Cornish Guardian (St. Austell & Fowey)
‘Nicer bit of Rock’ which stays alive in the winter doesn’t need your pity
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There’s definitely a lot more lights on in the winter in Pityme than there are down in Rock and a lot more locals
FOUND amidst cottage homes and serene landscapes on the north coast of Cornwall lies a tiny village that exudes an undeniable charm – even if it’s close to being swallowed up by its well-known counterpart from ‘down the hill’.
A quaint settlement, the not-soaptly named Pityme is far more than just the cluster of houses and industrial estate it encompasses on the outskirts of Rock. And although its blurred boundaries might tempt you to put it in the same box as the rest of the area, you’d be wrong to.
Straddled between the parishes of St Minver Highlands and St Minver Lowlands, and tightly squeezed between the villages of Tredrizzick and Splatt, it’s tricky to know where one village ends and one begins in these parts. But that doesn’t bother its residents who say it’s “the nicer bit” that stays alive in winter for its locals, even if it’s not the financially smart thing to do.
Lainey Christmas is the owner of a mobile food truck on the Pityme Industrial Estate called Rock Box. Her business name, along with others like Rock Marine Services and Rock Planned Maintenance, is a fine example of how the fishing village has been slowly creeping outward in recent years.
The idea behind Rock Box was to sell something a little less upmarket than what the rest of the area is known to offer, with its often posh food and big names like Paul Ainsworth and Rick Stein. She said, perhaps surprisingly, a lot of what you’ll find in Pityme has been in the area “for years” with many being local, family-run firms.
You can expect “lovely” people and “good as gold” customers she was proud to say. “We are what we are at the end of the day and we’re a tin box in a field,” she said, explaining there has only been the odd, rare occasion of animosity.
“We had this one lady who was on her proper high horse and was talking down to us. But 99.9% of the time it’s a lovely place to be.”
The village itself is summed up by quaint cottages adorned with colorful flower gardens (although things were a little more dreary on our visit, thanks to recent lashings of rain), narrow winding lanes, and patches of farmland that surround it.
We’re told it began as a small farming community, sustaining itself through agriculture and some fishing from nearby coastal waters. The award-winning Pityme Inn has been the heart of the village for decades. Once a farmhouse, it was then a tea room, restaurant and finally a pub from 1970 onwards.
Tom ‘Dooley’ Wills, 66, knows a thing or two about that, with his family once having owned much of the farmland. He now owns a single field off Pityme Industrial Estate with much of his family’s footprint being sold off in chunks over the years.
“I’ve watched as more and more
George Collins
second homes are built. I remember when they built the new school and all the new houses went up,” he said. “Rock is creeping further back up the road because everyone wants an address with Rock on it because it doubles the price.”
But he remembers when Pityme was a small farming community with a working milk parlour. “All that’s long gone now,” he said.
Of how Pityme got its name, nobody is quite sure. One tale tells of a tragic shipwreck during which all hands were lost. It’s said the village wives berated the captain’s wife for her husband’s decision to set sail in treacherous conditions.
The legend has it she said she’d lost her husband too ‘so you should also pity me’. Another says a woman fell down the village well – which is still there today – and said ‘pity me’ while stuck and injured at the bottom.
Deeper into the industrial estate you’ll find the likes of Sharp’s Brewery, born in 1994 and best known for its flagship ale Doom Bar. Named