A-Z Challenge 2018 - British Rivers: 'F' River Fowey

I first went to the Cornish town of Fowey in 2007 just after my elder son moved there to live. 2007 also happened to be the centenary year of the birth of Daphne du Maurier.

Ferryside by the River Fowey

Ferryside was the house where Daphne wrote The Loving Spirit, her first novel. Daphne's son Kit and his family live in Ferryside today. If you look closely at the right corner of the house you should be able to make out the ship figurehead from the Jane Slade which inspired Daphne to write that first book.

Further along the Fowey estuary on the town side you will come to - 

Neptune's Point at Readymoney Cove

Daphne lived at Readymoney - not that big house - back from the beach in 1942 and 1943.

The River Fowey rises on Bodmin Moor and flows to the sea on the south coast.

Sketch map of the rivers of South Cornwall including the River Fowey

Fowey harbour was one of those on the South Coast from which invasion fleets sailed on D-Day 1944. This view looking towards the open sea, with the village of Polruan on the opposite bank, looks much more peaceful.

These days of course, visits to Fowey are made by many cruise ships.

I must say I prefer the cruises on much smaller vessels along the Fowey and from which to admire the town.

Fowey from the river

Photo attribution:

• Sketch map: 15 May 2009, by Andy F - CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.

Fowey

A-Z Challenge – ‘F’

I went to Fowey in Cornwall for the first time after my son moved there to live. In May 2007, not only was it my 70^th birthday but it was also the time of the Daphne du Maurier Festival which celebrated the centenary of her birth.

I had read several of her books, including Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, but otherwise was fairly ignorant about her connection with Fowey. I finished up writing an article on her life as an assignment on a creative writing course.

 Ferryside

At Fowey I could see first hand the house Ferryside where Daphne wrote her first novel, The Loving Spirit. Daphne was inspired to write the book after discovering the wreck of the schooner Jane Slade in Pont Creek. The Slade family were shipbuilders in the village of Polruan which lies across the estuary from Fowey. The figurehead from the schooner was added to the house later.

The opening of Rebecca, “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again,” is world famous. The fictional Manderley was based on a house near Peterborough and what Daphne called her ‘house of secrets’, Menabilly, the home of the Rashleigh family just outside Fowey. Daphne was to move into Menabilly and wrote many of her books there, but not Rebecca. 

 Menabilly

In 1943 Daphne lived at Readymoney in Fowey after Ferryside had been requisitioned as a naval HQ. The gardens of the cottage at Readymoney Cove are open to the public on occasions. The house carries a plaque recording Daphne’s time there.

Readymoney

St Catherine’s Castle stands on the point to the seaward side of Readymoney Cove and used to guard the entry to the estuary. The Fowey estuary was one of the deepwater harbours from which American troops departed for the D-Day landings in 1944. 

 St Catherine's Castle

Container ships and large cruise ships now visit Fowey and it’s a haven for boating enthusiasts; if you wish you can have a trip in a little steamboat.