Cornish break

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by

Kate Davies Designs
in
A coastal landscape featuring a grassy hill with a small structure on top, surrounded by blue ocean waters under a cloudy sky.

Hello! We are home after a short break in south-east Cornwall: a beautiful part of the world which neither Tom nor I had visited before.

A scenic walking path lined with flowering bushes, where a person in an orange jacket walks a dog along the trail.

We enjoyed some lovely spring weather and several long days of great walking, along different sections of the south-west coastal path.

A person in an orange jacket walking along a path on a hill, with a small stone building in the background and a view of the ocean under a cloudy sky.
Rame Head

I became slightly obsessed with Cornish Hedges – the distinctively-constructed boundary markers which define – and divide up this beautiful, rolling landscape.

A person walking a dog along a narrow dirt path surrounded by grassy hills under a cloudy sky.
The “Bulwark”, a gigantic earthwork “hedge” (marking an iron-age boundary) near Dodman Point

Part earthwork, part wall, part organic boundary, the earliest Cornish hedges are Neolithic. Edging the vast majority of the small byways of South East Cornwall (and even some larger A roads), they lend the landscape that very distinctive, hobbity feel you can get when traversing ancient British byways (especially when you are on foot). For more than 6000 years these wonderful structures have told the long historical story of this landscape, from Iron age forts, through medieval common land and field-strip systems, to the privatisation of the landscape during nineteenth-century enclosure.

A lush wall covered with various green plants and foliage, including ivy and clustered leaves, along a stone surface.

Cornish hedges reveal great regional variation and specificity in their construction patterns and geological composition . . .

A stone tower with a pointed roof is in the background, surrounded by lush greenery and flowering shrubs under a partly cloudy sky.
hedge with Rosemary, in front of St Germanus’ churchyard, Rame

. . .while also forming wonderful habitats . . .

A sunny scene featuring a stone wall adorned with vibrant pink flowers and lush greenery, with a pile of logs stacked in the background against a rustic stone building.

. . . for plants and other wildlife . . .

A stone wall covered with lush green vegetation and small plants, topped with dense shrubs.

While I was able to indulge my new hedge obsession on every walk, there were also glorious wild and windy landscapes for my companions to enjoy.

Two black dogs sitting on green grass in front of an old stone building with a triangular roof, overlooking the ocean under a partly cloudy sky.
Bob and Bran outside the chapel at Rame head

. . . and although a dog-related medical emergency necessitated a somewhat urgent and epic drive home (Cornwall to Kintyre in a one-er is quite something) we all enjoyed the break.

Two black dogs play outside an old stone building on a grassy hill, with the ocean and sky in the background.
Bran’s foot is now healing well, happily

We are now back at our desks, and waiting for the publication of Knitting Wester Ross: I’ll hopefully have news for you about that this week (hurrah!)

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Comments

10 responses to “Cornish break”

  1. Doris Fishman Avatar
    Doris Fishman

    Beautiful country and so glad you were able to enjoy such a lovely break.

    Reply
  2. Sue Avatar
    Sue

    Beautiful landscape! These photo emails are always feast for the eyes (especially from here in eastern Canada where spring isn’t yet showing much that’s green).
    Thanks!

    Reply
  3. Laura Wickstead Avatar
    Laura Wickstead

    My dearest Kate, I love stranded knitting, cables and lovely restful garter stitch. I watched the Japanese film about the homeless “family” that find the baby. I delighted in _Tiger in the Smoke_ by Margery Allingham, found in a English language bookstore in Skopje, North Macedonia, where I serve as a US Peace Corps Volunteer. I’ve bought your books and patterns. I’m all in. Thank you for enriching my life. Thank you sharing yourself with us.

    Reply
    1. Kate Davies Designs Avatar
      Kate Davies Designs

      Wow! How wonderful to find your copy of The Tiger in the Smoke in Skopje! Thank you for being here, Laura x

      Reply
  4. nuttynitter Avatar
    nuttynitter

    Loved your post
    The South coast of Cornwall is amazing particularly the Roseland peninsula from where you can see Dodman point and Nare Head
    I have visited Porthscatho every year for the past 40 years and never tire of its relatively quiet demeanour and welcoming community compared to areas such as Rock Padstow and Newquay
    The stone work in the walls ‘Jack over Jill’ I think it’s called is everywhere and the tops of the walls are so nature friendly with earth and wild plants
    I am certain that the wall structures in the harbours could be a future inspiration to you St Mawes in particular
    My partener recently had her 80th birthday which we celebrated together by staying a few nights at St Anthony head light house ….what a wonderful place!
    Very best wishes to you
    Liz Walters

    Reply
    1. Kate Davies Designs Avatar
      Kate Davies Designs

      What a wonderful place to spend your partner’s special birthday – many happy returns!

      Reply
  5. Carol Avatar
    Carol

    Great story! You had my dream vacation! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  6. Rhona Arthur Avatar
    Rhona Arthur

    Poor Bran; please heal quickly. The pattern in the wall is dazzling. I’m a bit obsessed either way the stane-dyking, boundary and harbour walls in the East Neuk of Fife, as the colours and patterns are rich and vibrant. Look forward to the design inspiration you draw from your Cornish adventures.
    Rhona x

    Reply
  7. Meredith Coelho Avatar
    Meredith Coelho

    Kate, I am always learning the most wonderful things from you. Please tell Bran I hope he heals quick! With gratitude, Meredith

    Reply
  8. Tamara Avatar
    Tamara

    Dogs, I hope you’re okay again!
    Kate, how wonderful that you are recovered enough for a *walking* vacation!
    I’ve never heard of those hedges. Now the next time I re-read a book set in Cornwall (I’m thinking of that Dorothy L. Sayers book with the coast road, especially), I’ll visualize it all more accurately.
    Truly, I’m so glad you are doing better, Kate.

    Reply

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