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Saturday 21 May 2011

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.


6 comments:

David Robinson said...

Another interesting item, Bob.

I have appalling bad luck with Cornwall. It rains every time I go there. And I've only ever been to Truro once and true to form, the rain never stopped all day. :(

Janice said...

Interesting pictures and accompanying comments.

Laurie said...

Cornwall is where I would like to spend my time...still working on the move, a win on the lottery should do it!

A nice informative post Bob with some interesting photo's.

Little Nell said...

Thanks for the memories again Bob. You keep mentioning place I love. Now it’s Fowey, where we have had family holiday in the past. It’s one of my favourite places- great pub “The King of Prussia'

Bob Scotney said...

Little Nell; my elder son lives at Fowey. He is in the KoP often. We go there everytime we're in Fowey.

Alfandi said...

Seen a lot of photos of Cornwall..really gorgeous..never been there, except for my wife..and she said the same thing..beautiful..