Yesterday we returned from our annual trip to Sennen Cove in Cornwall with our old friends Sue and Alex and Sue and Graham from Birmingham. We returned a bit earlier than planned because of the weather – snowing hard again here…. whatever next…. apparently it is the ‘Mini-Beast from the East…’
 |
| Sennen Cove Harbour |
I think I’ve just about said everything there is to be said about our Cornish trips in previous posts – here is the account of last year’s expedition, and this one from 2016 has some lovely photos. This year was less satisfactory for me because am still suffering with pulled achilles tendon – cliff-path walking was out. The weather was changeable – one day sunny, the next day pouring rain, but we managed to do plenty. We stayed in the same far-westerly house as last year.
The recent bad weather meant that the flowers were very behind – everything looked a bit bleak compared with usual spring scene.
Philosopher and I had a day out in Penzance while the others were doing a very long walk. Although Philosopher’s hip has done incredibly well, eight mile cliff walks are not quite possible yet. On the advice of our freinds, we visited the wonderful Morrab Library. Founded in 1818, It is one of the few independent subscription libraries left in the country. If we lived down there…. what a fabulous, atmospheric place to read and write. In the Library information leaflet, Philip Marsden writes:
‘If there is an afterlife, I very much hope that those good enough in this one might be rewarded with an exact replica of the Morrab Library- to sit out eternity browsing its shelves, sitting in its chairs and looking out of the high windows.’
How true. It is set in the middle of a tropical garden – the views from the windows are of exotic foliage.
Here are a few pictures.
 |
| Battleaxe as frustrated writer |
Talking of Battleaxe the frustrated writer – I took a notebook everywhere with me, thinking that when the others were out walking I’d perch on a sunny rock and write poems. Small chance of finding a rock that didn’t freeze your bum off, and somehow every time I settled down I’d be staring into space and the others would be back before I knew it – I wrote precisely eight words the entire time….
We had a wet day in St Ives – went to very good exhibitions at the Tate, including –Virginia Woolf, inspired by her writings. There were several Laura Knight paintings including the Sennen Cove picture reproduced in the 2016 Battleaxe post linked above.
We also saw an exhibition in the Penlee Gallery – David Haughton on St Just. It is finished now. We loved the paintings – very evocative, strange technique. Here is an example:
Some of our friends are irresistably drawn to St Just – I can’t quite see it myself.
I saw a seal in the harbour in Sennen Cove – here is his little head – first time ever.
Here are some random photos to finish off…. this post will get too long. Too much food – have put on three pounds….
 |
| Penberth |
 |
| Penberth |
 |
| Farmyard in Treen |
 |
| Carn Goose |
 |
| Early morning view from our bed – that’s Cape Cornwall over on the right |
 |
| Marazion – St Michael’s Mount |
 |
| Sennen Harbour |
5 years out of date to leave a comment but nevertheless I will ! We are going to St Ives yet again in a month or two and will def look up the Morrab Library. Never heard of it before. And then there’s your David Haughton reference that bought me here. Love his work and we plan to go to an Auction in Penzance to try to bid for one. Love Hastings too – we are just a few miles up the road in disreputable Brighton. A City ‘forever looking as though it was helping Police with their enquires’ as Keith Waterhouse quaintly put it. Nick H
Author
Hello – there is another post about Morrab Library in May this year. I expect to go back there this spring, too. We had a flat in Brighton before we came to Hastings… Rochester Gardens, Hobe actually…