| Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. -George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950) |
Trust your stint on the ocean blue went well. Have been continuing to enjoy a more than wonderful time in your more than wonderful home! Wednesday evening we had a marvellous evening with Maureen and Bill. Met Mark, briefly. Thursday Gudrun/Stefano collected us and we drove to Bodmin where Stefano and I unloaded our bikes and rode to Padstow along the Camel Trail. Terrific to be on the flat for a change! After lunch at The Old Custom House we rode back to Camel Valley Vineyard to meet The Sisterhood as we had tickets for the 5:00pm tour and tasting. Very impressed with sparkling wines and the one still white, Bacchus. Bought six of latter.
Ayn arrived on Friday evening. Train was about an hour late so we weren't home until about 10:00pm. That afternoon was the ride of the trip for me, at least in terms of AVG. Naturally, I must insist it upon you!
Rain was pelting down on Saturday morning so even happier about Friday's outing! Not up until just before 8:00am, Cora Lee ahead of me, first time since we've been away! Guess the couple of shots of Sierra Tequila Reposado, (bought at Sainsbury's for Ayn), I knocked back after The Sisterhood went to bed, preceded by the dram or two of Macallan Select Fine Oak, (which Ayn brought from Duty Free at LAX), enjoyed after dinner, took their toll!
Ayn was still sleeping, very soundly, after her 20+ hour journey by train, bus and train from LA to Truro. We delighted in a Full English Breakfast, (sausages, scrambled free-range eggs, fried tomatoes with a twist on traditional baked beans, substituting, instead, my new butter bean recipe, which calls for overnight soakage, then slow-cooked and mashed together with fried onions and garlic), once Ms Tinsel Town appeared. Lazy morning and then we were Penzance bound to attend the Cornwall Design Fair at Trereife House, "(pronounced Treave, for the uninitiated, Dear Reader), a beautiful centuries old family owned Estate, steeped in history, restored by the 7th generation family, now open to the public throughout the year for bed and breakfast and in the summer months for day visitors. The house and grounds are hosted by the Le Grice family, Tim, Liz, Georgie and Pete and their faithful hound Duke. (Spudnik was not amused when i read the brochure to him!) The predominantly Queen Anne Manor House, which in parts dates back to the reign of Elizabeth 1, and the formal gardens, are set in rolling grounds, in the countryside, half a mile west of Penzance, on the A30 Land's End road." Since day's BBC Forecast Summary for South West England predicted day would be, "Cloudy, breezy and mostly dry first thing but more persistent and sometimes heavy rain will soon spread from the west. It should brighten up during the evening but it will stay windy.", it seemed like a good way to spend our time.
Had little trouble finding our way to Penzance but once there the Hapless Navigator was no help at all, in fact more of a hindrance. Ignoring the bleats and mutterings, coming from the back seat, Ayn and I kept our eyes peeled for the posted signs advertising the Design Fair and were far more able to steer the correct course than Magellanena with her iPad and its Maps app. Following Henrieta Hudson we probably would have ended up frozen into the ice of James Bay! Following our instincts and eagle eyes we made for Newlyn and not long afterwards we pulled into Trereife Estate and were directed to a parking spot by a helpful commissionaire, cocooned in a clear plastic rain-coat, his hat in a mini-version of same. Had to walk up the long, puddled, muddy at times, curving driveway to the house and gardens, situated at the top of a small rise, above the rolling expanse of green field below. Was only drizzling as we trudged uphill, taking in the various tents and marquees we could see surrounding the house and garden. Paid out entrance fee, (£6 each), and our self-paced tour began.
Must say that the Fair was even more entertaining and interesting than I had imagined it would be. Not quite sure why but I had assumed that all the displays would be in Trereife House itself. While a number of exhibitors' works were integrated/displayed in the entrance hallway and two rooms on the main floor, plus a bedroom on the second floor, most of the other booths were in the tent/marquee village set up beyond the low hedge garden in front of the house. Just up from where we purchased our tickets we were immediately drawn to an area in which two small forges had been set up, both glowing, one encouraged by a foot bellows pumped by a cheerful, leather apron-ed blacksmith, alternating between his glowing, circular bbq-like, open forge and an impressive anvil on which he hammered out wrought-iron fireplace and garden implements of one sort and size and shape or another. Of particular interest was Lisa Harrison, (sharing the space), also a blacksmith, (She worked in Sooke, Vancouver Island, studying with smithy there, about three years ago!), whose three-dimensional "painting/sculptures" were fabulously arresting. Using bits and pieces of rusted metal she had "painted" the village streets, country lanes and hilly landscapes I have become so familiar with, of late. And this was just the beginning!
Side-tracked, for a moment, we visited a number of the food booths across the way and could have stayed there all day, sampling roasted, flavoured nuts, (purchased salt and pepper cashews and wasabi peanuts), and cheese, (Cheddar with Mustard and Horseradish was my favourite but bought ones with Spring Onion and Hot Garlic as well), and chutneys, (Cora lee simply had to have Mango & Ginger Chutney with Toasted Cumin Seeds, although shee was able to restrain herself from taking three or four jars of flavoured curds!), before we made our way towards the large marquee housing the bulk of the exhibitors.
First encountered a number of side-tents and we entered one which housed woodwork/metalwork displays: a small coffee table, a large industrial saw blade, sans teeth, its top; two striking pendulum lights, consisting of different layers of wood, finished, at the bottom with a wide polished granite ring; numerous, wonderfully grained, Cornish Ash cutting/cheese boards and finally, something I'd not expected at all: surfboards, gleaming, shining, streamlined sleekoids that seemed more at home in Hawaii or California until I remembered the historical photograph we'd seen at the Royal Cornish Museum which shows a number of surfers, young women and men, holding their truly laughable, (by today's standards), surfboards, literally long rectangles, three long strips of lumber with smaller pieces attached to top, middle and bottom, to hold everything together. Hard to know what hydrodynamic properties these early prototypes would have possessed. More like pieces of flotsam and jetsam from a shipwreck off Porthleven than ones seen being used at Yallingup and Prevelly Park in Western Australia, 260km south of Perth, the beginning of the magical Margaret River winery region.
Chatted with a young lad who worked for Driftwood surfboards, (Their handsome card is made out of very attractive, lightweight wood, serrated along the bottom edge, and which we have subsequently used to brush/scratch Spudnik who seems to love it!), who told me about the various surf beaches he frequents. Pleased to know that Porthtowan was one of them! On to another tent in which Falmouth University and Cornwall College had displays featuring work done by students for various course related projects, (a head made from found objects, car engine parts, and a skeletal ribcage, bent metal bands, containing a heart, molded plaster), were two very creative approaches to a human anatomy assignment. As well, a striking butcher's block, unfinished, but very impressive, nonetheless, by Richard Buckingham, a furniture-maker, now instructing at CC, who told us about the hardwoods and other natural materials from the Cornish countryside he uses. Could hardly believe it when he showed us some of the small boards he was using to build the shelves meant to go underneath the end-grained, (naturally sealing, we learned), cutting surface made from a Rhododendron trunk. Holding a small board, already dovetailed, it felt feather-light but sturdy.
Thanking this master craftsman for sharing his expertise and knowledge we entered the main tent, (Much like any trade show in terms of set-up. Quite nicely and comfortably done, with synthetic flooring so that it was dry underfoot, not to be sneered at, given rain, and warm, as it was a bit chilly in the wind and drizzle when outside.), to hear Gwelhellin, a three-man, multi instrumentalist group playing everything from jazz and Gypsy to country and boogie-based rock' n' roll, across from a bar where one could buy beer or cider or soft drinks. This marquee was divided into three or four long lanes, booths lining each side. Over the course of the almost two hours we spent here, we strolled from booth to booth, admiring this piece of polished, glowing, functional furniture, (Scott Woyka's Sundowner, an amazingly comfortable, aesthetically clean, yet warm, warm modern take on a Captain's Chair), or that array of glass work, (Almost a full, half-wall of David Pascoe's rainbow coloured, kilnformed glass coasters/tiles to mesmerize one's eye. Chatting with David, as he explained his craft, I learnerd he had been a lobster fisherman for 5 years before deciding to run his own glass studio in Hayle, Cornwall. Interestingly enough, he became interested in glass in Australia after seeing some exhibitions there on one of his "escape winter" surfing trips. As well, he studied/practiced his craft in both Portland and Seattle.), spending a few minutes with this metal sculptor, (Shelley Anderson's mixed metal work shows his great empathy and affection for the sea and the fishing industry, (An underwater shot of him in scuba gear, wetsuit and fins, a huge crustacean in each hand, hangs from one wall of his display booth), his crabs and lobsters and fish made from the old or antique flatware he seeks out in second-hand shops and at estate sales, are priceless marvels of ingenuity and anatomical correctness, endearingly whimsical yet never cute or self-indulgent.), or quizzing that jewellery-maker, (Karina Gill's remarkable etched Fibonacci number-like silver bowls and startlingly original silver jewellery set with semi-precious stones. (One large, swirling, Fibonacci inspired brooch was set with Labradorite, a feldspar mineral, I learned, found, not surprisingly, on Paul's Island near the town of Nain in Labrador, literally took one's breath away! I had never seen such magical, crystal ball gazing luminescence before and felt proudly Canadian as if my passport had something to do with this bewitching stone, set in such an inspired way, the living heart of a galaxy or a sunflower or a conch), until it was time to take a break.
By this time I had lost my two companions so I stepped outside, in the light rain, to cool off. The temperature inside the marquee was most welcome when we first walked in but after an hour or so it had became a tad too warm for my liking. Refreshed by the clean air, I returned to scope the remaining rows and was more than rewarded by Stephen Fuller's painstakingly restored antique jewellery boxes, lined with hand-marbled papers originally created for bookbinders and interior designers and by Brett Payne's hot-forged silverware, dazzling, radiant yet disarmingly practical. One huge, huge, spoon, or ones like it, I was told, by this charming man from Sheffield, (The handsome brochure he passed along, when I asked for his card, names his company as "Persistence Works", a wonderful play on both the studio where he forges silver into award winning pieces and the demanding precision and refinement required to work with this delicate metal.), is used by restaurant waiters to serve canapés. Cannot even begin to imagine the bill for such a meal from such a place given the cost of the spoon in question, £600, or thereabouts, I think!
Moving on, I bumped into The Sisterhood about the same time as my childhood doppelgänger! ("In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person. In the contemporary vernacular of some English speakers, the word may be found used simplistically to identify any look-alike of a person, without regard to the supernaturality and the more fundamental doubling originally intended in the meaning of the word", Dear Reader!) Henry, about two years old, was tethered to his father's wrist by a leash attached to the lady-bird back-pack the toddler sported, his ginger hair the same shade as mine when his age, the dusting of freckles across his nose and cheeks finishing off the portrait! I mentioned that when I'd been a few years older my Mother had leashed me to our clothesline in Cyprus after i had bitten a friend, for some reason I cannot recollect. She said that if I wanted to behave like a dog then she would treat me like one. Rather than being chastised by the tethering, I relished it, running up and down the yard, barking, to the great amusement of my friends and our neighbours, much to the great annoyance of my Mother, it goes without saying. I suppose, I never changed, always giving Sharktooth Annie cause to shake her head at her son's misbehaviour!
Too, too many other innovative designer-makers to describe, too, too many pieces of hand-built porcelain table-ware and up-cycled antique/vintage items and Raku-fired thrown ceramics and three dimensional stained glass art pieces and felted cashmere textiles and pressings/prints made from storm-washed seaweeds from Cornish coasts to do justice to, although their work certainly deserves attention. However, will limit myself to but two more as I simply cannot bear not to mention Stuart Jenkins' stunning rings, massive enough to be used as a weapon, part of a "silverknuckle" to "sort" any Skinheads causing trouble on the tube or outside a pub, yet so handsome and refined that they could easily grace a royal hand, (In fact Ayn almost ended up wearing one home as she tried it on and couldn't remove it until Stuart snipped off her right middle finger! As she was struggling with the ring he whispered into her ear: "Don't worry, I have bolt cutters!" ), fetching a king's ransom to boot! What I particularly liked was the way in which he often uses silver assay marks, which certify and identify the material, as a striking design element.
Finally, WestsideStories where I was completely taken with the collagraph prints that Adam Aiken had on display. Was immediately drawn to the Kraken limited-edition prints, essentially an octopus, its tentacles intertwined in mesmerizing fashion, eliciting echoes of traditional Celtic motifs as well as, to my eyes, many iconic Haida, Kwakiutl and Coast Salish images/designs. Quite remarkable and I rushed to find Cora Lee and Ayn as I was determined to buy one but first required the advice of the Colour Polizei. Found them resting near the entrance to the marquee and brought them to view my find. Choice was between yellow/orange and blue. Favoured the former and even I knew it would probably "work" at the Islay Inn. Ayn was quite excited about the print and supported my pick, Cora Lee grudgingly, already muttering about where it would go and what needed to be taken down in order to accommodate my spellbinding Kraken.
I borrowed £40 from Ayn, (I needed to visit an ATM but had yet to do so.), to add to the £5 remaining in my rather empty pockets and paid for the print. Thanking Adam we made our way to Trereife House where spent about half an hour wandering the main and second floor, taking in both the original fixtures, furnishings, furniture and paintings as well as the site-specific work displayed in the historic rooms. While not as huge a place as a many of the so-called stately homes we have visited elsewhere in England, it possessed, to my mind, a more intimate, liveable, quality, its rooms and hallways built on a human rather than a grand scale.
Absolutely, absolutely delighted to have made the trek, we waved goodbye to friendly woman at the door who had politely asked visitors to remove their "Wellies" if they wished to tour the house. Had chatted with her over the course of our time inside and she said she would be interested in a house exchange but wanted to do one with her friend in Perth first. She is originally from Horsham, Victoria, about 200 K west of Harcourt North where close friends Kathleen and Steve live at Old Oak, but now lives in Penzance.
Skirted Penzance on way home, stopping at a Tesco we happened upon as Ayn wanted a few things. While The Sisterhood went inside I parked and then used the ATM near the entrance. On the way back home I took a wrong turn, somewhere close to Redruth so I ended up taking them on a tour of my bike route to Carnon Downs and environs, clarifying in my own mind, some of the twists and turns I've made over the last few outings. Back home The Sisterhood wanted to curl up and watch movies. Decided upon Defiance: Return to the Forest. I had seen it already and wanted to work on The Diaries so after opening a bottle of red for Cora Lee, (Ayn wanted a glass of the Coke she bought at Tesco), left them to try to put down the afternoon's events, as best I could.
Was not to be, however, as when I was summoned to refill a wine glass, I sat down for a moment to watch one of the opening scenes and never left until film had run its course! The film is such a gripping account of the Bielski partisans, a group led by three Jewish brothers who saved and recruited Jews in Belarus during the Second World War, so well-crafted and acted, (Daniel Craig, as Tuvia, shows why he is such a fine actor.), that I couldn't take my eyes off the screen even though I knew what was going to happen. Even had to watch the Director's Commentary as the film is so, so powerful a realization of such an incredible, yet little-known, true story.
Once this was over, Cora Lee prepared a very tasty, spicy chicken in Madras sauce and we then proceeded to watch Missing with Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones. While the plot is a bit predictable, wooden and far-fetched, at times, I really enjoy both of these actors and admire much, if not all of their work, so it is a pleasure to watch them together. By the time this film was over it was well past 1:00pm and we all fell into bed after such a terrific, jam-packed day of design, culinary and filmic delight!
Fondestos from The Sisterhood to you both. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Pics: Royalty at rest; Spudnik; Ayn Saturday morning after sleeping for twelve hours; Cornish Design Fair, 2013; TV/lap cat
Hi Corinne and Patrick,
Just a quick thank-you for Thursday. We had a lovely time just a pity we weren't able to have gone a little earlier so you could have seen more of Padstow Corinne.
We hope that all went well for Ayn and she arrived arrived safe and sound.
Hopefully your back is improving Corinne so that you are able to do all the sightseeing with Ayn as you have planned. Unfortunately it is not a good start to her holiday weather wise but they say things should improve again after the weekend.
We are busy packing and getting all the essential things done before we leave tomorrow.
We shall be in touch upon our return and meanwhile wish you a great time with Ayn.
Best wishes Gudrun and Stefano
No comments:
Post a Comment