A Cornish Interlude

While in Cornwall earlier this month we visited the city of Truro where I’m pleased to say we avoided the shops.Inside the cathedral we found this painting which shows an aerial view of the county:

Cornubia -Land of the Saints (John Miller)

You cannot fail to be impressed by the city’s beautiful cathedral, of which more in later posts. It’s very difficult to get a picture of the cathedral’s exterior as it is surrounded by buildings. I did my best, but this model from inside the cathedral itself was the only ‘complete’ view I managed.

Truro Cathedral model

While we were there it was also time for the annual Daphne du Maurier festival at Fowey. Inside Truro Cathedral I found this memorial plaque to ‘Q,’ Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch .

Memorial Plaque - Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (Q)

In 1930 Daphne, and Q’s daughter, Foy spent the night at an inn on Bodmin Moor; that visit and her meeting with the white-haired vicar of Altarnun inspired Daphne to write ‘Jamaica Inn.’

The Daphne and Quiller-Couch connection goes further. Daphne spent the last years of her life in a house call Kilmarth. From the picture windows of the house it was possible to see the sea and onwards beyond towards Frenchman’s Creek. Daphne wrote, a few years after ‘Jamaica Inn,’ what she called her only truly romantic novel. Its title ‘Frenchman’s Creek’ – a title previously used by ‘Q’.

The link continued after Q’s death when Foy asked Daphne to finish Castle Dor, a book started by her father.