A SHORT GREEN WALK

We walked from home and mentioned that the  dahlia, in our garden, aren't quite as good this year. We headed towards a nearby lane, passing by this gate, and the old concrete items on display - including a miller's wheel perhaps.

There was a dampness in the air. Perfect for the moss to thrive on the old walls. 

A few remaining wild flowers are far from their best but they still have a certain appeal.

I didn't expect to see one of the little people, so soon on our walk, they usually hide away. 

A small stream wriggles along the lane - with more greenery on display.

There were more shades of green on an old wall.

A path into the woods looked tempting.

A few raindrops in the wind, but they soon went away.

The small stream again.

You never know what you may find on a walk, if you have time to stand and stare. You might even see two decorated chairs in the undergrowth - most unexpected!

These two creatures sat happily on a wall.

A few wild flowers lingered on.

Back at home, after our walk, this fuchsia looked okay ...

... as did the dahlia hiding amongst the hydrangea leaves.

Another day, another (short) walk. Hope you have a happy week.

Good wishes ~ Mike.

THE OLD CORNISH STORY OF THE WHITE HARE

Hello again, it's been a strange old week for me and I haven't been able to get out far with my camera.

The photos are from a short walk I managed along the Gover Valley. You may remember a few weeks back I walked the full Gover Valley walk.

This time the small river was much more attractive, you could almost hear the piskies going about their work. That is, of course, if you believe in piskies.

Anyway, today I'll fill the post with a traditional Cornish story from the early 1800's. The story is in it's original form.

THE OLD STORY OF THE WHITE HARE

It is a very popular fancy that when a maiden, who has loved not wisely but too well, dies forsaken and broken hearted, she comes back to haunt her deceiver in the form of a white hare. 

This phantom follows the false one everywhere, mostly invisible to all but him. It saves him from danger, but invariably the white hare causes the death of the betrayer in the end.

Here is one such story told in the old fashioned way.

A large landed proprietor engaged a fine, handsome young fellow to manage his farm, which was very extensive as well as a high class one.

When the young farmer was duly settled in his new farmhouse, there came to live with him, to take care of the management of the dairy, a peasant's daughter. She was handsome, and of a singularly fine figure, but entirely without education.

The farmer became desperately in love with this young creature, and eventually their love passed all the bounds of discretion. It became the policy of the young farmer's family to put down this unfortunate passion by substituting a more legitimate and endearing object. After a long trial, they thought they were successful and the young farmer married.

Many months had not passed when the discharged dairymaid was observed to suffer from illness, which, however, she constantly spoke of as nothing; but knowing dames saw too clearly the truth. One morning there was found in a field a newly born babe, strangled. The unfortunate girl was at once suspected as being the parent, and the evidence was soon sufficient to charge her with murder. She was tried, and chiefly by the evidence of the young farmer and his family, convicted of, and executed for, the murder.

Everything now went wrong in the farm, and the young man suddenly left it and went to another part of the country.

Still nothing prospered, and he gradually took to drink to drown some secret sorrow. He was frequently on the road by night than by day; and go where he would, a white hare was constantly crossing his path. The white hare was often seen by others, almost always under the feet of his horse; and the poor terrified animal would go like the wind to avoid the strange apparition.

One morning the young farmer was found drowned in a forsaken mine; and the horse, which had evidently suffered extreme terror, was grazing near the corpse. Beyond all doubt the white hare, which is known to hunt the perjured and the false-hearted to death, had terrified the horse to such a degree that eventually the rider was thrown into the mine-waste in which he was found.

THE END

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

ST. AUSTELL TOWN PHOTOS & THE EARTH GODDESS

There's been a rumbling of sorts, in St.Austell and all because of a new piece of artwork, as above. It's big!  It is the UK's largest ceramic sculpture and is said to have cost £80,000. Oh, and in the photo above I missed off the very top of the sculpture. The title of the artwork is 'The Earth Goddess'.

The controversy rumbles on because some Church leaders are urging the town council to significantly change or remove the goddess. They claim that the local authority has likely, unknowingly, chosen to reject God by allowing the artwork to be erected.

Anyway let's move on, I'll come back to the Goddess later in the post. For now though, lets take a look at some of the much older parts of St. Austell town. Below is the Coral Moss shop and ...

... then a local Estate Agent. Property prices are rising in Cornwall.

Next we have the lovely Holy Trinity Church. There has been a church building on this site  since 1169. Part of the current building dates back to 1290.

The church stands on high ground and overlooks the White Hart hotel and pub. The hotel was previously the town house of Charles Rashleigh the Charlestown founder. See my previous post Photos and a Brief History of Charlestown, Cornwall

Another view of the church.

Looking from the opposite side of the church is the old Market House. There is also a free, but small, museum.

A touch of street art on the side of a building next to the Market House.

If we look outwards from the front of the church there is Fore Street, one of the main shopping areas. It has to be said, though, that, as with many towns, there are a few empty shops.

A view of the church looking back from Fore Street.

We have now slipped out of the Fore Street and into Biddicks Court where there is the Wetherspoon outlet called Rann Wartha.

A couple of photos from the back street.

Moving on to the newer part of St. Austell - a butcher and a greengrocer but no candlestick maker. There are bakers though, so a ready supply of pasties is available.

There are lots of flowers in this new(er) section of St. Austell.

Below is looking outward from the shops.

Four photos now of some of the flowers by the newer shops. As you can see I managed  to click the pics when there wern't too many people about.

So here we are again back at the controversial earth goddess - including the top part.

I guess when the goddess is in the right position, with the cinema and flowers in the background, she doesn't look too bad at all.

A close up of a section of the goddess.

Nearby there is a pleasant odour of fish and chips - even though I'm vegetarian!

I wonder what some of  St.Austell's well known people, from the past, would have made of the goddess?

That's all for today. I have, though, written a previous St. Austell post: A Flavour of St. Austell, Cornwall - 26 Photos if interested.

All good wishes ~ Mike.

Photos and a Brief History of Charlestown, Cornwali

A few photos today of Charlestown Harbour, one of my favourite haunts. Always a pleasure to visit, well I think so.

It's hard to imagine that, way back in 1790, this was a very small fishing village with just nine fishermen.

 Charles Rashleigh, however, saw other possibilities.

Copper, and later china clay, needed to be exported from the local area. So Rashleigh decided to build a harbour with the help of a few friends which included John Smeaton, well known for constructing lighthouses and harbours.

The harbour and port were constructed between 1791 and 1801.

Eventually, under Rashleigh's guidance, a village was also developed around the harbour. The name was changed from Porthmear to Charlestown in honour of Rashleigh. 

Business boomed. 40,000 tones of copper ore were exported between 1810 and 1813.

Unfortunately life and the harbour became too small for modern shipping and the final load of china clay left the dock in 2000.

Today Charlestown is very much a tourist destination and is very popular during the summer season. It's fame has spread because the harbour, and local area, has been used for filming the likes of the very popular Poldark television series and for various films.



Nowadays you never know what you might see on a visit to Charlestown!

A tall ship below in the harbour.

As the the scene may well have looked  once upon a time

You'll find details of Charles Rashleigh's grave stone in my post: Following Your Nose in St. Austell to the Cemetery Park and Other Places and some vintage photos of Charlestown on my blog post : Old Vintage Photos of Charlestown, Cornwall

... and that's about all for today, enjoy the weekend and the week ahead. Good wishes ~ Mike.