Top Ten (Times Two) Best of Cornwall

At the end we had to look at each other and say "So, what was the best part?"  Here are our answers.  

For now......

1 1)      Twelve-year-old Seb’s (short for Sebastian) Fifth-Largest-in-Cornwall Old Lawnmower Museum.  Kept in his father’s shop, in its own special room. They are carefully arranged on shelves along all four of the walls.  He is prepared to explain the heritage of each mower, how it was restored or what it needs.  He accepts donations and proudly poses with his (trust us) pretty darn impressive collection of reel mowers going back to the 1800’s, including one that’s been to India and back.  It was used to mow cricket pitches.

2 2)      The picture-postcard-perfect Port Isaac that is better than what we’ve seen on TV and the internet.  We’re tried and tried and can’t take a bad picture there.  Or the same one twice. We sigh wistfully just thinking about such a charming town so rich in history.

3 3)      The grooves cut into the corners of the stone buildings by the old lifeboat when it was wheeled down through the village into the sea for rescues.

4 4)      The high proportion of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels that make up the impressively high number of spoiled, pampered, and otherwise family-ized dogs all over Cornwall. We see in the paper that some little white terrier has won Britain’s version of “America’s Got Talent.” Apparently that’s okay with everyone because now the question of whom (what?) to breed him to looms in the papers.  Maybe next season a Cavvie will win.

5 5)      The ease with which one can be served an unending variety of all-new-to-us Cornwall beer and cider.  For two weeks.  And we really didn’t make a dent in it or drank a beer out of pity for the brewer.

Cornwall Sports Bar Events: Grand Prix and Wimbledon

6 6)      The number of people who apologized to us for the rain.  In a land that sees a lot of it, that’s called empathy. With tourists, no less. The rain kept us indoors only one day. And much of the moisture in the sky isn’t really rain, more like a gentle mist – tourists should be told it’s good for the skin.

7 7)      Those tiiiiiiny little teeeeny frogs at Kennall Vale.  Think fingernail size.  Lots of them.

8 8)      The old chap in the Padstow Museum who talked to us about the history of the Cornish diaspora and where they now live in the US and the rest of the world. He was a charmer.

 

Everyone Came Out to Hear the Fishermens' Friends

9 9)      The Friends of the Fisherman performing another of their free benefit concerts on the Platt in Port Isaac, raising over £1000 (and $10, we promise it wasn’t us who tossed a ten spot in the buckets) for hospice care in Port Isaac.  And causing every restaurant to sell out of fish for the evening.  That’s like selling all the coal in Newcastle.  Or Eastern Kentucky. We came back to Port Isaac on Friday just to see and hear them in person (Ted has two CDs), and to see the village again. We splurged and spent the night at the Old School Hotel and Restaurant, featured in Doc Martin as Louisa’s school. The room was upstairs with a view of the harbor and ocean.

The Old Schoolhouse as Restaurant

1 10)   Feeding an all-day wood fire in our stone cottage’s fireplace at Kennall Vale and reading about English herbs, and Cornwall history and watching it rain, rain, rain while the water gushed down the mill race outside the window.  Heaven. And we had plenty of wine and Cornwall fudge and cheese to snack on.

1 11)   Buildings made of stone or granite block, with slate roofs and floors; wooden beams above the windows and doorways and hand-wrought iron latches. And bathroom and pantry doors two inches thick, with ising glass peep holes, from the Bodmin Jail in our Kennall Vale cottage.

1 12)   Walking the coastal paths with the sea crashing against the steep rocky cliffs on one side and a soaring grassy hillside covered with wildflowers on the other. And sitting on the benches on Roscarrock Hill to look out over Port Isaac harbor; the same place that we were entranced by in Doc Martin.

1 13)   Clotted cream.  It’s better than it sounds and is great as a base for famous Cornwall fudge and ice cream.

1 14)   The to-die-for lamb shank slow-cooked in rosemary/mint sauce at the Seven Stars Inn in the tiny town of Stithians.  Served with a fork because that’s all you need. We ran out of food objects to sop up that marvy sauce with.  The owner’s dog got the last licks in.  Lucky dog.

1 15)   Foot paths and bridle paths everywhere, signposted and mapped.  Instead of complaining about everyone in Kentucky being fat, we could get busy with some policies that help create public access to all the lovely space in Central Kentucky.  Oops, sorry.  Slipped into lecturing there. 

Fonthill Bishop

 116)   Finding the tiny town of Fonthill Bishop, near where Ted’s father was encamped on the Warwick Plain during WWII.  And discovering we could have an amazing lunch there at 3 in the afternoon, and have (again) two more new and wonderful ales.  We had to leave two more unsampled.  We were driving, after all. And seeing it seemingly unchanged in all that time, with little stone buildings that must be 300 years old was like stepping into Lord of the Rings.

Diner at Fonthill Bishop

1 17)   Having the rest of the return trip go unexpectedly well, including finding the rental car return in the roundabout maze that is Heathrow, on the first try, (with the help of the Droid GPS), then discovering our hotel is hooked to our departing concourse so we can just walk over in the morning, then getting an upgrade at the hotel so we can lounge in their lounge, drink their liquor and eat their food all evening, then have a Full English breakfast served in the Heathrow Delta Club the next morning, and finally having the helpful gate agents in Boston toss us on an earlier flight to Cincy, in First, at the last minute, to save us a 5 hour layover.  And bundle us along and promise to deliver our luggage to the house. Sweet.

Squeeze Belly Alley in Port Isaac.

1 18)   Remembering there’s a lot of world out there.  The hotel room at Heathrow had power outlets for English, US, and European systems.

19) Catching the moment.  I was asked by an Indian man to take a photograph of him and (presumably) his son, in the Delta club.  Shortly thereafter they got up to leave as the flight to Mumbai was announced.  When we are lucky we should embrace it.