Going Coastal -- Part 2

As you can see, this was an absolutely gorgeous day! We drove west from Penzance to Porthcurno, home of the Minack Theatre. The sun was bright, the sea was brilliant blue and there were swimmers and surfers on Porthcurno Beach.

The Minack Theatre was the vision and creation of one woman -- Rowena Cade. And what a vision it was! Entertainment in Cornwall in the '20s was pretty much do-it-yourself. Rowena organized a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in an open field in 1929. This was followed with another production the next year. Looking for a more permanent solution, Rowena looked at the rocky cliff on her property.

Today's theatre is miles beyond the first rough stage which was lit by battery-powered lights and car headlights.



The theatre season runs from May through mid-September though visitors are welcome throughout the year.

The theatre features plays, musicals, concerts and ballet. Special morning shows for children are offered during August.

"Minack" refers to a rocky place in the old Cornish language.

Above the theatre seating area, the cliffs are planted with plants which can survive and thrive through stormy winters and hot, dry summers.

There may have been swimmers in the water -- but we thought they were crazy! Though the sun was bright, we dressed for cool weather -- and were happy we did.

Going Coastal -- Part 1

Cornwall is famous for its dramatic and scenic coastline -- and for its mercurial weather. We certainly got a demonstration of both the day we visited The Lizard -- a peninsula which hangs off the southern coast making it the farthest south point in Britain. We can see The Lizard from Penzance -- snaking down the north side of Mounts Bay -- but the name doesn't come from its shape but as a combination of old Cornish words meaning "holy court or palace." The Lizard is fairly flat on top but drops away to the sea with steep cliffs.

The Lizard holds a special place in the history of communications. Gugliemo Marconi had a workshop here and it was from that site that the first wireless trans-Atlantic message was sent from Europe to North America on December 12, 1901.

Communication of another sort as been a long tradition -- the lighthouse on the point has warned ships away from the treacherous coast and into the English Channel since 1619. The present tower was constructed in 1732. It was electrified in 1924 and automated in 1998. Visitors can rent light-keepers cottages here.

It was sunny, but cool, on the drive from Penzance. We'd packed a picnic to eat on arrival at Lizard Point. Right on the ocean, it was quite windy and we decided to eat in the car. As we ate, we watched clouds sweep in so that by the time we finished, the blue sky was gone and the wind stronger than ever. We put on all the clothes we had with us -- Jack gave up his Legless but Smiling ball cap for a knit cap Zoe had in the boot of the car. I took the cap and tied it on my head with my knit headband. Zoe tied a shirt over her head --and tied her hood over that.

As you can see from the pictures, the clouds rolled in and out with the sun making a brief appearances. I've put these pictures in here in chronological order, so you can see the quick changes of conditions.

It was quite a walk back up from the water and as we reached the car park, the clouds had re-appeared and the rain came peppering down.

Driving out we encountered a situation common to English drivers -- two cars needing to be in the same space at the same time. Something has to give. Zoe was impatient with the car in front of us because he was just a few feet from a bit of added shoulder which would have given him more room. Instead, he tried backing up a Cornish hedge! According to Zoe, "We've all driven up the occasional hedge." As I've mentioned before, these leafy barriers have hearts of stone -- stacked granite that plants find ways to root on.

Driving from Lizard Point to Mullion Cove, we were treated to a lovely rainbow. We could see the entire bow and one end stopped right over a wind farm. Zoe wanted a picture of that -- seemed like an environmental blessing -- but between the narrow road, the Cornish hedges and the traffic -- we never got that particular shot. We did get this one where the combination of little traffic and low hedges cooperated.

By the time we got to Mullion Cove, it was cloudy again. Jack got bored with our photo taking and headed back to the car. Zoe and I lingered a bit too long and before we got back to our auto, we got soaked by another downpour!

Colorful Cornwall

It's actually not very colorful right this minute -- our first really rainy day, which out of 10 so far, is pretty darned good. So today's post is all about colorful sites around town. I love the movie with Alan Alda and Carol Burnett -- never can remember if its The Seasons or Four Seasons -- but in it, Sandy Dennis' character is a photographer going through a vegetable phase. I totally get it.

Who could resist these romanescu -- looks like the mutant child of a match between broccoli and cauliflower!


Huge leeks! Obviously a do-it-yourself joke opportunity!


Savoy cabbage -- great color, texture, vitamin packed -- ugh!


Purple cauliflower? Hmmm. A turnip in the woodpile perhaps?


A number of the stalls have fresh flowers.


And here the flower of British womanhood stands up for the fight against breast cancer. Love the trim on the umbrella!

Warm Memories for a Cold Day

Remember that warm weather I wrote about before Thanksgiving? It's gone. There were traces of snow on the ground this morning and I climbed into my long underwear and revved up my annual whine -- "Did I tell you I hate cold weather?" To which my patient husband replies affirmatively and then tunes out. So I entertain myself looking at photos of warmer days. These are from my October trip to Cornwall, England, and an afternoon's outing at Trevarno, an elegant estate with famous gardens. Oldest records date back to 1246. Over the years, the property has been owned by several prominent families. In 1994, the 750 acres were divided into 33 parcels and put up for sale. Two gentlemen, Nigel Helsby and Mike Sagin, were able to buy the entire amount and have set about restoring the amazing gardens and putting the estate on a steady financial footing by establishing rural crafts workshops on the property. Garden settings range from broad lawns to a steep crevasse; from formal plantings to nature untrammeled. When we visited, the last of the roses were blooming and the hydrangeas covered themselves with pillowy mounds of blossoms. What a beautiful place! Spring, when the floor of the bluebell woods ripples like a magical ocean and the mountains of rhododendrons glow with magentas, reds and purples, must be awe-inspiring.

As We Were Going to St. Ives

My daughter Zoe is a fairly new English driver and I think she does remarkably well. Driving here is an adventure as most of the streets and country lanes were not made for today's traffic. We were going to St. Ives where my husband Jack was going to have lunch with the local Rotary Club. Not wanting to drive through the center-of-town traffic, we chose a back road. Zoe's Mazda is not a large car, but there were places where we could stick our arms out either side of the car and touch the Cornish hedges! Luckily, we didn't meet anyone coming toward us. The Rotary meeting was held in Tregenna Castle Hotel. Yes, it was originally a castle, or large manor house. The family wasn't royal, just rich. Today it offers many amenities including indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, gardens and a golf course. Maybe the finest amenity is the view -- a sweeping panorama of the coast with St. Ives as the feature attraction. St. Ives itself is full of touristy shops and was bustling even on a week day. The clouds faded away today but, even though the sun shone brightly, the breeze was brisk. On Porthmeor Beach, kids wearing sweaters waded out into the water. There was even an intrepid surfer riding the waves that washed up on the sandy beach. St. Ives has much to recommend it but I didn't see anything I'd trade for our lovely view of Mounts Bay in Penzance.

Going Coastal in Cornwall

We cut across country from Penzance to St. Just and the heart of the Cornish World Heritage Mining site. Ruins of engine houses and smoke stacks testify to the mines that once searched for tin, primarily, but also copper, silver and arsenic. Many of the structures perched precariously over the sea and shafts ran out as far as a mile under the ocean. The road winds in and out among the hills, revealing teasing views of the ocean. Cornish hedges squeeze the pavement, cutting off the scenery and providing little wiggle room when meeting oncoming traffic. Cornish hedges are stone-hearted -- literally. Constructed of stacked, unmortared, granite stones, their crevices provide harbor for seeds that produce vegetation which disguises their unyielding centers. We traveled past Botallack and Pendeen, stopping at Zennor to see the 12th century church of St. Senara with its Mermaid Chair, estimated to be 500 or 600 years old. Local legend tells of a young woman who came to the church and became enamored of a young chorister. A mermaid in disguise, she lured him down to the cove and into the sea and they were never seen again. I personally doubt this story, as I had difficulty getting up the tall granite steps into the church. I can't imagine that it would have been possible with a tail.