it was a farm. Trenarth is also open by arrangement to groups for a more personal guided tour.

Asked for her advice to someone opening the garden for the first time, Lucie answers: “Plan ahead, get a team of helpers and delegate! Then remember to have fun and enjoy the pleasure your garden is giving other people.” She is particularly grateful to NGS volunteers who have helped and supported her over the years: “They organise the publicity, arrange insurance and are generally a great encouragement.”

Lower Penbothidnow, Constantine TR11 5AU Open Sunday, July 17 from 2 to 6pm.

Admission £6, (children free).

Dorothy Livingston has been partnering with nature for the past two decades. Keen to share her stunning garden with others, she is opening for the NGS for the first time this year and confidently declares that giving pleasure to visitors while raising

money for healthcare charities will be “a win-win situation”.

Inspired by Hidcote Manor and Kiftsgate Court Gardens, Lower Penbothidnow is arranged in a series of themed ‘rooms’, each with a different style, creating an air of mystery and suspense. There are plenty of places to pause and enjoy the tranquil surroundings and appreciate the diverse array of plants, all chosen to thrive in varying garden conditions from the impoverished soils of the Mediterranean Bed to the damp, humus-rich Tree Fern Hollow.

The herbaceous border is at its best in July, and other show-stoppers include salvias, succulents, Eucryphia ‘Nymansy’ and the summer-flowering rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’.

The field of natural grasses and wildflowers adjacent to the garden is a haven for wildlife and is buzzing with pollinating insects, which in turn benefit the garden enormously.

Yellow rattle helps to keep a balanced equilibrium of grass species. Vetches are a green manure, producing natural fertiliser from their roots, while knapweed attracts bees for its nectar followed by goldfinches for its seed heads. l

G @CornwallNGS A @cornwall.ngs

The traditional image of a village has a church at its heart, yet many of Cornwall’s majestic buildings are facing challenges. Kirstie Newton reports.

North Hill by Carol Billinge

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F

or centuries, churches have been focal points of our communities.

Here is where our ancestors were hatched, matched and dispatched.

Their presence lingers in the statues recumbent on tombs or through the light refracted by stained-glass windows, funded by the living to secure their place in heaven.

There are 301 churches across the Truro diocese, often the oldest buildings in their area and the majority listed. It’s hard, therefore, to imagine the landscape without towers and spires, and yet they are challenged by sweeping societal changes.

While the Victorian era saw enthusiastic building and restoration of churches, the 20th century saw Cornish miners scattered around the world in search of employment. This, combined with increasing secularism, saw the most cavernous churches, built to serve vast working populations, dwindle gradually to much smaller congregations, if any at all.

While many chapels have been converted into homes, countless churches find themselves in desperate need of funds to repair their deteriorating fabric, be it a leaking roof, a damp wall or an infestation of bats. Listed buildings often require specific, more expensive materials (quick fixes can cause more harm than good), yet the Church of England receives no central funding for the care of these ancient buildings.

Instead, it’s down to congregations to find the money for their upkeep, tradesmen with specialist skills and volunteers to take on legally required positions on Parochial Church Councils – all of which is becoming increasingly difficult. While the recent pandemic saw a welcome boost in worshippers thanks to Zoom, collection plates remained conspicuously empty.

The Cornwall Historic Churches Trust (CHCT) exists to help churches of all denominations which are still used as places of worship, offering grants of up to £5,000. On Sunday, June 19 – Father's Day – the trust will hold its summer fundraising event: an open day with picnic at the historic 40-acre garden of Trebartha near Launceston.

“Churches bring history back to life,” says trust chairman Caroline Tetley. She points to the tower at St Austell, built at the time of the War of the Roses when the Earl of Warwick was swapping sides between Edward IV of York and Henry VI of Lancaster; Warwick’s ancient heraldic motif, the Kingmaker's Ragged Staff, is also found on St Fimbarrus’ tower in Fowey. n 38 |

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Likewise, a considerable number of Cornwall’s churches were enlarged during the late 15th and early 16th centuries – known as the Perpendicular period - when the effects of the Black Plague of 1349 were still felt. “God-fearing parishioners were keen to secure safe passage for their families through purgatory to heaven at a time of high infant mortality and sudden death,” Caroline explains.

“We have so few other such vivid connections to our past, on our doorstep.

As such, churches are of huge emotional significance to us, and once gone, they are hard to replace. That’s why we urge communities to inspect churches regularly, the better to identify problems early and repair them quickly before they develop into major issues.”

All Saints Church in St Ewe suffered from water ingress and stones missing from the octagonal spire. Following grants from CHCT and the National Churches Trust, work began in 2019, with the removal of six bells and their mechanism. “It became evident that the tower was in worse shape than we thought,” says tower captain Charles Francis. “The weight of the spire was causing it to bulge.

Some stones were very loose, and resembled beach boulders more than blocks.”

While the bells and their frame were cleaned, repaired and painted in Bridport, Dorset, the tower was restored to better health. “The church is one of the foundations of the village, along with the pub,” says Charles. “People like it to be there, even if they don’t use it regularly – while Sunday attendance is low, everyone mucks in for events like the summer fete and Christingle service.”

While some churches are still used for regular worship, others have long since closed their doors. Take the tiny, secluded 13th century creekside church at Lamorran, near Truro. In spring, the peaceful churchyard is delightfully carpeted with primroses, violets and wild geraniums; inside there are memorials of historical note.

But the phrase “bats in the belfry” turned out to be more than just a euphemism; two colonies of brown long-eared and pipistrelle bats meant worshippers were likely to receive not only blessings from heaven, but also guano. Thanks to funding from CHCT and Bats In Churches, the Friends of Lamorran have equipped St Moran with bat lofts, enabling humans and winged creatures to live in harmony.

St Ewe by Charles Francis

Clerk of works Nick Jeans anticipates the Grade II* listed building could reopen imminently, for evensong and concerts but also for regular services “if we can find someone to take them for an eclectic congregation”.

It’s not just small churches that benefit. In May, Truro Cathedral launched its public appeal for St Mary’s Aisle, the oldest part of the building and the original parish church; a CHCT grant got the £450,000 campaign off to a great start.

As well as Church of England establishments, the trust has also granted funds to Methodist chapels like tiny Gunwen, tucked away in the shadow of Helman Tor near Luxulyan; and those within Cornwall’s rich Quaker tradition, like Marazion’s meeting house, where George Fox wrote his Epistle to the Seven Parishes in 1655, just before his imprisonment in Launceston gaol.

What happens to churches that aren’t repaired in time is illustrated by the attempted sale of two such buildings in recent years. The medieval St Pinnock Church, near Liskeard, is Grade I listed and suffering from slipped slates and vegetation growth. Having been put on the market for a second time in 2021, interest was shown by various parties but the process of considering and potentially accepting an offer is rigorous and lengthy.

The Lady Mary Window

Lamorran

In Truro, the Grade 2 listed Victorian St Paul’s Church was paid for by banker William

Mansell

Tweedy

and

richly

ornamented by JD Sedding. The repair bill threatens to spiral into the millions, and the church faces demolition if it cannot be sold and repurposed. It remains empty while conversations take place between the Church Commissioners and potential future users; meanwhile, a petition led by the Cornish Buildings Group on 38 Degrees has gathered 2,700 signatures.

A happier future is already in sight for St Torney’s church at North Hill, near Launceston. With its rare dedication to an Irish monk, the Grade I listed church is thought to be over 600 years old, with a corresponding holy well on the nearby River Lynher. Its small congregation was no longer able to meet routine costs like insurance and utility bills, let alone tackle structural

mental health care, concerts, art exhibitions and even circus skills training. Crucially, they remain consecrated buildings available for religious ceremonies.

St Torney’s is the charity’s second acquisition in Cornwall after St Anthony-inRoseland. The tower will be scaffolded this summer, with extended works likely to take two years and exceed the charity’s average spend of £350,000 per church.

“Churches host some our happiest and saddest moments, and hold a lot of emotions,” said Meriel O’Dowd, Conservation Projects Manager (West).

“St Torney’s is a great church, with one of the tallest towers in Cornwall and some unusual monuments of exceptional quality.

It’s also nestled within a very active village which obviously loves its church. We will repair it back to a state for the community to be able to use it the way it would like.”

problems and major damp issues. The last service took place in 2019, the congregation merged with nearby Lewannick and St Torney’s has been closed ever since.

However, in April, St Torney’s was signed over to the Churches Conservation Trust. A national charity funded jointly by the state and the Church of England, it is dedicated to saving historic churches at risk and has in its care over 350 buildings, which now host

Meanwhile, the tradition of remembering loved ones through churches continues.

Former High Sheriff Kate Holborow oversaw the design and installation of two stainedglass windows by Scilly artist Oriel Hicks in Ladock Church, in memory of her parents Geoffrey and former Lord-Lieutenant Lady Mary Holborow. Their funerals, in 2015 and 2017, raised donations for the church, and wardens proposed replacing existing plain

glass with the new designs, which reflect Cornwall and her parents’ interests.

“I see the windows not only as a memorial to my parents, who contributed so much to Ladock and loved this church, but also as a reflection of what Cornwall is like right now,” said Kate.

“They make a beautiful building even more beautiful, and will be there for generations to come. People come to the church to see them, and the Victorian window by Edward Burne Jones – and they make donations when they do, which takes the church forward.

“I hope visitors will wonder who my parents were, look them up and find out more about them. It’s a huge privilege - I wish everyone could have this for their parents.

For my part, when I visit the church, I feel as if they are there.” l Cornwall Historic Churches Trust’s summer picnic and garden open day takes place on Sunday, June 19 at Trebartha, near Launceston (PL15 7BD). Arrive at 11am for talk by owner Caroline Latham and pre-booked picnic: £25pp (£20pp for groups of 4+). Entry after 2pm: £10pp.

All tickets include tea and cake between 3pm and 4pm. Visit St Torney’s church, North Hill between 4pm and 6pm by appointment. www.chct.info

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Lander Silhouette© Roy Curtis

INTREPID CORNISHMEN Elizabeth Dale uncovers the stories of three of our most adventurous Cornish explorers.

A

s a seafaring nation, Cornwall has always had one eye on the horizon. From the early sailors setting out on voyages of

journey in a somewhat peripatetic life that

towers decorated with the skulls of thieves

would see him travel, according to his own and in one town, “50 or 60 heads hung up calculations, more than 100,000 miles over

by a string through their noses”.

land and sea.

discovery, to the 19th century Cousin Jacks travelling to far-flung places in search of

After working as a cabin boy, Mundy

work and a better life, the Cornish were not joined the East India Company in 1628.

His journeys took him around Europe, averse to global travel. the Balkans and Russia, but it is his trips Born in Penryn in 1597, Peter Mundy could

to China and India that are the most be described as Cornwall’s first true explorer remarkable. In Agra he witnessed the and one of the most intrepid adventurers of construction of the Taj Mahal, describing the 17th century. His father and uncle were the lavish jewelled decorations. At the Mundy had a keen eye and his are some of merchants trading in pilchards and in 1609,

time, the region was renowned for outlaws

aged 12, Mundy sailed across the channel

and Mundy writes a startling account of life and culture. From the roads to barber

with them to Normandy. It was the first the roadside deterrents to this criminality: n 40 |

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the earliest western descriptions of Indian shops and massage parlours, from the

astonishing riches and strange wildlife to deadly famine and disease, he described it all. In Fujian, China in 1637, he wrote: “The people gave us a certain drink called Chaa, which is only water with a kind of herb boiled in it.” As such, he may well have been the first Cornishman to taste tea! The popular beverage did not arrive in England until some 20 years later.

Mundy returned to Cornwall several times throughout his life but in September 1663, aged 66, he finally decided to come home for good. On arriving back in Penryn, he wrote: “From thence I began my travels and here I hope to find my haven of rest.”

He died in 1667, and his story was forgotten for nearly 300 years until his detailed and insightful journals were published in 1897. The originals are now held by the Bodleian Library and remain an invaluable historical resource.

his log that the island was “very pleasant in appearance, the whole seemed to be surrounded by reefs... As we sailed along the shore, which was covered in cocoa-nut trees, we saw a few huts and smoke. [I] sent out boats to sound and examine the coast”.

In 1823 he visited the continent for the first time as a servant on an expedition to the Cape of Good Hope with Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton. A further expedition in 1825 into what is now Nigeria ended in disaster; Clapperton died, and Lander was the only European to survive. The experience did little to deter him, however, and in 1830 he headed a government-funded expedition to find the source of the River Niger. Accompanied by his brother John, Lander travelled hundreds of miles through West Africa in a canoe, mapping the river’s course and becoming the first Europeans to discover that the Niger drained into the Atlantic.

The Dolphin only anchored there for a day as it turned out that this time the locals were less than friendly and Wallis was forced to beat a hasty retreat. He recorded coyly in his journal that the crew had named this uncharted island after him, an idea which he admitted he found flattering. The name HMS Dolphin set sail from Plymouth Sound stuck - the island, now with around 10,000 with its companion ship, HMS Swallow, on inhabitants, remains Wallis Island to this day, August 22, 1766. The little fleet passed close even after more than 100 years of French to Lizard Point before heading out into the control, and the Polynesian language open ocean. It wasn’t until three long months spoken there is known as Wallisian. later that Wallis and his crew finally reached HMS Dolphin and Captain Wallis the Brazilian coast and then passed into the completed their circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean in April 1767. globe with very little fanfare, arriving back Sometime during the journey through the in England in 1768. They had not found Straits of Magellan, Wallis’ ship lost contact the fabled southern continent but the vital with the Swallow but, short of supplies, they information they gleaned enabled Captain decided to continue without them and thus James Cook to set sail a few months later became the first Europeans to discover the with a far greater knowledge of what lay island of Tahiti the following June. They ahead in those vast, uncharted oceans.

As a consequence, Richard Lander became the first person to be awarded a Gold Medal by the National Geographic Society in 1832. Sadly, he died of a gunshot wound in Equatorial Guinea just two years later aged 30. The tales of his exploits and his final days filled the columns of Cornwall’s newspapers for weeks after his death.

Look out for his statue at the top of Lemon Street; sculpted by Cornishman Neville Northey Burnard, it dates from 1852 and sits on land gifted by Sir Charles Lemon MP for the occasion. l

Another Cornishman who found himself in uncharted territory was Samuel Wallis from Lanteglos-by-Camelford (1728-95).

Samuel was one of three sons born to John Wallis and Sarah Barrett of Fentonwoon, a small estate owned by the family since the time of Elizabeth I. Like many young men of the era, in 1744 Samuel joined the Navy, no doubt looking for adventure. He fought in the wars with France, travelled to North America and quickly rose through the ranks, obtaining his first command in 1756. Ten years later, aged 38, Wallis was promoted to the command of the HMS Dolphin, a large 24-gun frigate, tasked with circumnavigating the globe and finding the fabled great southern continent.

remained there for a month and Wallis did Perhaps Cornwall’s most well-known his best to foster good relations with the explorer is Richard Lander, who was born native people. in 1804 in the Fighting Cocks Inn, close to After resting and replenishing their the city’s present-day bus station. He first supplies they continued on their voyage. left England aged 11, on a merchant ship Then on the morning of August 16, 1767 to the West Indies, but it was his travels in land was sighted again. Wallis wrote in Africa which brought him real acclaim.

Portrait of Richard Lander

by C. Turner, 1835

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Betty & Janine

My Cornish Roots I was born Janine Flamank. My brother

Perhaps the most famous member of our

Richard and I are part of a small group

family was lawyer Thomas Flamank, one

of our generation of that name; at 97, my

of the leaders of the Cornish rebellion

Aunt Betty was the last surviving member of 1497. Henry VII attempted to collect of hers. Our family history in Cornwall goes taxes across England to fund an army to back to the time of the Norman conquest

send to Scotland. He intended to punish

– it's said William the Conqueror gifted a James IV for supporting the claim of manor house to one Stephen Flandresis, Perkin Warbeck to the English throne, but

Janine & Richard

Janine Flamank has always been proud of her historic name, and of her Aunt Betty’s Cornish ballads n 42 |

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Issue 72 | June - July 2022

who had helped the king back onto his

the Cornish felt this had little to do with

horse in battle.

them and challenged the tax. Blacksmith

By 1250, under Henry III, the name Flandresis had evolved into Le Flamank. The manor house of Nanstallon, near Bodmin (including the Barton of Boscarne, which we have visited), passed through generations of Flamanks in unbroken succession for over 500 years. It looks most likely that Richard, Betty and I are descended from

Michael Joseph – known as An Gof – set off for London from St Keverne on the Lizard, and Thomas joined him when he reached Bodmin. As Thomas’ father was Commissioner of Taxes for the King, the rebellion was very embarrassing within the family.

In total, around 15,000 people marched

the line of Thomas Flamank’s brother, John, towards London. In June 1497, they arrived who was an MP of Bodmin at the time of

at Blackheath Common where they were

the Cornish rebellion.

surrounded by the king’s forces; poorly

armed, they stood no chance. The Cornish Rebels were defeated at the Battle of Deptford Bridge, their leaders – including Thomas and An Gof - captured and executed at Tyburn. Flamank’s last words were: “Speak the truth, and only then can you be free of your chains.”

To this day, An Gof Day is celebrated on June 27 in St Keverne, Bodmin and London. In 1997, many Flamanks met for a commemorative march, Keskerdh Kernow (Cornwall Marches On), from Cornwall to London on the 500th anniversary of this uprising. My father Elwyn Flamank – Betty's brother - carried one of the banners on this march. A statue depicting Michael Joseph and Thomas Flamank was erected at St Keverne and a plaque unveiled on Blackheath Common.

My grandfather, Paul Eva Flamank (1887 – 1956), was the son of George Henry Flamank and Mary Jane Eva. The Evas were a powerful family, owning what we believe was the biggest farm in Cornwall: Higher Croft West Farm near Threemilestone. Mary Jane’s father was a mine captain who died when he fell down a mine shaft - he was unpopular, and rumour had it he was pushed! Upon his death, Mary Jane had to go to work in the dairy at Higher Croft West. She disliked it, and married the first man who asked her: George Henry (1854-1904) was a gold miner who worked two years in South Africa followed by a year at home.

When the Boer war broke out, George Henry was in England and could not return to South Africa. He turned to coal mining, moving the family to South Wales, but suffered from the climate and died of pneumoconiosis. Paul had had a good education at Truro School and was employed to do the book work in the mine business in Caerau, near Cardiff.

My father Elwyn attended night school to become a mechanical engineer, thus escaping the mines – although when war broke out in 1939, he was conscripted to work in the mine to increase the rate of coal production, a reserved occupation which kept him on British soil.

Betty's first dance at 19 - 1943

Aunt Betty

Softly, let me sing of Cornwall, Voice my love from heart and brain, My pisky-playful land of magic Holding in thrall the boundless main.

Sea-girt beauty, oft time mist-clad, Granite-cliffed her ramparts strong, Cover coves, silk-sanded beaches, Reefs where mermaids pause for song.

Onward! Westward! To the limit!

Gasp in wonder at Land’s End, Where “The Armed Knight” guards the gateway, Poised and ready to defend His fair country, rich in legend And in elemental worth, Cornwall’s a treasure, beyond measure, A Peerless paradise on Earth.

Song of Cornwall

by Betty Gardner (nee Flamank)

Pentallon (a pseudonym for Nanstallon); and “Forgotten Heroes, A Ballad of the Cornish Rebellion of 1497”, from which excerpts were recited in Bodmin town square in 1997 as part of Keskerdh Kernow.

Sadly, Betty died in February, and her funeral took place in St Ives in March. In characteristic style, she planned it herself, writing poems to reflect her keenness to cut her losses and exit. My husband, Chris, did extensive research into Flamank history before we came, and we spent three days visiting churches, finding Flamank plaques in St Enoder and stained-glass windows in St Mabyn. We also visited the sites of two Flamank manor houses: Boscarne Barton near Bodmin (1400s), and Gounroensen Barton near Summercourt (1700s).

I was born on the Wirral and was always proud of being Janine Flamank. It was a entrance exams, aged 10, Betty sent me singular surname - people always asked a Cornish piskie for good luck. I passed! twice about it and how to spell it (although I haven’t removed the piskie - christened at primary school in Scotland, my classmates Petroc - from around my neck since, and made fun of it). I married in the 70s, and never wear any other neck jewellery. never thought of being double-barrelled as At 97, Betty still had a sharp mind and it wasn’t really the done thing. In the early considerable wit. She wrote 24 ballads - 1800s, Honour Flamank married Nicolas clever, informative tales capturing some of Phillips - there being no male Flamank Cornwall's social and historic past in rhyming siblings, her son William was granted a royal My Aunt Betty moved back to Cornwall couplets, proudly old-fashioned in style. licence to keep the surname alive. But I was through marriage. Her desire to return was She was able to recite many of them from very happy to be Mrs Turner, although both strong, and as Betty Gardner she settled memory, but could no longer read them as my sons have Flamank as a middle name. in St Ives, where she swam in the sea well she had lost her sight. They lend themselves Chris, recently took up stained glass work into her 80s. We spent our holidays with very well to performance, and I recorded as a hobby, and is now designing a window her – we lived in Scotland, so the trip to St them to be relayed to her via smartphone. featuring the Flamank coat of arms with its Ives was particularly long and we travelled Examples include “I Stay”, the tale of Stephen cross and four stars, from an original at St Flandresis, which refers to the manor house in Mabyn Church. Amazing! l through the night. When I took my t @myCornwall_ | G myCornwalltv | w www.thatsmycornwall.com 43 n

Y’n pymthegves ha hwetegves kansbledhynnyow, trevow and gwigow oll a-dreus Kernow a restri performyansow a wariow kryjyk yn Kernewek. Unnik dhe Gernow ens i, an performyansow ma, neb a usya gwarivaow kylghek kevys yn ken tyller vyth yn Europ, plen an gwari aga hanow. Y krysir an goslowysi dhe sevel a-dro kres an kylgh ha’n warioryon a berformya a-dro an amal ha war eth gwariell, po ‘gorsav’, gorrys a-ugh ughelder penn war tommen, bysow y furv ynwedh. Hag yma’n gwrians ow kwaya gorsav dhe gorsav, po yn fenowgh war-nans yn-mysk an bush, eksperyans troghysek ha dramasek re bia yn tevri.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, towns and villages all across Cornwall organised performances of religious plays in the Cornish language. These performances were unique to Cornwall and were staged in circular amphitheatres called ‘playing places’ found nowhere else across Europe. It is believed that the audience stood around the centre of the circle while the actors performed around the edge and on eight stages or ‘stations’ positioned above head height on a ringed embankment. With the action moving from station to station or often down in amongst the crowd, it would have been a truly immersive and dramatic experience.

kryjyk religious performyans performance plen an gwari playing place goslowysi audience amal edge gorra to put, place ughelder height tommen embankment bysow ring gwrians action gwaya to move war-nans downwards yn-mysk among bush crowd troghysek immersive dramasek dramatic Yn spit na vos plen an gwari oberi hwath yn Kernow, y’gan beus tybyans da fatell o an gwariow performys gras dhe duyow gwariva skrifys y’n mammskrifow, prederis dhe vos an kottha y’n bys! Rag konvedhes yn hwir hag yn us byttegyns res yw dhyn ni daswul plen an gwari lel, ha rekna a-nowydh fatell dhe wul askorrans mar komplek. Yma ragdres yn poran an par na owth avonsya hedhyw, ledys gans Askorrans Gwydhen Owr, an para a wrug lies ragdresow a vri kernewek ha gonisogethel hag awenek.

Owth oberi gans pennser ha pennseri-tirwel, y rer avis desin sad hag unn jydh martesen ni a wello plen an gwari oberi arta!

For general enquiries: maureen.pierce@kesva.org For enquiries about publications: roger.courtenay@kesva.org For enquiries about examinations: tony.hak@kesva.org For enquiries about the language correspondence course: kernewekdrelyther@hotmail.co.uk For more Cornish Language visit: www.kesva.org n 44 |

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Let's Speak Cornish Despite there being no working playing places left in Cornwall, we have a good idea how the plays were performed from stage directions in the original manuscripts, thought to be the oldest in the world! To really understand in practice, however, we will have to recreate an authentic ‘playing place’ and work out anew how to stage such a complex production. There is just such a project in progress today, led by Golden Tree Productions, the team behind many well-known Cornish creative and cultural projects. Working with an architect and landscape architects, the idea is being given serious design consideration and one day we might see a working playing place again!

tybyans gras dhe tuyow gwariva mammskrif komplek askorrans para ragdres gonisogethel awenek pennser tirwel avis sad gweles

idea, thought thanks to directions theatre, stage original text complex production team project cultural creative architect landscape consultation, consideration serious to see

NEBES LAVARENNOW GWARIVA SOME USEFUL THEATRE PHRASES “Dew tokyn rag an performyans gorthugher, mar pleg?”

“Two tickets for the evening performance, please?”

“Ple’m’agan esedhow?” “Where are our seats?”

“Drog yw genev, oll an tokynnyow gwari mir yw sevel hep ken!”

“Sorry, all miracle play tickets are standing only!”

“A allav prena korrkeryn a dhewen rew, mamm? Saw tri feuns...”

“Can I buy a mini-tub of ice cream, mum? Only three ponds...“ “Pygemmys?” “How much?”

“Arghhh, yth esos ta ow sevel war ow besyes troos!”

“Oww, you’re standing on my toes!”

Prag yth yw an hirra den pupprys a-dheragov!”

“Why is the tallest man always in front of me?”

“Pur dha ywa ‘vel Tormentor, a nyns yw ev!”

“Very good as a Torturer, isn’t he!”

A carefully curated selection of affordable gifts, cards, kitchen and homeware, alongside a selection of Cornish makers and designers.

20 High Street, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 2AB Open: 10am-4pm Daily • Tel: 01326 618240

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InfrAbandoned is an exhibition of infrared photos taken of Cornwall’s magnificent mining heritage. “The human eye cannot see infrared light but a converted camera can, allowing a glimpse into an invisible world,” says photographer Barnaby Attwell. “Depending on the filter used, the effect can be ghostly and haunting, or garish and surreal - I love both.” Photographs are on display until August at the Red River Cafe in Heartlands, Pool - once one of the wealthiest places in the world as the centre for mining in Cornwall. Open daily, 9am to 4pm.

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ART NEWS WHITEWATER CONTEMPORARY, POLZEATH LIZARD ART: HIDDEN TREASURE AT TRELOWARREN THROUGH THE EYES OF...

SHARON MCSWINEY TIM NEWMAN: THE CORNISH FAUVE STEPHANIE SANDERCOCK VIP: YEW TREE GALLERY, MORVAH

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s w e N t r A

JACKSON FOUNDATION The multi award-winning Jackson Foundation Gallery in West Cornwall hosts three concurrent exhibitions this summer, each focussing on environmental issues (both man-made and ‘natural’), the disaster that is marine plastic pollution, and the ongoing climate emergency. In Mermaids’ Tears and Clay Country, leading contemporary artist Kurt Jackson addresses these issues through his trademark visceral en plein air paintings, ceramics and printmaking. Meanwhile, textile artist Sally Baldwin engages through delicate, finely balanced works created from silks, paper and scrim in Fragile Earth. These two creatives work in vastly different media and scale but share the conviction that the role of an artist is to take a step back and reflect on the symbiotic nature of art and environment, and to ask the difficult questions - and that it is up to us all to seek answers. l All three exhibitions run until August 13, 2022 at the Jackson Foundation Gallery, St Just TR19 7LB. Call 01736 787638 or take a 3D virtual tour at www.jacksonfoundationgallery.com

EARTH MINUS ENVIRONMENT Kestle Barton is an ancient Cornish farmstead situated above the Helford River. The gallery, garden and wildflower meadow beyond host a programme of free exhibitions and other visitor events each year, from early April to late October. This season sees three exhibitions. At its heart is Gustav Metzger’s Earth Minus Environment (June 25 to September 4), which aims to give dramatic visual form to the visible and invisible tensions in our relationship with the natural world. This exhibition will be launched by a weekend of talks, presentations and performances on June 25 and 26, and a programme of public events focusing on different aspects of our relationship with trees, from forest ecosystems and the ancient woodlands around the Helford River to carbon sequestration, woodland management and rewilding. The show is bookended by Abigail Reynolds’ Flux (until June 12), showing glass made using only the simple materials of Cornish seaweed and sand; and Feet of Clay (September 10 to October 30). l For more details, visit www.kestlebarton.co.uk

DAVID BEATSON IN PORTHLEVEN The Customs House Gallery in Porthleven is now open daily from 10.30am to 5pm, with a constant flow of new work arriving from its featured artists. New to the venue is David Beatson, who hails from Sheffield but is inspired by the vivid colours, stunning scenery and unique light of the Cornish coastline which he loves and visits numerous times every year. David’s aim is to capture the fleeting effects of light and movement; more recently, he has focused on completing paintings “en plein air” in addition to his studio work.

Pictured: Sailing in Mounts Bay. l

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Commercial Road, Porthleven TR13 9JD. Tel 01326 569365, www.cornwall-art.co.uk Issue 72 | June - July 2022

TRELISSICK GALLERY Summer Exhibition ‘Treasure’ Continues until 25th September

Focus on Ceramicist Debbie Prosser 15th June – 4th August

Open daily between 10am - 5pm

www.cornwallcrafts.co.uk

Improve your skills and meet like-minded people with pottery classes and workshops in Redruth, Cornwall.

These sessions are a great way to further explore the world of pottery.

everything and those who just want a few fun hours making a mug, plate or bowl.

I have three types of weekly workshops; on the wheel, for those who want nothing more than to learn to throw and are focused solely on that; general, for those who want to try

My studio has a relaxed and happy atmosphere, 10am12noon and 1pm-3pm throughout the week, also some weekends 10am-12noon

G10 Percy Williams Building, Krowji, West Park, Redruth, Cornwall TR15 3AJ Text: 07855 102 598 Email: susywardg10@yahoo.com www.susywardceramics.com

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PENZANCE ART FESTIVAL: CIRCA 21

NEW GALLERY PORTRAIT STUDIO REOPENS Following a lengthy closure due to Covid-19, the New Gallery in Portscatho has reopened its portrait and figure drawing studio. "Covid changed things for all art galleries, but possibly the greatest loss for us was contact with our customers,” says gallery owner Chris Insoll. “Before Covid, we didn’t even need a website; after 35 years of opening three days a week, we had some very loyal visitors, many of whom had become friends.” The gallery offered customers the opportunity not only to meet the artists and visit the studio upstairs, but also to be in a painting. “This can be a rewarding experience for both artist and customer,” says Chris. “Willing sitters are under no obligation to purchase anything, although those who had not exactly planned to start a modelling career often head straight off to buy a suitable outfit. Either way, it’s a win.” Visitors are welcome to view the studios on a Thursday, Friday or a Saturday, or by appointment. l The New Gallery, Portscatho. Tel 01872 580445, chrisinsoll@gmail.com

Penzance Festival of Art (June 3 to 19) brings together the town’s plethora of artists, galleries and museums for a celebration of the very best of Penwith art. Participating locations include Circa 21 in Market Jew Street, which will display Theresa Shaw's painting Wild Flowers, Wheal Prosper in the shop window as part of the art trail, while Sophie Dennett's art studio on the top floor will be open to visitors. Circa 21 showcases a great selection of Cornish contemporary prints alongside remarkable coastal pottery: Penryn artist Pete Shields’ Out To Sea (pictured) is a favourite print and sits beautifully alongside Newlyn-based Lucie Sivicka's wild swimmer range, or Lincoln Kirby-Bell's vibrant spot pots, while earthy ceramics by John Webb complement Julia Crimmen’s wild bird range.

Find Amanda Slade's beautiful Agapanthus small paintings and Chris Thompson's prints of Scillonian II or Newlyn Harbour. Stephanie Croydon has recently delivered framed original seascape art and the delightfully liberating work of illustrator Tanya McBride is fresh out on display. l Circa 21, 21 Market Jew Street, Penzance TR18 2HR. Open 10am to 4pm (closed Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays). Instagram @circa21

CAROL CHAPMAN AT THE COWHOUSE Carol Chapman became interested in sculpture while living in Surrey, where she attended classes at the local Adult Education Centre. After moving to North Cornwall in 1990, Carol studied with the Open College of Art. Her chosen medium has been almost entirely polished concrete, but she has made a recent foray into ceramics. Her work is mostly in the abstract, concentrating on strength of line to create form. Carol has been a member of the Boscastle Group since its inception and exhibits regularly with them, but you can find a significant display of Carol’s work at the Cowhouse Gallery in Perranuthnoe. l The Cowhouse Gallery, Lynfield Craft Centre, Perranuthnoe, TR20 9NE. Open daily, 10am to 5pm.

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Tim Newman Art A self-taught artist who moved to West Cornwall in 1981.

After four years away from Cornwall when he was based in Exmouth, Tim is now back in Falmouth, and his work can be seen by appointment both at his studio or home gallery.

Tel: 07906 367783 Email: cornishfauve@hotmail.co.uk www.timnewmanart.co.uk @timnewmanartbodywork / @maleformfalmouth

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JIM MOIR IN PENZANCE Artist Jim Moir – also known as comedian, actor and author Vic Reeves - presents The Lord of the Radiant Garden, a solo exhibition of his paintings at Cornwall Contemporary in Penzance throughout June. Widely celebrated for his irreverent wit, glorious eccentricity and tremendous creativity, Jim attended the Sir John Cass Art School in London before becoming a household name in British comedy for his TV work. Art has always remained his first love, and the anarchy and wonderful eccentricity for which he is synonymous is evident in his bold, vibrant and often surreal artworks, which merge his interest in the natural world and his witty imagination. l www.cornwallcontemporary.com

AROUND CORNWALL IN 38 CHURNS An unusual art project has been launched to raise funds for healthcare charity Cornwall Hospice Care. Artists from across Cornwall – including Kurt Jackson, Michael Praed and Dick Twinney - have decorated milk churns, kindly donated by Rodda’s Creamery, in their signature styles to be displayed around Cornwall. Art lovers are encouraged to follow a trail around venues including Paradise Park in Hayle and St Agnes on the Isles of Scilly, using an interactive map. The trail was devised by Sue Dennett, chair of the charity’s Newquay fundraising group and a supporter of Mount Edgcumbe Hospice and St Julia’s Hospice for almost four decades. A grand auction will be held at Truro Cathedral on Wednesday, September 21 - bidding is expected to be feverish. l Find out more at www.38churns.co.uk Painting by Simon Jewell - Oil - ‘Brooding Mount’

CREATIVE & CULTURAL LIVING

A stunning gallery located at the heart of the timeless Trelowarren Estate, run by a co-operative of exciting and diverse professional artists all sharing an enthusiasm for living and working on the Lizard Peninsula. Exhibiting a varied selection of paintings in a variety of mediums and a large selection of Prints and Cards. Crafts available include ceramics, glass, serpentine sculpture, jewellery and mixed media.

A warm welcome awaits you at Lizard Art.

Stableyard Gallery, Trelowarren Estate, Mawgan-in-Meneage, Helston, Cornwall TR12 6AF Tel: 01326 221778 | Open Weds-Sun, 11am-3pm | www.lizardart.co.uk Facebook: thestableyardgallery | Instagram: lizardartgallery n 52 |

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IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADVERTISE IN OUR 2022 ART GUIDES PLEASE CONTACT JENI SMITH

TEL: 01209 494003 EMAIL: JENI.MYCORNWALL@GMAIL.COM

ART HOUSE GALLERY Always on the lookout for new talent, Art House Gallery features a diverse mix of mediums, blending representational and abstract styles.

The exhibition evolves all season with fresh and dynamic work.

Their collection includes more than 20 of the most respected artists working in Cornwall today.

Open times: mostly 11:30am-4:30pm • Private views are available Art House Gallery, Island Square, St Ives, TR26 1NT T: 01736 794423 M: 07512 978 730 E: theahgallery@gmail.com

www.thearthouses.com

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GALLERY OF THE MONTH

This ‘white cube’ gallery has thrived over the last couple of years, thanks to great artists, virtual 3D shows, and classically beautiful curation These have been tough years for the arts, but one of Cornwall’s rising new galleries has bucked that trend, doubling in size and quadrupling its artist list since the start of the pandemic. In 2019, owners Suki and Nick Wapshott took a gamble on expanding the original Whitewater Gallery, which looks out across Polzeath beach, with the aim of establishing a classic white space for the curation of fresh and progressive new art shows.

“As it turned out, the timing was tricky,” says Nick, “but we’d had this plan in mind for some years and we weren’t going to let the pandemic steal our dream of establishing a really great art space. Suki and I were confident in our vision for Whitewater Contemporary, and we felt strongly that there would be continuing demand for great art here in Cornwall, maybe even more demand - and we were right.”

Nick and Suki’s investment proved worthwhile, despite the turbulence of the following two years of restrictions. Though their doors were frequently shut in line with lockdown rules, they found innovative ways to keep collectors viewing and buying artwork.

“Straight away, we invested in a 3D virtual tour camera and software for the gallery so we could continue our exhibitions digitally,” says Nick, “That allowed us to invite clients to ‘walk through’ the gallery space virtually, and browse our shows online whenever they wanted. It’s innovative stuff – the tour even n 54 |

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Issue 72 | June - July 2022

lets you walk up close to an artwork and examine the surface detail.”

Whitewater also began hosting online private views. “These were great fun!” says Suki. “Guests logged in for live Zoom events – lots of them sitting ready with their own wine and cheese - for a virtual tour of the show and a chat with the exhibiting artist. It worked beautifully! It gave our clients the chance to socialize, as they would at a real PV, and to carry on enjoying their love of art. It was one of those unexpected lockdown things that turned out to be incredibly positive and bonding for everyone. I almost miss them now our doors are open again.”

The creation of Whitewater Contemporary has also allowed Nick and Suki to show major artists, plus new and very different work, at a time when artists are much in need of support from galleries.

The pair are artists themselves - Nick is a surf and fine art photographer, Suki one of North Cornwall’s best-known painters.

“It’s important we show established work and help further the careers of new artists,” says Suki. “We understand that artists need positive, long-term relationships with galleries, so they can focus on making great work.”

A key part of that is Whitewater’s monthly Featured Artist series, which launched in the spring of 2020 with awardwinning new painter Luke Knight. This year, the series opened with painting and sculpture by Simeon Stafford, one of the

great characters of British art. Showing established names like Stafford alongside relatively unknown new talent makes for a fascinating programme of shows.

Next on the bill is rising young ceramicist Hannah Billingham, exhibiting throughout July. She is much talked about, as the winner of this year’s Prestige Award’s Yorkshire Ceramic Artist of the Year, as well as receiving the Gibney Prize for Outstanding Achievement in 2016 and a nomination for the Emerging Artist Award in 2019.

Her incredibly beautiful and complex work combines her passion for glazes, texture and in particular her obsessive love of symmetry and perfection. Each hand-thrown piece is detailed with an intricate surface of raised slip-trail dots, applied entirely by hand and eye, titled for the number of dots on its surface: for example, ‘Two Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy-Six'. These are special works, and extraordinary labours of devotion. “Every piece is an individually made, unique, oneof-a-kind treasure,” says Hannah.

Suki adds: “Hannah's work is exquisite and highly collectable. We are very proud to have her showing here at Whitewater, as we are with all our talented artists.” l See Hannah Billingham on show from July 1 to 30, 2022 at Whitewater Contemporary, The Parade, Polzeath PL27 6SR. whitewatercontemporary.co.uk Words by Mercedes Smith

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ART FOCUS

Tucked away in the Stable Yard Gallery at Trelowarren, midway between Helston and St Keverne, Lizard Art is a vibrant and fascinating space both to visit and to exhibit.

It’s also delightfully rural, with a recently reclaimed walled garden to the rear of the gallery providing a charming horticultural area, home to Gloucester Old Spot pigs and chickens alongside rows of neatly planted fruits and vegetables that supply the nearby Pantry and Bistro.

In the stableyard, the gallery entrance is almost hidden, peeping from behind two enormous palms that hang casually above the entrance, enticing you to enter and discover a wealth of artwork. Having 15 members in the cooperative brings a considerable variety of genres including woodcut/lino prints, dramatic seascapes, landscapes and abstracts in a variety of media.

Sarah Trewhella and Amelie White are united by a shared philosophy and interest in our connection to nature and the species that are vital to our ecosystems, which seems highly appropriate given the location. Sarah makes crafted wire bugs, pâte de verre pieces and ink paintings all inspired by nature, while Amelie - an Art Foundation Student from Truro College, taken under the wing of Lizard Art – creates beautiful painted moths which are presented discerningly on the wall.

Jane Chetwynd exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Show 2021. Her work explores the delicate balance between

the past and present, and is a slow-burner: it often takes months and in some cases years to resolve a piece of work. All kinds of materials inform and become part of her pieces: metal, found objects, fabric, paper, paint, wax, glass and, most recently, film.

Jane is concerned with the inherited landscapes of memory, belonging, place, sentiment, family, ancestry and evolution. She finds this in her immediate surroundings, be that a Victorian bottle dump, sandy beaches or the subtropical gardens of West Cornwall. She is fascinated by the marks left by the passing of time, while the patina left by human or elemental intervention, often found in partially decayed or eroded objects, informs the way she makes work.

Victoria Smith recently returned to Lizard Art after maternity leave. Now juggling two children, a job and home, she is enjoying her precious, albeit limited free time to put paint to canvas. Her paintings are a search for equilibrium; a stability of space and form fabricated by a process of layering, and generating illusionary depth.

Vertical and horizontal divisions are a common occurrence in her work.

Relationships between interlocking forms, colours and lines inspired by Victoria’s surrounding landscape are

a strong influence. These connections often appear jumbled, lost or unclear as a result of working from memory, although restructuring these memories to re-establish parity is her aim, allowing the viewer to enjoy her work and create their own interpretation, which is equally rewarding and exciting.

The gallery also hosts craft associate members. Karen Needham's ceramic work is mainly black or regular stoneware clay with lava glaze surface decoration; Sally Ould’s mixed media ceramics are fascinating and carefully assembled using driftwood and raku fired pieces; Rachael Stowe creates beautiful jewellery and textiles; and Donny Taylor’s sculptured serpentine pieces are inspiring and appealing. l Forthcoming exhibitions • Summer: May 25 to August 21 • Autumn: August 24 to October 30 Open Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 3pm.

Stableyard Gallery, Trelowarren Estate, Mawgan-in-Meneage, Helston, TR12 6AF. Tel: 01326 221778, www.lizardart.co.uk

G @TheStableyardGallery A@LizardArtGallery

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THROUGH THE EYES OF...

Tell us about your favourite location My husband, Tim, and I relocated to St Ives from land-locked Worcestershire in 2013. Prior to that, we had visited regularly, always out of season, usually February or October. Each time we came, it felt more and more like where we should be, so we took the plunge. We opened our first gallery in the Drill Hall; Tim ran the retail space while I made the work to stock it.

This successful system has continued in our new space in Island Square.

What inspires your work the most?

The artistic atmosphere inspires me to create on a daily basis. I’ve been a maker for 30 years, but since moving here, my work has developed in a more coastal direction - when surrounded by the sea, you can’t help but be inspired! Think seaweed, sea creatures and mythical mermaids, and also the colours of Cornwall. Walking down to the gallery from the top of town where we live always results in a photograph or two - rooftops, colours, beach finds or patinas; while I don’t always work directly from these images, they invariably influence my work.

Which elements of this location appear most in your work?

In winter, we take more walks on the beach to see what the tides have “gifted”.

Several of my silver jewellery pieces are recreated from fragments of sea creatures, in particular urchins, crab shells or limpets.

I always make a note of where pieces were found as I like to name the jewellery

with the place of origin; St Ives has several beautiful beaches, each affected differently by the weather.

How do you hang onto this inspiration once in the studio?

I always have a notebook beside me to jot down thoughts, as I often think about new ideas while working. My studio is in the garden, and I am surrounded by nature: foliage and birds right outside the windows, and a collection of interesting plants with unusual leaves – I have a passion for succulents, and a big gunnera gives the garden an exotic feel in summer! Inside, the shelves are filled with Kilner jars containing found treasures such as seed heads, feathers and fragments of worn sea glass.

What processes and materials do you like to use?

My paintings have a free way of working, in contrast with the control of my metalwork and jewellery. I use a photographic etching process to create the metal components for my wall pieces. I draw the designs by hand, filling all the gaps with tiny elements which often get used on my greetings cards. This is then transferred to acetate to be used as the tooling for the etching process. It’s quite an old-fashioned technique and is gradually being replaced by laser cutting, which I may have to explore moving forward. I then silver solder the copper and brass designs together using a blow torch - this also starts the oxidising process on the metal surfaces, resulting in unique colour effects

– and decorate the surfaces further with hammered textures and flux patination.

Working with copper enables lots of variation in colour, combining with brass to give vibrant contrasts.

What’s your home like?

Our cottage is an eclectic mix of vintage furniture such as Ercol and GPlan mixed with more modern Habitat pieces. White walls are filled with original artwork – mostly from Cornwall, often pieces found at fairs we are exhibiting at ourselves. At home, I prefer to surround myself with other people’s work rather than my own.

Your gallery has an interesting history tell us more In 2021, we relocated to Ponckle’s old gallery on Island Square. Ponckle (1934 – 2012) was a well-known St Ives character with a passion for cats (like me!). She established her gallery in 1985, and we met her (and purchased a painting) on our first ever visit to St Ives. Several years later, we had afternoon tea at her sail loft apartment.

We have a small collection of her work, some of which is on display in the gallery.

It’s nice to retain the connection and tell visitors about her work. I’ve also created a collection of “crazy cat lady” jewellery – I hope Ponckle would approve! l Sharon McSwiney, Gallery on the Square, Island Square, St Ives TR26 1NX Tel 01736 448293 www.sharonmcswiney.co.uk

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ARTIST PROFILE

Tim Newman The Cornish Fauve As a painter, for me it has always come down to shape, colour and feeling aspects no doubt relating to the exotic childhood I experienced. Until I was 11, I lived in West Africa - mainly Accra, the capital of Ghana. My father worked for Unilever, which was a big trading company in all sorts of areas – cigarettes, petrol, you name it. Although I was a privileged white child and kept largely separate from the local community, the impact of the heat and colour and different vegetation were strong. I think that’s why I love Cornwall - with its palm trees and mild winters, it’s arguably the most tropical part of the UK. We returned to England very suddenly. I was barely able to say goodbye, and to cap it all, our possessions fell into the harbour due to a freak accident as we were leaving Accra, meaning I lost all mementoes and souvenirs of my time there. It marked me very deeply - I felt like a fish out of water in England, with no cultural references. In contrast, my parents were thrilled to come home, which made it hard for me show my distress. For years, I felt an acute sense of loss, grief and longing to return.

I was “disallowed” from doing art, because it wasn’t a “serious” subject.

Instead, I went to university to study anthropology and comparative law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), with an emphasis on West Africa.

Looking back, I can see I was indulging a sense of longing - I was still pining for Africa. I didn’t finish the course and took a variety of jobs: packing in a factory, working for a travel agency, organic gardening. Later, I restored oriental rugs in Oxford, which gave me a whole new route into colour, design and touch.

I was introduced to the photographer Felicitas Vogler by a mutual friend. I spent time at her home in Switzerland, helping to catalogue her work. She was the ex-wife of the artist Ben Nicholson, and her home was full of fabulous artwork from Tibet, Africa – and St Ives. That was instrumental in my decision in 1981 to leave London for Cornwall, and to try and be an artist. Having experimented with alternative therapies, I trained in acupuncture and massage, which n 60 |

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enabled me to be self-employed and have time to work on my art.

Initially I was inspired by colourists such as Van Gogh and Gauguin. It was Gauguin’s The Day Of The God that made me want to paint. The Fauvists were directly descended from their immediate predecessors’ innovations, and were just getting going when Gauguin died in 1903. “Fauve” was a derogatory term - meaning wild animals or beasts, by extension primitive and instinctual - applied to a group of artists from 1902-10. In the narrow sense, this referred to their use of primary colours in a shocking and ’savage’ expression, no doubt with other ignoble inferences about the artists’ lives and morals.

I was called the Cornish Fauve by a friend who saw a natural link in my use of colour. I see an overlap with the bright, hot, exotic tropics of my childhood, where local textiles and fruit were constant splashes of pure colour, and the ability to shed clothing and feel the skin and the impressions of nature more directly. This all combined in a feeling of being back to nature, escaping restricting conventions, in glaring contrast to the dullness of England as I perceived it then.

Today, my approach to painting is vigorous, risky - the opposite of inherited timidity and shyness. I have learnt to trust my instincts and allow them to complement and inform my more ordered, intellectual side. Gauguin still inspires my landscape work - I went to the Scillies with Paul Lewin and got back into landscapes in full colour, which was great. My next step will be to combine figure within landscape.

Being in Cornwall enabled me to meet many influential artists. Felicitas sent me home with a letter of introduction to Patrick Heron. From 1989 to 1991, I shared a studio with John Miller at Sancreed House; inevitably he was able to observe my all-too-obvious struggles as an untrained painter, and with a few quiet words and the offer of some of his superior materials, I began to make progress with my practice. Romi Behrens became a good friend, and and I painted the female nude with a small group of artists, including

Rose Hilton, at her house in Botallack.

However, I was more interested in the male figure. I had come across the work of Henry Scott Tuke, as well as the more modern interpretations of Keith Vaughan, both of which appealed to me as someone emerging not only as an artist, but also as a man of same-sex affection and attraction. My first model was a runner I met on Penzance promenade. I couldn’t afford to pay him, so I traded massage instead. It worked well, we became friends and it set a template for how I enagage models. During the lockdowns my work had to be remote, and I stuck to pencil sketching for a two-year period; but drawing from life is my strong preference.

In my experience, those who personify archetypes of beauty or apparently ideal physiques nearly all suffer from a lack of confidence. They are not at all heroes and gods with the qualities or attributes people project onto them.

Such assumptions are the subject of a project I've been working on called “What is a man?” that has grown out of my participation in Cornish men's mental health charity Man Down. My Instagram handle for this is @blokesandladsinthebuff - and it is intentionally light-hearted. It offers an opportunity to be either still for an hour, or to talk, whichever the individual prefers whilst being drawn. Needless to say, the amount of kit retained or taken off is also up to individual participants.

My studio and gallery are at home, so I open by appointment. I’m participating in Open Studios Cornwall - search for Maison Fauve – and I also exhibited in The Crypt at St Ives with the PZ Eleven group in May. l To preview the kind of mixed display at the Maison Fauve premises, please visit the Instagram profiles that represent the collections:

A @20centcontemporarycornishart A @maleformfalmouth A @falmouthtextilegallery A @timnewmanartbodywork Maison Fauve, 2 Windsor Villas, Falmouth, TR11 3BW Tel 07906 367783 www.timnewmanart.co.uk

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ARTIST PROFILE

STEPHANIE SANDERCOCK A spiritual connection with the Cornish coastline When Stephanie Sandercock arrived in Cornwall in 2014, she was seeking musical inspiration but found love and a new artistic direction instead. Eight years later, she is married and an established artist with an especial interest in the rugged Cornish coastline.

The close details in the Cornish coastal rocks - the lines and cracks, tiny pebbles entrapped in fissures and the variety of colour in the sand and stones – all captivate her and are represented on a larger scale in her work. Textured abstract paintings are created using unconventional materials including shiny muscovite mica crystals, rusted steel, crushed limestone and Venetian marble plasters, alongside acrylic, oil and wax in bright, bold colours.

This summer, Stephanie will take part in a group exhibition on a theme of Cornish Perspectives at Thompson Galleries in London’s Marylebone, followed immediately by her fourth solo exhibition at Penwith Gallery in St Ives, which invited her to take full member status earlier this year.

Stephanie grew up in the Ribble Valley, just north of Preston in Lancashire, and spent much of her childhood “writing songs, painting and daydreaming”.

Childhood trips to the seaside were to resorts like Southport and Blackpool or North Wales. “I’ve always been obsessed with rocks, and my dad would have to empty the boot of all the rocks I’d tried to smuggle home,” she laughs.

But her connection to Cornwall is on another level, verging on spiritual. “The rocks aren’t just beautiful – they vibrate, and give off a sense of safety and deep calm,” she says. “They make me feel grounded, like I’ve been here before. It’s like when you meditate and get to your peaceful place.”

Her first experience came at Gwithian.

“It had a profound effect on me. I became obsessed. I stood with my forehead on the rock face, feeling the ancient pulse of the Earth.”

She struck up a relationship with the Penwith Gallery in St Ives and her fourth solo show coincides with being made a full member. “It’s a really big deal,” she says. “When I first arrived, I didn’t know if I was any good at painting, just that I loved it. There was a lot of experimentation. At school, we had to paint real things, but when we could do what we wanted, it was always abstract for me.

“There are so many galleries in St Ives, it can be overwhelming, so it helped to focus on one. I felt naturally drawn to the Penwith, with its great reputation for abstract work; I thought if I could get on the walls there, I must be doing something right. As for full membership, my goal was to achieve this in my 60s or 70s.” She’s now 52 so well ahead of schedule.

Gwithian formed the basis of her first exhibition at Penwith, described as a “promising debut” by art critic Frank Ruhrmund in 2016. She has since set herself the deadline of mounting a new show every two years. Godolphin To The Sea (2018) saw abstract ploughed fields creeping into her subjects, and the introduction of limestone and marble plasters. Hayle To Halzephron (2020) drew open the bold colours of lichen and produced heavily textured works.

Her latest collection, entitled Alchemy, leans heavily on mica and is “magical, like jewels – it has glamour and sparkle.

I’m a girl, after all!” she laughs, adding: “My work is progressing, and I’m still experimenting. I love being immersed in it and get a real sense of excitement and freedom. Whether the end result is any good is for someone else to decide.”

Her studio is at home near Hayle, but in 2021 she took on a workshop/gallery on St Ives’ Porthmeor Road. “I love working on my own at home, but this was an amazing opportunity to be part of the St Ives artist community and has enabled me to meet so many people and get feedback and sales.” It was here that she was scouted to take part in the summer group show at Thompson Galleries. “It was one of the very few days I opened in December - I got lucky.”

Under her maiden name Stephanie Kirkham, she released the infectiously upbeat album Tiny Spark in 2015 – one track, Easy As 123, was used in European TV campaigns for Peugeot and EDF as well as for Miracle Gro in the States. However, music has since taken a back seat. “All my ideas are painting ideas – as long as I have a way of expressing myself, I’m happy,” she explains.

“With music, I would go for a walk and find a beat in my footsteps, leading to a song forming in my mind. With painting, I’m moving my hands and losing all my worries and concerns, just living in the moment. I find an aliveness in it that makes me keep going back – it's physically demanding, yet addictive.” l Find Stephanie Sandercock at Whites Old Workshops, Porthmeor Road, St Ives TR26 1NP. For current opening times, email stephaniesandercock@gmail.com Alchemy runs from June 18 to July 17 (preview night Friday, June 17, 5.30pm to 7.30pm - all welcome) at the Studio Gallery, Penwith Gallery, Back Road West, St Ives TR26 1NL. Tel 01736 795579 www.penwithgallery.com

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VIP A VERY IMPORTANT PIECE

Fishing barge by John Maltby. Kindly lent by Jason Wason

HOMAGE TO JOHN MALTBY

From May 21 to July 3 Yew Tree Gallery, Keigwin, Morvah, TR19 7TS. A retrospective exhibition in homage to John Maltby (1936-2020) opens on May 21 at Yew Tree Gallery, celebrating a life of creativity. A man of great talent and vision, John lives on through his work - an abiding legacy for all to share.

Following a degree in sculpture and painting, John met Bernard Leach in St Ives in 1962. Leach encouraged him to follow his passion to become a working artist; John was apprenticed to his son, David Leach, in Bovey Tracey, where he learned the skills of making functional pots in the Leach tradition.

In 1964, John opened the Stoneshill Pottery with his wife, Heather. However, he soon tired of making domestic ware and started experimenting with form and decoration, which gradually resulted in the slip-decorated sculptural vessel forms that earned him international acclaim. Inspired by Picasso’s large dishes, which he saw on student travels to Vallauris, John drew on his own graphic skills, “making patterns and drawings on the pots which sprang from my personal experience of the English landscape and weather”.

Following major heart surgery in 1996, he lost the strength to work big slabs of clay and started ‘playing’ with small lumps. These emerged as tiny figures - angels, tigers, birds, boats, kings... Greater strength led to larger composite sculptures with echoes of stories, legend, archetypal figures and unusual juxtapositions. This new work excited collectors and galleries as much as his earlier vessel forms, and his role as one of Britain’s finest ceramic artists was assured.

Humour, albeit wry, is never far from John’s work. His perceptive eye lit on the vagaries of human nature and reduced pomposity into something rather endearingly comical. This is also visible in the painted wood automata that he was making alongside the clay work. His ‘swing boats’ are legendary; a number of these, as well as personal pieces made for his wife, are on display.

An illustrated book accompanies the exhibition.

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CIRCA 21 Discover Circa 21, a wonderfully creative shop in the heart of Penzance & established in 2014 by Esme & Alan Burton. Spread over two floors, you’ll find work from some of the region’s top makers like John Webb.

West Penwith is bursting with creativity and Esme has captured some of this talent for you to admire and fall in love with. In amongst the Fair Trade homeware are around 30 Cornwall based makers, including owner Esme’s pretty floral silver & copper jewellery that she makes in house. Feel inspired by a colourful and energetic shopping experience this summer!

During Penzance Art Festival 3-19 June, pop up to the top floor studio of fine artist Sophie Dennett whose work is direct & emotionally charged without sentimentality.

CIRCA 21, 21 Market Jew Street, Penzance, Cornwall, TR18 2HR • Open 10am-4pm (closed Sundays & Bank Holiday Mondays) Instagram: circa21 • www.circa21.co.uk

CREATIVE & CULTURAL LIVING COWHOUSE GALLERY

INSPIRE MAKERS

The gallery is run by a group of local artists and craftspeople and offers a wide range of original arts and crafts at very affordable prices. A stroll away is Perranuthnoe Cove with breathtaking coastal walks looking towards St Michael’s Mount in one direction and to Prussia Cove the other.

Left: Coral Fantasy by Carole Venables • Right: Radiance Pendant by Neil Wills Summer hours open daily 10-5. Lynfield Craft Centre, Perranuthnoe TR20 9NE T: 01736 710538 • www.cowhousegallery.co.uk

Located towards the top of Falmouth High Street, Inspire Makers is a creative space showcasing the talent of over 50 Cornish artists and craftspeople. There is a wide range of contemporary work from both wellknown and emerging makers, across jewellery, ceramics, textiles, painting & prints, stationery, and homewares. There is also a pop-up gallery which hosts a year round programme of short exhibitions by Cornish artists, and a dedicated workshop space which offers classes to inspire people to become creative themselves. Check our website for details on what’s coming up.

Opening Times: Tues to Sat 10am-5pm Inspire Makers, 5 High Street, Falmouth, TR11 2AB • T: 01326 531176 E: create@inspiremakers.com • W: www.inspiremakers.com A @inspire_makers • G inspiremakers

JACKSON FOUNDATION

MARTIN JOHN FOWLER Martin John Fowler is a professional working artist based in South Yorkshire with strong connections to Cornwall. Displaying in several local galleries, Martin’s work looks to capture Cornwall’s rugged and wild coastal areas, often en plein air when possible, and as a result has had his work exhibition both nationally and internationally in solo and mixed exhibitions.

MERMAIDS’ TEARS Until August 13th. This exhibition, originally shown in Scotland during COP26, charts Kurt Jackson’s efforts to address the blight of plastic in the ocean, and draws attention to the resin pellets or nurdles from plastic manufacturing (known as mermaids’ tears) that pollute the environment. In association with Surfers Against Sewage.

CLAY COUNTRY Until August 13th. For this project previously exhibited at Wheal Martyn and Worcester, Kurt Jackson worked in situ at the Littlejohns China Clay Works, observing the workers in the pit as they extracted and transported the china clay in an extraordinary manmade landscape.

The dramatic (and sometimes extreme) variations in the weather inspired a diverse range of drawings and paintings, perched on the edge of the pit or down in the depths – including the clay and stone itself in the mix.

SALLY BALDWIN - FRAGILE EARTH Until August 13th. Textile artist Sally Baldwin’s Fragile Earth is a body of work evoking natural forms such as trees, pods, flowers, insects, sea life, water. The materials used - recycled paper, handmade paper, silk waste, silk, cotton scrim - are ghostly, white and ephemeral, suggesting delicate, fragile, finely balanced and vulnerable landscapes.

Please check website for seasonal opening times North Row, St Just, TR19 7LB • T: 01736 787638 www.jacksonfoundationgallery.com

www.martinjohnfowler.com

SHARON MCSWINEY

We have moved to a new gallery space exhibiting handcrafted metalwork, jewellery & paintings. Inspired by the sea unique metal seaweed wall pieces & silver limpet jewellery capture the Cornish coast.

Sharon McSwiney, Gallery on the Square, Island Square, St Ives TR26 1NX Tel: 01736 448293 • www.sharonmcswiney.co.uk

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Photograph courtesy of Rodda's Cornish Clotted Cream

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FOOD BITES SUMMER SESSIONS AT THE ALVERTON AND GREENBANK TAKING FLIGHT: MOTHER’S RUIN 1751 GIN PLACES TO EAT: AL FRESCO DINING WEEKEND AWAY: LONDON EXPERIENCE: SHACKLETON AT THE SHIPWRECK MUSEUM

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bites

Springtide arrives in Charlestown

Springtide is a tasty new fish and seafood restaurant, with views over the historic world heritage site of Charlestown Harbour. The newest addition to Harbourside Hospitality - the family-run collection of eateries including the Longstore restaurants in Charlestown and Truro - Springtide is based in a restored 19th century building previously used as a fish cellar and boat store. Its opening menu - created by executive chefs Will Spurgeon and Matt Liddicoat – features seaside classics, family favourites and a selection of meaty mains. Think surf & turf, prawn linguine alfredo, New England chowder, mackerel fillet burger, and vegan Banana Blossom ‘Fish’ and Chips – as well as daily specials, decadent desserts, delicious sides and extras to share, plus bar bites of cockles and scraps. Open Wednesday to Sunday from 5pm, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 3pm, 5pm till late. To book, call 01726 879053 or visit www.springtidecharlestown.co.uk l

Tasting menu at St Enodoc

The St Enodoc now offers guests two wonderful dining experiences under one roof. As well as providing laid-back allday dining in the Brasserie, head chef Guy Owens oversees the pass in Karrek, offering an exquisite six- or nine-course tasting menu in an intimate, welcoming setting.

Dishes, small but perfectly formed, range from scallop and Cornish crab quiche to oyster and mussel risotto, bouillabaisse and roast duck. Much of the produce used - rare breed meat, vegetables and fruits is grown at the hotel’s own farm, meaning that from field to fork, the distance is often just a short walk, with fish from the day boats at Padstow, oysters from Porthilly

and wonderful greens foraged from the sealine. Originally built in 1924 as a private house, St Enodoc was transformed into a seaside-chic boutique hotel in 1999 and was taken over by James and Lucy Strachan in 2017. Six courses £65pp, nine courses £100. Accompanying wine flight £70pp. enodoc-hotel.co.uk l

New on the high street

Look out for two new shops offering toothsome treats. In St Ives, Flapjackery on Fore Street (pictured) sells a variety of mouth-watering gluten-free flapjacks and other sweet treats; choose a St Ives specific box of three or six flapjacks, and 50p/£1.50 will be donated to the St Ives Lifeboat Station. And in Truro’s Little Castle Street, Campaniaborn Valentina Langley has launched La Pineta Italian Deli, selling fresh Italian breads, pastries and pasta as well as handmade sauces, street food, proper pizza and carefully selected Italian wines. Look out for future tasting evenings, and the La Pineta market stall on Lemon Quay every Wednesday and Saturday. l

STOP PRESS: Charlestown Food Festival takes place within the historic harbour on June 18, from 10am to sunset. Find fabulous local food suppliers and stall holders, a family yoga session, an audience with Mischief the mermaid, face painting, a pirate scavenger hunt, craft and beach school sessions and more.

Festival flavours

This year’s Tropical Pressure Festival is going 100% plant-based. Travel the world through your tastebuds with Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Nepalese, Italian, n 68 |

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Middle Eastern and South American street food all featured. Music is themed throughout the three-day festival: Latin American

Friday,

African

Saturday

and Caribbean Sunday. July 15 to 17, www.tropicalpressure.co.uk

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! e r e H is

And there can be few better places to be than way down west. Two of Cornwall’s flagship hotels, The Alverton in Truro and its sister venue The Greenbank in Falmouth, have upped their food and drink game over the summer period, with several events popping up to add an extra buzz.

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The view from The Working Boat at Greenbank Hotel

Dining at Greenbank Hotel

T

he Greenbank dates back to at least 1640 and is thought to be Falmouth’s oldest maritime hotel. Illustrious guests include

for warm days on the terrace – like a

Florence Nightingale (whose name in the

be made even more special by the

guest book is on display in reception) and

Sundowner Sessions, featuring talented

Kenneth Grahame, author of The Wind In

local musicians performing in the lounge.

The Willows.

From 7pm until 10pm, sip your tipple(s) of

mermaid, beautiful but dangerous.

The last Friday of every month will

choice while relaxing to dreamy acoustic As such, it seems only right that a new

tunes from Ross Galt (June 24), Joe

cocktail series in the Water’s Edge bar

Hurworth (July 29) and Mog (August 26).

should be inspired by the National

These events are not ticketed so arrive

Maritime Museum’s Monsters of the Deep exhibition. Expert mixologist Holly

early to avoid disappointment.

Bennett has curated and crafted 12

At The Working Boat pub, Sunday night is

delectable tipples including What Lies

quiz night, with plenty of prizes (including a

Beneath – a gin martini-style cocktail

generous bar tab) to be won from 7.30pm.

inspired by Cornish sea monster Morgawr,

Entry is free to enter but donations are

and featuring Tarquin’s Seadog Navy gin

invited; almost £2,000 has been raised so

and Knightor Rosso vermouth; and Song

far, for charities including Treliske Neonatal

of the Sea, a fresh and citrusy drink perfect

unit and Macmillan Cancer Support.

The annual Dragon Boat Race launches from The Working Boat’s private quay on July 9, and the pub will also provide a stage for the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival (June 17 to 19) and live music from Jonah’s Lift and Falmouth Soul Sensation during Falmouth Week (August 5 to 14).

The Alverton offers the ultimate inner city elegance. In summer, it’s all about the terrace, which comes into its own in the warmer months and is a lovely spot to savour lighter seasonal dishes.

The Alverton’s Summer Sessions are brought to you by Offshore this year, Sharps’s flagship pilsner lager. Elevate your Thursday evening with live acoustic music on the sun-drenched terrace, sipping CONTINUED OVER THE PAGE

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Caesar Salad

Executive Chef Nick Hodge’s Caesar Salad is the perfect meal to pair with white wine and Cornish sunshine. Enjoy with cooked chicken breast, jammy eggs, salty anchovies or crisp bacon.

INGREDIENTS (SERVES TWO): For the dressing: 2 garlic cloves, peeled 7 anchovies ½ lemon, juice 30ml white wine vinegar 25g parmesan, finely grated 15g Dijon mustard 1 egg yolk 5ml Worcestershire sauce 60ml rapeseed oil salt and white pepper to taste For the garlic croutons: a drizzle of rapeseed oil 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 2 slices of stale bread, diced (focaccia and ciabatta work well) a sprig of rosemary, chopped a pinch of salt 1 lettuce, large

The Alverton

Optional extras: Crispy bacon, Cooked chicken breast, Boiled eggs and/or Anchovies METHOD: 1. Dressing: Put ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth.

Set aside.

The Alverton's Summer Terrace

Offshore or cocktails (two for £10) while chefs rustle up tempting terrace tapas.

Performers include Rue (June 16), Ash Harding (July 14), Sam Richardson (July 28), Miranda Brook (August 11) and Tom Baker (August 25), all performing three sets from 5.30pm onwards. The season will come to a grand finale with singer-songwriter and Britain's Got Talent semi-finalist Josh Curnow in The Great Hall on September 8.

The Summer Sessions are ticketed events – the £17 entry fee (grand finale £22) includes a reserved table on the terrace and a pint of Offshore or a cocktail. If there’s a chance of rain, sessions will take place in The Great Hall with its perfect acoustics and capacious dance floor.

Afternoon teas are served Monday to Saturday from noon to 5pm (Sunday n 72 |

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3pm to 5pm). Look out for a new vegan addition to the menu, featuring all the usual delights but with a twist, including vegan cheese and scones with jam and oat cream (must be booked 24 hours in advance).

Be warned: these highly desirable locations get busy in summer, so book ahead to ensure you don’t miss out. l The Alverton, Tregolls Road, Truro TR1 1ZQ. Tel 01872 276633, www.thealverton.co.uk The Greenbank Hotel, Harbourside, Falmouth TR11 2SR. Tel 01326 312440 www.greenbank-hotel.co.uk www.theworkingboat.co.uk

2. Croutons: Preheat oven to 155°c / gas 3. In a shallow bowl, mix together the oil and garlic. Soak the bread in the oil until coated, then stir in the rosemary and salt. Place the croutons on a baking tray and bake in the oven, turning occasionally, until golden brown.

3. Lettuce: Wash and drain well. Tear off the outer leaves (save the small inner leaves for garnish) and mix with 4-5 tbsp of the dressing.

4. Assemble: Place the dressed leaves in a salad bowl. Layer with the inner leaves, croutons and any optional extras. Finish with a generous grating of parmesan.

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Kirstie Newton discovers how Cornish Blue Flamingo Gin is ready to take the spirit world by storm.

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ost flamingos are pink; a blue flamingo is incredibly rare and beautiful, to the point of mythical, and spotting one brings good fortune. Lady Luck is smiling on Cornwall right now, as Cornish Blue Flamingo Gin from Torpoint is popping up at stores and shows near you.

In July 2018, Craig Brook-Hewitt founded parent company Mother's Ruin 1751 – the year of the Gin Act, which sought to restrict sales in the face of perceived drunkenness - with his father and business partner Ken, who had 20 years’ experience in the brewing and distilling business and is now head product developer.

Craig developed a passion for gin while he was serving in the Royal Navy – he entered Cornwall Division in 2002 and later joined the crew of HMS Cornwall and HMS Portland. Now ranked RN Chief Gunner, Craig is soon to retire after 21 years’ service and will focus his energies on Mother’s Ruin 1751.

His Eureka moment came during the Royal wedding of the Sussexes. “We were celebrating in a big gin bar, and the cocktails were coming out on ‘flights’ - boards with bottles and glasses,” he recalls. “They weren’t that great, and I thought: ‘I can do better than that.’”

Having worked on a range of gin flights with Ken, Craig found that not only were they popular, but buyers were asking why he didn’t sell the gin to go with them. He set about researching and meeting fellow Cornish distillers: “There is no doubt in my mind that Cornwall produces the best gins in the country,” he says of that time, which cumulated in the Gins & Fins festival at Plymouth’s National Marine Aquarium, raising funds for the Ocean Conservation Trust.

The seeds were sown for Craig to create his own gin. He studied hard and spent many hours mixing flavours, coming up with design ideas and trialling them on family, friends and industry colleagues. The result: Cornish Blue Flamingo Gin, produced using the facilities at Colwith Farm Distillery and using botanicals ranging from Cornish Black Bee honey to the antioxidant açai berry from South America.

You can find it at farm shops including Tre, Pol and Pen in Launceston and Trevallick’s near Liskeard, and specialist stores such as the Little Gin Shack in Wadebridge and John’s in St Ives. Craig is also stocking Blue Diamond Garden Centres, which includes Trelawney at Wadebridge, and will be attending festivals throughout the UK this summer, including Chris Evans’ CarFest in July and August. Sunderland-born Craig has also used his contacts to stock the north-east and Yorkshire, and is hoping to sign a deal with a wholesaler to help him widen his reach.

In the online shop, you’ll find double G&T in a can, and an array of gin preserves and sauces created in collaboration with the help of The Cornish Larder in Tregony: honey, jam and marmalade, and sauces including jalapeno & lime and peri-peri & herb.

A second gin launched in April: a spiced variety called Commander Fox after Craig’s Pomeranian pooch. Craig describes it as an Old Tom-style gin - a recipe popular in 18thcentury England and slightly sweeter than London Dry – and recommends serving it with ginger ale. Batch one sold out in two weeks – all 1,000 bottles – and batch two is flying off the shelves.

And Craig’s eco credentials are still evident; as well as keeping Blue Flamingo plastic-free and sponsoring beach cleans, he is happy to flatten used bottles with a heat machine to make cheese boards and key rings.l www.mothersruin1751.co.uk t @myCornwall_ | G myCornwalltv | w www.thatsmycornwall.com 75 n

G N I N I D O C S E R F L A Verdant Taproom, Penryn Penryn’s Verdant Brewery recently opened a new taproom offering 16 lines of beers on tap and four cask lines. Already well-known for its Neapolitan-style pizzas, Verdant has teamed up with Sham Mulji of Situ Café to offer al fresco casual dining this summer. Cooking out of an old German ambulance, Sham’s signature style is derived from the Gujarat region of India via the east African country of Uganda the perfect complement to hop-forward beers. Sham adapts family recipes, using direct trade spices from Jodhpur and local produce where possible, including sustainable Cornish beef from Homage to the Bovine in Stithians. The atmosphere is friendly, with shared bench seating and awning coverage, plus live music. Currently open Thursday 5pm to 9pm, Friday and Saturday noon to 9pm, with more to come with the summer sun. verdantbrewing.co

Camel Trail Summer Nights A beautifully renovated vintage railway carriage halfway along the Camel Trail cycle path will dish out takeaway fine dining this summer. The Atlantic Coast Express (aka ACE) has been serving up ice creams, crepes, coffees and cakes to walkers and cyclists since 2009, but the addition of Summer Night Supper Clubs has proved extremely popular. David Sharland (formerly Rick Stein’s executive chef) and Eric Taylor will create imaginative dishes celebrating the best of local produce, including local lobster and samphire picked along the estuary. Arrive by bike, foot, boat or horseback; pull up a picnic blanket, bring your own cutlery/glasses and sit watching river life pass by as you enjoy gourmet bliss! Each event has just 40 covers, so booking is essential. Friday, June 17; Saturday, July 16; Monday, August 15 and Saturday September 10. atlanticcoastexpress.com/supper-clubs/

The New Inn, Tresco The New Inn has reopened following a substantial refurbishment.

The Driftwood Bar has had a fresh lick of paint and new fabrics, while The Pavillion has been transformed, with features include zinctopped and reclaimed wooden tables, a warming log burner and walls decorated with Tresco treasures. The new menu crafted by head chef Liam Caves puts pub favourites such as the New Inn Burger and traditional fish and chips alongside half- lobster with local chilli and herb butter, monkfish scampi or freshly-caught crispy skinned mackerel. In summer, the new outdoor Ox Grill will be fired up and food cooked over the coals, bringing to life the flavours and aromas of locally sourced produce such as the daily catch of islanders Jordan Penhaligon and Hannah Keith. www.tresco.co.uk n 76 |

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Carlyon Bay A feast of food and drink pop-ups, live entertainment, activities and shoreside events have joined forces to create a mini-festival village at Carlyon Bay near St Austell. A delicious mix of local independent foodies have transformed Crinnis Beach into a riot of flavours, trading from shipping containers, a stylish beach shed and a quirky horse box. Beachgoers can take their pick from gourmet burgers, stone-baked pizzas, wraps, seafood feasts, cream teas and proper Cornish ice cream, all washed down by drinks from the Shoreside Bar. Traders include Harvester Seafood Shack, Jasper’s Kitchen, Wrap Shack, Ogy1 Pasty Shack, Manor Made Cornwall and Callestick Farm. A timber pagoda provides all-weather cover for a new seating area, and live music at weekends – look out for hardhitting Chicago blues band Smokey King Shufflers on Friday, July 8. www.carlyonbeach.com

The Old Coastguard, Mousehole The Old Coastguard has a lovely new terrace with an uninterrupted view out over the sun-dappled sea. The day boats and trawlers of Newlyn tie up just two miles west of here, meaning the menu boasts plenty of fish and seafood without neglecting quality Cornish beef and poultry, game from local estates and cheeses from some of Britain's best dairies. The Crabshack currently serves nibbles but is having a kitchen installed and should be serving lovely shellfish soon. www.oldcoastguardhotel.co.uk

The Vine by Knightor The perfect destination for English Wine Week (June 18 to 26), The Vine by Knightor is a new dining destination brought to you by the Knightor Winery team. Nestled away in a Knightor’s Portscatho vineyard, with stunning panoramic views along the south Cornish coastline, this is a down-to-earth atmosphere in a laid-back space.

The Vine serves small plates, sharing dishes and more in a rustic barn setting, with long sharing tables to encourage the notion of coming together. The bar is stocked with local tipples including 8 Track rum, Tarquin’s gin and Navas Tonics. Open Thursday to Sunday, noon to 9pm (food served until 7:30pm). TR2 5EH. www.knightor.com t @myCornwall_ | G myCornwalltv | w www.thatsmycornwall.com 77 n

Port William, Trebarwith Strand The Port William is tucked into the cliffs above one of Cornwall’s renowned surfing havens. The modern restaurant and bar serves a delicious menu featuring a choice of reimagined pub classics, fresh seafood and mouth-watering sweet options, all paired perfectly with St Austell Brewery beers. Sink into an outdoor seat to drink in the delights of the area. Expect impressive surf, rugged rock formations, and a wealth of wildlife. At low tide, Trebarwith Strand boasts a sizable stretch of golden sand with a fascinating collection of caves and rockpools. www.theportwilliam.co.uk

Lula Shack Hayle Close to Hayle beach and a sister venue to Amelies Porthleven, Lula specialises in lip-smacking Cajun recipes inspired by owner Sam Sheffield-Dunstan's travels in America’s deep south. Think slow-cooked gumbo, crab claws cooked over a fire pit, southern-fried chicken, po’boys, dirty fries and Creole Sunday roasts, not to mention key lime pie for dessert. All a stone’s throw from three miles of golden sand. www.lulashack.co.uk

Feast on the ferry Philleigh Way cookery school is a hop, skip and jump away from the King Harry Ferry, at the heart of the Roseland peninsula; head chef Rupert Cooper hosts courses from pizza making and Lebanese cuisine to knife skills and foraging. The ferry itself will host a super-party on Friday, June 17 from 7pm; the Ferry Feast menu has yet to be revealed but promises to be “fun, filling and tasty”. Book soon to avoid disappointment. www.philleighway.co.uk/event/feast-on-the-ferry

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Mama Shelter's Restaurant

The Royal Albery Hall

Tower Superbloom © Historic Royal Palaces

Mama Shelter

Great Western Railway

St Paul's Cathedral © Chapter of St Paul's

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Issue 72 | June - July 2022

WEEKEND AWAY

TALES FROM THE CITY Take a weekend break in London to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, writes Kirstie Newton

A

s Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee approaches, what better time to consider a visit to the nation’s capital? Let the train take the strain, and London is less than five hours from Cornwall, leaving you free to relax: read, enjoy coastal views or (like us) play GWR Top Trumps.

Our own trip was almost jinxed by Storm Franklin, which littered the line with debris and left stock and crew in the wrong places. In the event, we left on time but a 50mph speed limit threatened to double our journey time, with no promise of reaching our destination. Despite challenging circumstances, the GWR staff remained professional and cheerful in the face of ever-changing information and we arrived barely an hour and a half late quite an achievement.

We headed straight to our digs in trendy Shoreditch: the funky French chain Mama Shelter, proving you can do budget in style. Here we feasted on continental breakfasts before setting off to discover the city over the next three days. We have always booked family rooms in the past, but Mama Shelter also offers interconnected rooms, meaning Daughter was able to have her independence (and we grown-ups our peace) while retaining some proximity.

Is it possible to visit the capital and not check into the Tower? Apparently so, as I never had and I’m some age. Clearly, I’m in a minority, as it’s the UK’s most popular historic attraction, with three million visitors immersing themselves annually in a millennium of British royal heritage.

Throughout its long history, the Tower has served as royal palace and fortress, prison and place of execution, an arsenal, royal mint, menagerie and jewel house. Today,

it’s home to some of the most potent symbols of British history: the Yeoman Warders (aka Beefeaters), ravens and Crown Jewels.

We spent an entire day here, sailing past the jewels on a handy conveyor belt and seeing where the young princes disappeared and Anne Boleyn met her grisly end. Charles II decreed that there must always be at least six ravens here, lest the kingdom fall; there are currently nine in residence. Daughter sat among them and sulked awhile (we considered leaving her there, but sadly, they no longer take prisoners).

On the top floor, the Wonderlab exhibition (entry fee applies) offers an opportunity to interact with real scientific phenomena: see lightning strike before your eyes, play with forces on giant slides or travel through space under a canopy of stars.

Both museums are round the corner from the Royal Albert Hall, which was another one ticked off my bucket list. We saw the magnificent Cirque du Soleil, but this summer you could opt for titan performers like George Benson and Gladys Knight, daily Proms throughout August, or watch Superman on the big screen accompanied by

the

Royal

Philharmonic

performing

John

Concert

The 13th century moat is well worth a visit this summer. In 2014, it was filled with 888,246 ceramic poppies to mark 100 years since the first full day of British involvement in the First World War. More than 20 million seeds (chosen specifically to attract pollinators) were planted this spring, and from June to September, the ‘Superbloom’ display will erupt in waves of colour, pattern and scent in celebration of Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Grab a mat and slide down into this spectacular field of flowers for a multisensory experience including a specially commissioned sound installation.

Orchestra

Williams’

When in London, an exhibition is obligatory, so we enjoyed a family-friendly exploration of The Beano at Somerset House. While this is now over, a special Beano comic strip will guide visitors on a wild journey around the Eden Project during the summer holidays from July 23.

We had a great time, but I always find

London has some fabulous museums that are free to enter and tailor-made for families. The Science and Natural History Museums are both near South Kensington tube. We chose Science - perfect if you’re into rockets or right-angles, cars or clocks.

• Find Mama Shelter at

original score live.

A cityscape view is always a must, so we climbed to the top of St Paul’s iconic dome, where I edged my way around the Golden Gallery in abject terror of the drop below. Inside the cathedral, our tour was interrupted by the bishop saying a prayer for all in Ukraine, which had been invaded that very morning. It was a timely and moving reminder of how lucky we were to have a safe home to return to.

And indeed, it was time to head back to Paddington and our GWR service home.

London exciting and exhausting in equal measure - the pressure to fill every second with excitement, and the fear of losing my brood on the Tube (it very nearly happened). Small doses are the thing - I’m already planning our next trip. l

mamashelter.com/london-shoreditch/ • Book your train journey at www.gwr.com • Discover more about Superbloom at www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london

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The Shackleton Experience Charlestown’s Shipwreck Treasure Museum, perched on the UNESCO World Heritage Site’s stunning harbour, is home to thousands of artefacts salvaged from more than 150 ships.

Museum said: “Sir Ernest Shackleton’s story of human resilience and endeavour is truly inspiring. We’re very excited to host this special exhibition, in association with the RGS-IBG, and display it in Cornwall for the first time. It’s something that visitors of all ages can enjoy, and we will have some fun, interesting activities for younger guests to engage with as well.”

The sea has acted as a huge time capsule, but pioneering divers eventually managed to find and recover its secrets, many of which had been lost for many centuries. These artefacts provide a fascinating insight into the past for the museum’s visitors.

This year the museum has added new content that brings to life and tells the incredible tale of famed polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, and his ill-fated Endurance expedition to Antarctica.

Visitors descend into The Shackleton Experience and begin their journey within the network of tunnels found below the museum. Entering this atmospheric polar realm, the immersive experience sets the scene of how the Endurance mission began and a taste of what life was like on board the stricken vessel during this daring expedition in unchartered and unforgiving frozen waters.

This is followed by a striking exhibition of images and excerpts of film captured by celebrated photographer Frank Hurley, highlighting the stark and harsh realities of the crew’s desperate battle for survival n 82 |

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Issue 72 | June - July 2022

against seemingly insurmountable odds.

It is staged in association with the Royal Geographic Society with IBG and is on display in Cornwall for the very first time.

Another new exhibition, Frozen in Time, is image-led and contrasts the historical photography taken at the time of Shackleton’s adventures with four exciting archaeological discoveries in the Arctic and Antarctic seas that have employed the latest, cutting-edge technology. Modern colour photographs and advanced archaeological scans alongside images of underwater archaeology in action showcase how shipwrecks are discovered, explored, and documented today.

Alexandra Shackleton, the explorer’s granddaughter, was the guest of honour at the launch of the museum’s new features.

Alexandra never met her grandfather but grew up inspired by the stories of his incredible life and in particular his leadership skills.

The award-winning attraction is planning a host of associated talks and events during the exhibition’s run. This will include a screening of South, a silent movie captured by Frank Hurley during the expedition and released in 1919. l For more information visit www.shipwreckcharlestown.co.uk

The four shipwrecks featured are Franklin’s HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, Benjamin Leigh-Smith’s Eira, the infamous RMS Titanic and Shackleton’s Endurance. Also on display are images and video captured by the Endurance22 expedition that finally located the historic ship beneath the frozen Weddell Sea earlier this year.

Lynné Raubenheimer, Visitor Engagement Manager at the Shipwreck Treasure

L-R: Alasdair MacLeod (Royal Geographical Society with IBG), Alexandra Shackleton, Lynné Raubenheimer (Shipwreck Treasure Museum)

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Issue 72 | June - July 2022