Cornwall, Recipes, Stories, Places to visit, Food and Drink, History, Photography,
Colin Leggo’s latest video is a spoof of Grand Theft Auto over dubbed with a Cornish accent and aptly named ‘Grand Theft Cornwall’. With over 150,000 hits in just 8 days Col’s done a bleedy ansum job.
Check it out, it’s possibly the funniest thing you may see today!
Nice one Col!
We are delighted to be celebrating our first year wedding anniversary tomorrow and I though it was about time to put some of our honeymoon pictures on one of our blogs! So if you head over to www.acornishcoastalwedding.com (our wedding blog) you will see them.
Go grab yourself a cuppa tea and a piece of Saffron cake and enjoy the pictures!
M&B
Here is a little video I found by Holly Turton – which made me smile! Probably because I fell asleep in that shelter one night in my teens on my long walk back home to Budock Water.
Slightly late for Christmas but Happy New Year to all My Saffron Bun readers.
Today I would like to introduce to you Catherine Lucktaylor, an artist who relocated to Cornwall 3 years ago. Here is her story…
I have been a practicing artist for over 20 years and three years ago I took the plunge and relocated to Cornwall. I now live in West Cornwall surrounded by the sea, ancient stone circles and sacred wells.
My love of Cornwall began about 12 years ago when I put my bicycle and camping gear on the train and headed to Penzance. I spent a week exploring West Penwith and fell in love with the wildness of the land, the beautiful turquoise sea and stunning cliffs. The people I met were very friendly, helpful and welcoming. I particularly loved the Mermaid of Zennor, which is a beautiful carving of a mermaid on a pew in the church at Zennor. I created a mixed media piece inspired by the carving and have been making mermaids ever since.
My creations include beautiful and sensuous ceramic sculptures, pots and jewellery. I take inspiration from the ancient myths and legends of Cornwall which I blend with the sacred art and earth based spirituality of my West African heritage. My elegant sculptures and ceramics are designed to create an aura of magic and ethereal beauty to enhance any home or garden.
I always hand build my sculptures, pots and jewellery individually, so each piece is unique. I have recently been making raku fired ceramics. Raku is an ancient Japanese technique which has been adapted to modern times. The pieces are fired to around 900 degrees centigrade in a specially made gas fired kiln. They are removed from the kiln when they are red hot and plunged into sawdust. This dramatic process gives the beautiful effects unique to raku. The thermal shock causes the glaze to craze and enables the smoke to penetrate the clay body.
I am especially pleased with my latest ‘rock pool bowls’ and ‘landscape pots’ and I am currently working on a private commission for a mermaid garden sculpture.
To see more of Catherine’s magical artwork visit www.catherinelucktaylor.com
Turning Leaf Ring
Riptide Studs
Turning Leaf Earrings
Riptide Bracelet
Turning Leaf Bangle
Double Drops Pendant
” I take all my photos on the beach which is just at the end of the lane where I live and couldn’t wish for a better photography studio”. All images © Marsha Drew
If you are visiting Rock, Polzeath and the North Cornwall coast then you must pop into The Winter Gallery at Polzeath to see Marsha’s work and other Cornish artists work.
In my quest to show off some of Cornwall’s artistic talent of which there is plenty I stumbled across jeweller Cath Bull from St Just, nr Penzance. A fellow listener to Radio 4 as she drifts off to sleep trying to decipher the shipping forecast and what might be brewing in the Atlantic.
Although not Cornish and only having lived in the county a short time this is the story of one ladies leap of darkness to the west of Cornwall but fingers crossed the future is looking bright…
‘I was not born in Cornwall, Leeds was my birthplace. I have lived in various places in the UK with the last 25 or so in Lancaster. I moved to St Just, near Lands End, October 2010. This was the outcome of being diagnosed with a form of arthritis, and neither the health service or benefits system seemingly being able to cope with the intermittent nature of the illness, with my families help and support decided to move down here. It was a leap in the dark, and after some admittedly shaky moments, the ferocity of the Atlantic storms took me by surprise, Lancaster is relatively sheltered by comparison, and the fierce winter, being practically snowed in, I now feel it was and is a good place to be.
I trained initially as a Goldsmith, gaining a National Association of Goldsmiths Diploma, then went on to gain a BA in jewellery design at Birmingham. I have worked in other areas, bookbinding, production pottery, textiles, graphic design for screen printing, at the point where PC’s were just becoming widely available. For now I have two outlets and am hoping to build on that. One is the Arts and Crafts Gallery in St Just, and the other is Bohemia in Market Jew Street, Penzance. I don’t as yet have a website, but my details can be found on www.cornwall-arts-and-crafts.co.uk under jewellery, and also www.landsendchamber.co.uk.
The jewellery I make has changed. It has become more colourful and freer. Walks on the beaches nearby with my camera have fuelled more ideas that I hope to carry out soon. The round rug is a new departure. It was inspired by walking down the Cot Valley, October just gone, in an unseasonably warm spell. The sea and sky were summer blue tones but the bracken had turned so there were also the rich russets and rusts of autumn. And then the soft glow of lichen on the rocks. I didn’t have my camera with me that day, but when I got home I dug out all the colours and started working on it. This is still a work in progress. The light down here is at first overwhelming, and even on a winters day can be blindingly bright. But being a jeweller I love all things that glisten and gleam. And the granite does just that in the sunlight. I hope I can carry on working and making things for other people to enjoy and feel quite eager to crack on with the ideas that come through living in this incredible landscape.
I have been in touch with some artists in Cornwall asking them about their life in Cornwall and how they are inspired by the Cornish landscape.
First up is Alan Furneaux, an artist who has moved to the county of Cornwall from the South of England and although nearly 300 miles from London is making a great success of his career. Here is a little bit of Alan’s Story…
Lorraine and I and the children moved to Cornwall from Brighton 7 yrs ago. I had resisted the move for many years but finally succumbed. Lorraine was a farmers daughter being brought up on the farm at Godrevy. So my first introduction to Cornwall was Godrevy Lighthouse and that stunning vista over to St Ives. I absolutely loved Cornwall but my business as a professional painter supplying the markets in London just made me feel nervous about moving when the art business is so precarious anyway.
Penzance Saturday
We made the move however and now live in Penzance. We have a nice house near the town centre ,swimming pool and beaches so we are in heaven. My studio is in the garage next door and my business has not suffered. In fact I am constantly asked for paintings of Cornwall, and the funny thing is that image of Godrevy Lighthouse is still a current theme in my work.
Tabby Cat, Godrevy
Lorraine works as a CPN and I joined the Association of British Naive Artists. My work is published by many publishers including Marks and Spencers, Unicef and Art Cards Cornwall.
Soon after we moved here and with the children settled at School I became seriously ill with a rare condition called Devics which is similar to MS, I was paralyzed and spent 4 months in hospital learning how to walk. I came out in a wheelchair but now am pretty much ok having had only one serious relapse. I live with the prospect of more relapses so my energy goes in creating the very best paintings I can while I am able. I exhibit in some great Galleries including Thompsons in London, David Curzon in Wimbledon and Blackheath Gallery. I have only one outlet here in Marazion at the Market House Gallery a great little gallery which hosts the very best Cornish Artists so I am very proud to be there.
Porthminster Beach, St Ives
The boys are back
St Michaels mount with palms
Check out more of Alan’s work on his website www.alanfurneaux.com and follow his blog here. Ive been humming the song he wrote for his wife for the past five minutes but I will let you find that for yourself!
ALL IMAGES © ALAN FURNEAUX
If someone asked me a year ago if there was a cafe 1/2 mile from Lands End where they could get a great full English breakfast or some homemade bread during the winter, on Boxing day I would tell them ‘dont be silly, what do you think?’
But I would be proved (no pun intended) wrong. There is, just 1/2 mile from the end of the Great British Isles, a cafe that not only serves great food but is open every day except Christmas Day.
The Apple Tree Cafe in the small village of Trevescan, near Sennen is a community cafe and artists studios. We found it after one of my bright ideas of getting up early and going to Newlyn to photograph the fisherman bringing their catch in. However on arrival at Newlyn there were no fishermen, nowhere to have breakfast and not a great deal to see as it was so foggy. So we headed off to Mousehole where there was still nowhere to eat. Heading towards Lands End we thought our luck was sure to run out as we were running out of road and the hope of finding something suitable for breakfast. We stopped at Sennen beach cafe which was closed, and due to open at around 10 (it was approx 9am now – which is late if you’ve been up since 6!) and all it was serving was drinks and pastries. Not ideal for my gluten-free lovely onboard!
So we headed back towards the main road where I thought I had spotted somewhere out the corner of my eye. To our delight we came upon The Apple Tree Cafe, it was like an oasis in the desert to us!
We each had a delicious full-English and shared a pot of tea. They had a wonderful menu on blackboards so much so we were tempted to stay for lunch. They actively cater for special diets, vegan, gluten-free and vegetarian options abound but don’t worry if you are meat-eater the bangers were fab! There is fresh artisan bread everyday and the burgers are legendary.
They also support local artists and craftspeople. With a lovely range of art on display and two artists are resident in the adjoining buildings. They host regular art and craft courses, drop-in sewing “surgeries” so you can learn how to mend, alter and recycle your favourite clothes and furnishings.
They also do ‘theme’ evenings – a few weeks after we were there they were doing a Bollywood night; we were rather jealous we couldn’t be there!
It is such a wonderful idea, a community cafe in a little village – surely those are just the kind of community that can really do with a ‘hub’. So many rural communities are losing their pubs, local shops and post offices. Villages really suffer when there isn’t somewhere where people can meet up and gossip! Well done to all of those involved in The Apple Tree Cafe – its great!
To find out more about the Apple Tree Cafe click here.
Keep an eye out for the deaf cat of Trevescan!
Like most holiday makers we will generally bring something back from our holiday as a memento of our good time away. Last year when I eventually popped the question to Becky ( see previous post) we had already bought our souvenir a day or two before the big event.
When I called Becky’s father for his daughter’s hand in marriage I was staring at the wall of the Truro railway station which had no bearing on our souvenir at the time, it wasn’t until we were browsing in a vintage curious shop in Fowey that we saw this old dusty terracotta pasty in the corner. As I picked it up the lady in the shop said ‘ that’s an old-fashioned souvenir Victorians would buy, made by Lakes of Truro, they used to be by the railway station you know’ ‘Huh’ I thought that could be a nice little memento of our trip to Cornwall this year, so after a little negotiation Cornish Lad Styli we left the shop with the most expensive pasty I have ever bought and probably the worst tasting one. So armed with our relic from the Victorian era we headed off, now all I had to do was ask the question which as you all know I did and the rest is history.
So about the maker of this wonderful little pasty. Lakes Pottery were based in Truro and set up their pottery business in 1872. Pottery businesses have been on the same site dating back to medieval times. Notably they were renowned for their large bowls made for times when households had out-door toilets and kitchen range fireplaces and homemade bread was a necessity to the household. Output of pottery was staggering with production serving the whole Cornish community.
Bernard Leach, the infamous potter of St Ives, drew reference to the work of the Lakes Pottery as the type of work he wished to carry out in new pottery. The pottery had a great influence to the work carried out at Leach’s Pottery and Bernard, his sons, their students and apprentices would visit Lakes on a regular basis to watch production tecniques of pots being thrown and handles being attached.
The pasty has been used as a mascot for the Cornish Rugby team for years and in 1908 Lakes Pottery made 3 terracotta pasties for the first appearance of a Cornish side in a final. Cornwall beat Durham 17-3 in front of 17,000 people in Redruth.
Lakes Pottery sadly closed down in the early 1990s when it was destroyed by fire.
Although I’m sure it’s not worth a trip to the Antiques Roadshow with our pasty I have never seen another one so keep an eye out when browsing antique shops and you may find yourself one too!
stamp on base of pottery reads LAKES CORNISH POTTERY TRURO
My Saffron Bun 