This is the sea defence wall which we walk along to get to Hannafore. You see it at a particularly high tide which is also indicated by the height of water at Looe bridge. There is at low tide a quiet, south east facing beach predominantly  shingle that reveals some coarse sand and an extensive reef with rock pools at low tide. Most people visit the beach for these fantastic rock pools that are uncovered twice daily, but it also a great suntrap due to its positioning.
Hannafore never becomes too busy, partly due to its location (across the river) and partly dues to its lack of facilities and golden sand like neighbouring beaches. It is popular with dog walkers though as it is one of few dog-friendly beaches around Looe. Occasionally we stop to talk, on one occasion to a 90 year old who did his service in wooden huts on Bodmin Moor just as Alan Bennett did in the book I have been reading. They both learned Russian there too! There is a large hotel in Hannafore which attracts coach trips especially from Wales (we are always hearing Welsh accents), a Bowling Club, a kiosk and a nice cafe, and apart from that just expensive houses with enviable views! Back at home we relax in the garden which is really coming into its own now…..the profuse amount of Spring flowers in the banks and hedges may have come to an end now but the green lanes and surrounding countryside look very ‘English’.

Having looked at the local map Explorer 107, we did a short walk in the woods below Duloe which is the next village to ours on the way to Looe. The lanes were beautifully flush with spring flowers as the picture shows.  After parking the car near a couple of others who were out dog walking, we walked through Tremedart wood, down to the stream, crossed into Penquite wood and back along the opposite side of the stream in Lantundle wood

to the car. I say stream. It is actually the early part of West Looe river. And very pretty too. Salmon, brown trout and sea trout can be fished for. I always have a hankering to do some fishing – whether I’ll get round to it is another matter. Back in Duloe, we park and visit the  stone circle…Cornwall’s smallest, it is indeed titchy! See Historic Cornwall for details. I don’t think I have mentioned The Plough in Duloe which is our nearest pub, great for eating, but not a drinker’s pub as there are just a couple of stools at the bar.

 . There is a very pretty walk from the one to the other. However, one thing you pass on the way is the memorial to the Penlee lifeboat disaster ……

‘On 19th December 1981, in average winds of 80 miles per hour, the Union Star, a Dublin-registered coaster, making its maiden voyage to Holland with a cargo of fertiliser, and an RNLI Lifeboat, Solomon Browne, were lost at Penlee Point with all hands. 8 Mousehole men were lost, which had a huge impact on a population which is still, to this day, only around 500.

The disaster is commemerated in two different ways today. The old lifeboat house at Penlee Point, in which the Solomon Browne was housed, stands empty as a permanent memorial to the men who were lost. As well as this, on the 19th December every year at 8 PM, Mousehole’s christmas lights are turned off for 1 hour. It is well worth witnessing either of these two to pay your respects to arguably the worst maritime disaster of our time.’ Indeed it is. A solemn reminder of Cornwall’s constant battles with the sea which surrounds it, gives it its living and character, but can cause tragedies like this.

There is another of Cornwall’s excellent hotels in Mousehole – The Old Coastguard – and in we popped for a well-earned drink and light lunch. Mousehole is a delightful place with its little harbour and pretty cottages built from the local finely grained Lamorna granite. Dylan Thomas (1930) described Mousehole as ‘ the loveliest village in England’…..impossible to argue with the great man. The bus just about manages to get into the narrow streets of the village, and that is how we returned to Penzance, where we wandered around the shops for a while and had a cup of tea in Penlee House Museum which is full of Cornish art and artefacts and has lovely gardens. Penzance has rather a workaday feel about it, and with its neighbour Newlyn is a very busy fishing port, and there are some great highlights like the Art Deco outside swimming pool (just being renovated), and the so-called Egyptian House which is very striking, now that it has been restored by the Landmark Trust. 

Today’s walk was in a blustery wind. The resident gulls are regarded as a nuisance, and indeed can get quite aggressive.. We have seen a few successful dive-bombings on visitor’s pasties, chips or ice-cream which can be quite dramatic for the people involved. The weather didn’t stop the races around a course just outside Looe harbour marked out with buoys…these take place every week in Summer. The end of our regular walk sees us opposite Looe island which is a nature reserve after being donated to a Trust by the two sisters who lived there for many years. We haven’t visited yet (there are constant boat trips from Looe), but at certain times of very low tide you can walk across to the island from Hannafore. Apparently on the opposite side of the island there is quite a large seal colony, and we notice that the glass-bottom boats stop near the island over some of the many reefs. The rocky foreshore at Hannafore holds hundreds of rock pools some quite large, and we often see collectors. Talking to one man he was gathering sea lettuce and other goodies for his restaurant, it must be very satisfying to have free fresh produce.

Visited today The Duchy Nursery and Garden Centre. In the middle of lovely countryside, with a brilliant cafe and quality selection of plants, if you sit out on the terrace there is a wonderful view across the valley to Restormel castle perched on its hill like a fairytale castle. On another occasion, when cold, we sat inside the cafe on a large sofa in front of a roaring log fire. Brilliant! And of course we couldn’t get away without purchases….

Well the date is Monday 9th May and no entries for the past couple of months because….we have been emptying boxes, visiting the tip, taking about 50+ boxes of books and miscellaneous items to BHF, planning our new kitchen, seeing workmen, suppliers, etc, getting the house in order and gardening to name just some things. Not a great deal of reading but as far as I can remember two large Rumpole Omnibuses (very very funny and very very good, they were certainly worth the re-read) and ‘Death Under A Tuscan Sun’ by Guitarri ex Head of Florence Police and a guy who knows what he is talking about (well hopefully anyway). I pushed Giuttari right from the start in ourbookshops and he has lived up to expectations up until now….this sadly wasn’t him at his best….the whole thing felt rather tired and lacklustre and badly put together. Apart from that I have tended to read things which help us explore our local
area such as Simon Jenkins’ ‘Thousand Best Houses’ and ’Slow Cornwall’ , both like Mr Kipling, exceedingly good. In reality I have consulted dozens of books on Cornwall and things Cornish as, like anywhere we have lived, I have built up quite a library.

We didn’t get to know about the Fowey literary festival until too late to book for most events but this evening we went to the ‘Maggie Reeday & The Craig Milverton Trio: A Jazz and Blues Evening in Fowey Parish Church’, and very good it was, although the acoustics weren’t perfect it has to be said. Putting on my critical hat, as one who has organised hundreds of bookshop and festival events, the programme of events appears to have been excellent with a very good mix of local presenters (it was after all known for many years as The Daphne du Maurier Festival of Arts and Literature), and nationally known celebrities and authors. Professor Grayling, Vince Cable, Prue Leith, Patrick Gale is to name just a few…..

Our garden grows lovelier by the day, and we now realise has been carefully planned to need very little maintenance considering its size. How lucky we are to be living here in this relatively unknown part of Cornwall and in this house! We have lived in many houses in all parts of the country from Devon to Northumberland (about 13?), but this must be at the top of the pile for enjoyment. In my wilder moments I say this is the sort of garden people might visit, but anyhow thank goodness we have it to ourselves. It’s very pleasant from all kinds of angles…

And of course our lanes around the house get lovelier too….bluebells to the left and ramsons to the right….and contain plenty of wildlife.

May, and all is well in the garden. This is our view from the living room. As far as I can tell this is very much a Spring and early Summer garden, so we might make efforts to create visual enjoyment at other times of the year. The statues are interesting. There were more believe it or not, but these two were cemented down and so couldn’t easily be taken by the previous owner. We thought we might regard them as something akin to gnomes (which we hate), but we’ve grown to love them. What we don’t know is who exactly they are. We call them David and Ariadne….but probably not! We continue our investigations. Today a visit to Lerryn for a walk along the river and in the woods. A truly beautiful little place where everything rotates around the river, called Lerryn here in this creek but soon flowing into the River Fowey. The walk is delightful, but next time we must extend it a little to call at St Winnow’s which is an historic church located more or less on its own on the river…an idyllic situation. That walk can be found on the excellent IWalkCornwall site….The woods were painted with swathes of ramsons. I’m pretty certain there will be woods around  here carpeted with bluebells too, something to look forward to next year. Another big plus for the village is that it has a terrific pub the Ship Inn, and is in the Independent’s ‘Top 50 Pubs of Great Britain’. What a great end to a lovely day.

We ascertained there were several furniture shops and places for ‘style’ near Penzance so that’s the direction we took today. Lots to interest us. The best and of course most expensive place was Iroka….if you need some inspiration for re-designing your home it could be here. We then needed some relief from shopping (more accurately window shopping), so off we went for lunch to our favourite spot in St Ives – Porthmeor Beach Cafe. What you get is fantastic service, great fresh food at a reasonable price and the best view in the world. It’s absolutely a no-brainer for us to visit, and whatever time of year we come – March, July, October – the weather and of course the light for which St Ives is so famous never lets us down. After lunch, why a stroll on the beach…and who is to say this is not the Mediterranean? Whilst St Ives is always busy, there are many ways in which you can get away from the crowds, whether it’s getting a nice spot for lunch above everything, trying a different beach (there are several), or going for a walk on the Coast Path (you’ll soon be pretty much on your own). I have given this considerable thought, but I have to say St Ives is my favourite location in the whole world, and for me it always lives up to its billing. Opposite Porthmeor Beach Cafe is Tate St Ives, a most impressive structure, and there are literally dozens of studios to visit and browse. So the mind is catered for too. Utterly magnificent.