AFTERNOON TEA & OTHER MEANDERINGS

Back to my blog, once more, now that Christmas is over. So a few odds and bods starting off with afternoon tea!

We were gifted a Cornish afternoon tea at the Rosevine Hotel, Portscatho, which was quite pleasant.

The first three photos are of the hotel. It is set in a pleasant position, just a short walk to the sea.

Oh, and don't forget that, with a Cornish tea, the clotted cream goes on top of the jam on the scones.

An an old milestone below. I have now travelled to St. Austell - 13 miles from Truro. according to the stone.

Just along the road, from the milestone, is a more up to date signpost.

When approaching St. Austell by car there is a nice green area with a few interesting trees, even in the winter.

The monkey puzzle tree tree (Araucaria Araucana), always fascinates me - think I have mentioned this previously in a post.

The foliage is quite distinctive.

Moving on I walked towards St. Austell town. In doing so I passed something unique within Cornwall - high rise flats! Somehow they seem out of place.

Despite the chill in the air a small flower nearby managed to survive in the undergrowth

Walking on I had a peek at the Gover Stream.

Next, near to a Co-op store, are the remains of the Pentewan Railway Clay Cellars.

The Pentewan Railway once carried local china clay from St. Austell to the harbour at Pentewan for export. This was operational from 1829 to about 1918. The Pentewan Trail for walkers now follows the  route of the railway.

Below shows how the harbour at Pentewan was once full of sailing boats exporting china clay worldwide in the late 1800's and early 1900's

Today Pentewan harbour is landlocked, and is enjoyed by swans, ducks and the like - though they must have been hiding when I snapped the photo.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope you had a great Christmas and and have a wonderful New Year.

Good wishes ~ Mike.

PENTEWAN, CORNWALL IN THE 1900s and TODAY

Something a little different today. The photo above is of Pentewan, Cornwall showing part of the harbour, circa 1900. So, over one hundred years later, I tried to find the exact same scene. The photo below is what I managed to snap.

I climbed a small path (safely) up the side of the cliff and eventually found the very same cottage, as the photo above shows. The skyline also seems very much the same. I tried to go higher so as to exactly match the 1900 photo but there were too many bushes and trees to take a photo.

I did, however, snap a photo from ground level to show where the cottage is positioned.  Unfortunately another property has since been built partly in front of the cottage spoiling the view. I placed a red dot on the cottage above.

The house directly below the red dot is the old Harbour Master's residence.

In the late 1800s, and early 1900s the harbour would have been full of tall sailing ships exporting local china clay, metals and the like all over the world. That is all in the past now as the harbour is landlocked.

Pentewan  nowadays is a quiet village during the winter but gets a fair share of holiday makers and tourists during the summer, spring and autumn seasons.

The photos above and below show how Pentewan looks nowadays - on a sunshine day. Most of the holiday makers must have been on the beach!

... or, there again, maybe they weren't on the beach, as it looks so quiet on Pentewan Beach.

Of course, it's not always sunshine at Pentewan!

That's all for today. All good wishes ~ Mike.

Walking the Pentewan Trail to the Village and Harbour

Once upon a time this was was the Pentewan Railway carrying china clay - up until about 1918, Now it is part of the Pentewan Valley Trail.

We didn't walk the whole trail but started at a pull-in on the B3373. This leads to the bridge as shown in the first photo.

From here we simply followed the St. Austell River sticking to the riverside. The path isn't wonderful but less people take this option.

The path leads to the village of Pentewan.

And Bob's your uncle, here we are in the village. This cottage dates back to 1823

More of the village. At the far end of the road there is a steep hill.

We headed for the beach - can never resist a stroll by the sea. Pentewan Beach must be slightly over half a mile in length. All is very peaceful at this time of year, but it gets busy in the summer season.

To reach the beach you pass Pentewan Harbour.

The harbour is no longer used and is now  landlocked

In the late 1800s, and early 1900s, however, the harbour would have been full of tall sailing ships exporting local china clay, metals and the like all over the world.

Here's a photo of the harbour from 1900 with a few tall ships in dock.

Now on the way back from Pentewan to our car. On the return we took the popular path used for walkers, cyclists, and horses. Luckily there didn't seem to be any of these about, so an empty path ahead.

A bit muddy in places.

Nearly back to the start and a wooden bridge crossing the river.

A sign by the bridge points the way to Mevagissey, Heligan, St. Austell and Pentewan.

Two little ducks minding their own business.

And finally, here we are back to the bridge where we started.

That's all for today, thanks for visiting my blog. Enjoy your week ~ Mike.

Seeking the Winter Colours of Cornwall

Brrrrr! It was freezing at Pentewan, even if there were shades of blue in the sky.

As I returned home I wondered if there was any colour in our garden on such a chilly, January day.

Couldn't see a lot - other than some interesting shades of brown in the hydrangea raised bed - with the green leaves of a primula showing through.

A reddish leaf under another another hydrangea.

By the house wall a brave geranium flower survived with a small head of flowers.

No flowers on this invading green nasturtium though, just raindrops.

Looking upwards into a colourless sky, there's a hint of colour.

A quick detour into our front porch where a Christmas Cacti  (Schlumbergera bridgessii)  lingers on ...

...as does our money plant

The next day, as we were passing Truro's Boscawen Park, we popped in for a walk and hopefully to spot some colour. I liked this tree.

Spotted a cyclamen tucked away in remarkably good condition ... 

... and some more colour.

It started to rain but snapped two more flowers. 

Another day and moving on to a quick visit to Cornwall's Eden Project.

The next four plants I spotted in the Mediterranean Biome.

We then moved on to the Rainforest  Biome, which is usually more interesting (in my opinion).

We arrived at the Baka Basecamp - photo as below!

Baka people live in Mongolu huts while out hunting. It's the men who do the actual hunting and food gathering, while the women build the huts, covering them with Nyongo leaves.

They eat forest fruits, nuts, bush meat and fish killed with plant poisons.

The Baka women sing and make music the night prior to a hunt. They believe this enchants the animals and ensures a successful hunt.

Moving on, there is a wobbly rope bridge high amongst the trees.

Three more photos from Eden's Rainforest Biome.

Now we are homeward bound. The display below is on the route out of the Eden Project.

I then noticed the early daffodils (12th January).

Yes, definitely daffodils, quite made my day.

Thanks for visiting my blog, hope you have an interesting week ahead. Good wishes ~ Mike.