Day 3 - June 22 - Penzance and surrounding areas

St. Just

 

We drove to Penzance to get my iPhone set up correctly. Sadly the town has suffered badly with the recession and looks run-down. When  living in Mousehole I took the bus to St. Clare's school in Penzance - lovely views of the coastline and Penzance's palm-lined sea-side Promenade. The tourist towns and villages are doing well, most with very upmarket boutiques and restaurants, but Penzance is not so touristy. We went to visit Daphne's older sister in Ludvgar, a small town close to Penzance. Her very old cottage has been beautifully renovated - small and cosy. It was a blustery and  rainy day, but we went out for lunch to Tremenheer, a place with lovely gardens, including a sculpture garden and a very upmarket cafe. I had tomato and lentil soup with chillies, and with fresh artisan bread, a delicious lunch. As it was so cold and windy, we couldn't look at the gardens, so decided to take some slices of home-made cakes and have them with hot tea at Sue's house. Definitely the right idea. After arriving back in St Ives and getting totally soaked by the driving rain, we changed and bared the rain again to see the movie "Summer in February". This was so appropriate for us, as it was filmed in Cornwall at many of the places we were seeing. It is based on a true story about the artist colony of Lamorna Cove and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Dan Stevens was still Matthew Crawley from "Downton Abbey", he will always be typecast as that unless he takes totally different roles.

Day 2 - June 21. Summer Solstice, longest day.

A delicious breakfast at the hotel - poached egg and haddock. Kept us going on the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice. Walked up the very steep hill to our old school, St.Christopher's, no longer in existence, the two ladies who ran it are long gone. I didn't remember the building, after all it is sixty years since I was there from the age of eight until nine or so. Daphne was there until she was eleven, so was able to point out various landmarks and tell stories.

St. Christopher's School where Daphne and I met at age 8

After that we drove around the north coast of Cornwall, stopping in Zennor, a tiny village with a very old church where her family is buried.  Daphne's father, Robin Nance, made these children's chairs specially to go with the table in the church where the children stayed during the service.

On to the places Mum and I lived for various periods of time. Couldn't have been long anywhere, as I remember going back to South Africa when I was around 9 or 10. St. Just is a small town more inland, and I remembered it as being freezing cold and very windy. Now it is a popular stopping place for walkers and other hardy people walking the coastal path and enjoying the rigors of the Cornish Peninsula. Fantastic views of the fields and coastline. Further along was Sennen Cove where we used to swim, and then onto Porthcurno, a small but very important place during WWII. Many ships gathered there before going over to France on DDay. It was also the place where telegraphs were sent all over the world when the British Empire was at its height, and many young people (mostly young men) got their training and worked there. A great boost to the social scene in Penzance, not far away. There is a fascinating museum in Porthcurno showing how the operations of the telegraphs worked, and also photos and details of the laying of the cables. It took 5 tries to get the cable across to the US, finally in 1886 it was accomplished.  

Also in Porthcurno is the famed Minack Theatre, carved out of the rock on the cliffs.



The Minack Theatre, Porthcurno

My connection to it was when Mum was involved with an opera being performed there. Titled "The Logan Rock" it was composed by English composer Inglis Gundry, and also participating were two of her Old Vic Theatre colleagues, Edith Coates who was the principal singer, and her husband Harry Lloyd who coached the chorus. The rehearsals were in Penzance with an orchestra including members of the Royal Philharmonic. The performances were in the Minack Theatre. It must have been such a special time for Mum. She had been away from the London opera scene for over 20 years and here she was amongst some her oldest friends from her Old Vic days in the 1920s. Although I didn't realize the enormity of the event for her, it became one for me, as it was my first exposure to an orchestra and opera and I was bowled over, especially by the sweetness of the oboe sound.

 

The Logan Rock from the Minack Theatre at Porthcurno

We went on to Mousehole (pronounced Maozel) where we lived in a lovely house called the Garden house, so called because it has a huge wall all around the property, thus sheltering the large garden from the stormy coast. By pure coincidence Daphne knew the people who owned the house, so we deducted that Mum must have been either house-sitting or short-term renting while the owners were overseas. I loved that house and gardens and am sorry not to have any photos of it except for one I managed to get through a chink in the gate at the bottom of the garden. The place was locked up tight and the garden very overgrown. You can just see the white house at the top. Huge windows overlooking the garden.

The Garden House, Mousehole

We just made it in time for delicious cauliflower cheese soup and a shandy at the Ship Inn overlooking Mousehole harbor. It was from here one night, I went with a friend around my age who was staying with us for a holiday, on a fishing boat all night. The fisherman was a neighbor of ours at the Garden House, and had invited us. To this day, the smell of diesel fumes makes me nauseous, but it was an adventure, especially in the early morning when we went in to Penryn, around the coast from Mousehole to unload the catch which was sent immediately out to suppliers. Truly fresh fish!

Our last place of the day was my school in Penzance, St. Clare's. It was a private school and  I would take the bus from Mousehole to Penzance. After Mum bought an old Austin car for 25 pounds, sometimes she would drive me. That was such a luxury, having a car! From St. Clare's I got my passion for glass receptacles. We had home economics and when cooking in the kitchen, I loved working with the Pyrex dishes and bowls, all shining clean. Still the same to this day. I enjoyed the school very much, learning to dance the Hornpipe and discovering that I was vertically challenged and pretty useless at netball, the equivalent to American basketball. However,  I was a whiz at rounders, (softball). I can't remember if it was at St. Clare's that I was taken off the hockey team for being too aggressive. It happened in one of my 16 schools! I was mad about horses then, and had horsey friends. My best friend in Mousehole came from a farming family, and I would ride at the top of the hill. One family lived in a large manor-type house near Penzance, and I would ride there sometimes. Every so often we would go to a Pony Club gymkhana in a field overlooking the bay and  St. Michael's Mount. A very happy time. Memories in Penzance when I went to the  doctor for treatment for conjunctivitis, and hearing that Roger Bannister has just broken the 4 minute mile, May 6, 1954. Everyone was cheering! 

It had been quite day, emotionally and physically, a good night's sleep was easily managed.

Day 1 - Arrival in London and on to Cornwall.

I arrived in London early after a good flight from JFK. Caught an earlier bus than planned, and the arrival time in Exeter was convenient for Daphne to meet me there. A very comfy four hour ride, time to wind down, have a snooze and be ready to start the adventure!
Exeter was my home for three years in the 80s when I brought the boys to get some English education. I was fortunate to get a peripatetic cello teaching position with four
private schools and Exeter College. I also played a lot and thoroughly enjoyed it all.
After spending too much time trying to get a SIM card for my iPhone, which we finally did, (I have never seen so many phone shops in one place) we drove to Jacobstow where Daphne's sister lived. Crit was in the throes of moving, but had made us a wonderful cream tea, everything homemade, except the cream which came from the a nearby farm. A truly memorable beginning to a Cornish holiday! We then drove on to St. Ives where Daphne had booked us in to the Regent Hotel, run by a former employee of her father. I had a wonderful view of the Harbour from my bedroom.

Being June, daylight stretched to well after 9pm, so although it was late, after getting settled in our rooms, we went for a walk through the town and onto the harbour, where we found a little café open on the harbour waterfront. Most eating places were closed, pubs stop serving food after 8:30pm or so. The Italian dishes looked good, and mine, Pasta Carbonora, was delicious. Huge portion.
Wonderful to breathe in the sea air and to hear the screaming gulls once again.

Prelude to nostalgia

A bit of background before beginning our tour around Cornwall, where I spent many happy times as a child in St. Ives, St. Just, the Rectory at Landewednack at the Lizard, Porthleven, Mousehole, Penzance, Bodmin. In another post I will go in to more detail about each one. 

 

I was born in South Africa of British parents. As was common during the time of the British Empire, albeit waning, there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between the colonies and Britain. My family, especially my mother, was no exception to this and we frequently travelled by ship between Cape Town and England, either to Southampton or the Tilbury docks in London. That was the route for the Union Castle lines. My first recollection of a voyage to England was around the age of 7, but I believe I had gone earlier.  2 weeks of fun once we were away from the Bay of Biscay. There was a special area for children where we were entertained by the staff. We had fancy dress-competitions, shuffleboard and other deck games, coca-colas served with a lemon slice! The crossing of the Equator was the most memorable with the visit of Neptune.  

Crossing the Equator certificate on the Capetown Castle, June 4, 1952

 

"Summer" in Fancy dress contest

All sorts of horsing  around and games around the pool. Lots of shaving cream and being thrown in. It was an idyllic time until we arrived in cold, grey London. We would stay with my friend Louise's grandmother Alice, (how life cycles continue, I now stay with Louise not far from where her grandmother lived in South London.) I was always cold, and remember walking in the fog, colored yellow by the street lamps. It was so good to get to the house to warm up with a cup of tea, the beginning of a life-time habit. In North Carolina the situation is reversed, so good to get home out of the heat and enjoy a glass of iced tea! After staying a few days in London, the next part of our exciting journey was to take the train from Paddington to Penzance in Cornwall, the south west tip of the UK. Why Cornwall? I wish I had talked more to Mum about her choices of the places we stayed in, I can only think it was due to, a) finding the warmest spot in the UK, b) economics, c) friends or jobs. 

The train was of course a steam train, and I had many specks in my eyes as I hung out of the window looking at the scenery. Thus began my lifelong passion for trains and train journeys. Everything was so exciting, especially afternoon tea in the dining car. Little tables on either side of the carriage were laid with the train company's crested china and silverware, just like the Orient Express. Tea in silver pots, little sandwiches, cake = bliss! Somehow the other meals didn't make such an impression on me. Perhaps at that age I didn't go in to dinner, as it would have been more formal. Or maybe all the meals are blurred in together, with tea being the most important.   It was a sleeper train and the excitement of a night on the train was  high. Arrival in Penzance was too early in the morning, so the train stopped somewhere and we slept until it was a suitable time to arrive. Breakfast was brought in on a tray.

 In 2002, when on a visit to Cornwall with my older brother John and his wife Betty, we went to visit St. Ives. I remembered the shop on the harbor  owned by  the father of  Daphne, a school friend at St. Christopher's when were around 8.  Robin Nance, her father, was a woodworking craftsman making beautiful furniture and other items. My mother must have met him and started making raffia lampshades to put on wooden lamp bases which were sold in the shop. 

We found it the shop,  of course her parents were long gone, but it was still owned by the family. The shop assistant kindly took a note I wrote and sent it on to Daphne who was living in Exeter, Devon, the county next to Cornwall. Daphne replied and in 2011, we met at her home in Cirencester, I with  3 year old grand-daughter Zoe in tow! In March of 2013, Daphne visited me in North Carolina. She had not been to the USA before, so I was determined to show her the real America after her few days in New York! We drove to the mountains and to the beach and had a grand time. One day when we were chatting, the idea came up about a similar trip around Cornwall visiting all the places where I had  lived. And 3 months later, there I was, with Daphne driving us around.