Poldark’s Cornwall – A Foodie Sojourn Part 2
As the world’s press invaded, Carbis Bay, near St Ives, it seemed appropriate to highlight this beautiful coastal county in the United Kingdom, especially as The 47th G7 summit took place there between 11–13 June 2021.
This little road trip will therefore explore this quaint corner of England and maybe persuade you to visit the region once restrictions are lifted and normal travel resumes in 2022, much like D. H. Lawrence did over 100 years ago.
D. H. Lawrence – The Promised Land
“When we came over the shoulder of the wild hill, above the sea, to Zennor, I felt we were coming into the Promised Land.
I know there will be a new heaven and a new earth take place now: we have triumphed.
I feel like a Columbus who can see a shadowy America before him: only this isn’t merely territory, it is a new continent of the soul”.
Letter of 25th Feb. 1916 to Ottoline Morrell
From the collected letters of D. H. Lawrence
In a corner of Truro sits Skinner’s Brewery. It is not a pretentious building but a working model of how to market and brand ales that reflect good Cornish values and attract a strong customer base. With catchy names such as Knocker Beer (it is said a knocker is like a leprechaun or pixie that gets upset if the crust of a Cornish pasty is not left for them by the tin miners), a Cornish bitter named Betty Stogs (a cartoon character), Golden Ale, Sennen Session IPA, Lushington’s IPA, Towans Lager and an apple cider name Lyonesse. This small company now serves most of Cornwall and produces roughly 130,000 pints a week – so I celebrated the fact by knocking back a tankard of ale.
It was late November 2019 as I walked down the hill into the centre of town in windy conditions from my Grade II listed Alverton Hotel in Truro, Cornwall. It was Tuesday night and the cobblestone streets had Christmas decorations and lights hung above them but all the
shops were closed (I was told late night shopping was Wednesday night). I stopped in to get warm and have a red wine at the first pub I saw, The Brittania. Inside there were a couple of youngsters locked eye-to-eye near the door and three blokes standing at the bar. Above the Christmas trimmings and fairy lights was a TV showing a debate on Brexit – I could see why the British public was so fed up with it and just wanted it sorted.
When I asked for a wine the bartender responded with, “Would you like small 125ml, medium 175ml or large 250ml?” When I lived in the UK in the 1970s there was just a one size fits all glass. I ordered a large one for £6.00. Today all pubs pour their wine into stainless steel cups denoting the three sizes then dispense it into the appropriate sized glass – another EU directive I wondered?
Around the corner I wandered into Mannings Restaurant, which on this cold blustery night was warm and a surprisingly upmarket, contemporary establishment with black and white prints on white walls. Almost every table was taken and from my seating position I could hear most conversations – it is one of the drawbacks to travelling alone.
For my evening meal I ordered starters of classic King Prawns. My main dish was a roast turkey with trimmings – it was nearly Christmas after all. Finally I was a bit disappointed that the Crème brûlée was cold and looked like it had been pulled from a freezer…my only disappointment so far.
Parking in Truro is not that easy and the traffic seems a burden on a town that is obviously well loved. I walked into the Cornish Food Box Company’s only retail shop, which housed a café and delicatessen. Their main reputation is for shipping boxed Cornish goods from Cornish providers around the country and in some instances to Europe and beyond. With warehouses stocking up to 3,000 items this was far and away the biggest part of their business. It turns out many people send gift boxes to their loved ones and family in the UK, as well as UK expats who have moved overseas. They also deliver to self-catering cottages, apartments, and
campsites, but mainly in the southwest of England.
One mile shy of the Cornwall coast I stopped in the hamlet of Sennen and for good reason, to have a pint in the First and Last Inn. Since the 17th century this tavern has been a welcome haven to smugglers and ship wreckers along with the odd tourist. Thankfully the smugglers are long gone, but their fabled customs, evocative atmosphere and renowned hospitality remain. It was raining cats and dogs outside as I sipped my pint.
“Do you ever get used to the rain?” I asked the landlord. “Not really,” came his stoic reply. In the summer months there is a lovely sheltered garden and children’s play area at the rear of the pub, but in winter I was enjoying the cosy, warm atmosphere under low beamed ceilings and aided by two roaring log fires.
Twenty minutes earlier I had spotted a signpost that read Land’s End 17 miles. The rain had been continuous, something they call ‘Liquid Sunshine’ in this part of southwest England. With time on my hands I drove country lanes leading to this famous isolated spot. By now at Land’s End the rain was lashing the whitewashed building at a horizontal angle. I pulled up in a car park on the edge of a cliff and took a couple of photographs of a raging surf lashing the rocks as big Atlantic rollers brutalised the coast – I then immediately turned around and headed north.
Back at the 17-mile sign I pulled into Polgoon Vineyard for a tasting of some of England’s most southern wines – yes wine in England! Polgoon apparently is a Cornish word meaning: Pol = Pond and Goon = Hill. One of the more unusual tastings was a Strawberry Wine; they also offered a Sauvignon Blanc sparkling wine using a Champagne-style method, a Pinot Noir Rosé and finally I sipped a glass of only their 6th bottling of Rondo red wine in 15 years – sadly they did not make any chardonnay.
About 5:00 pm I arrived in darkness at St Ives. My hotel for the evening was the Pedn Olva, sitting on a bluff
overlooking the town and a beautiful sandy beach. It was a rough night with blustery winds lifting the smell of the sea and salt air as rain lashed my windows. I ate in the hotel and had a few glasses of wine before retiring early – it had been a long day. (Carbis Bay, where the G7 Summit took place, is just 3.2 kms away from St Ives)
“At Zennor one sees infinite Atlantic, all peacock-mingled colours and the gorse is sunshine itself. Zennor is a most beautiful place: a tiny granite village nestling under high shaggy moor-hills and a big sweep of lovely sea beyond, such a lovely sea, lovelier even than the Mediterranean…It is the best place I have been in, I think.” – D. H. Lawrence, 1916.
I drove along more country roads as eventually the countryside turned to the colour of gorse that Lawrence described, along with dark olive covered moorlands and steely-coloured crags that reminded me of Scotland. My first stop was the farming hamlet of Zennor, where D. H. Lawrence once lived – I could see why, as next to the massive stone blocks of the village’s St. Senara’s Church stood the Tinner’s Arms, a structure built in 1271, that I was led to believe was originally constructed to accommodate the masons who erected the church in that era.
Inside the low ceiling inn was the smell of wood burning in a big open fireplace. I ordered a dark Lushington’s Pale Ale called Mermaids and chatted to the bartenders Cheryl and Hanna, about what came first, the church or the inn. They were not certain – but what they seemed certain of was this was one of the oldest pubs in England. Who was I to deliberate?
Down the road another half a mile was the lovely named, late 1700’s Gurnards Head Inn. It was Thursday lunchtime and even though I’d had breakfast my stomach was grumbling. While sitting at my table, a gaggle of hikers in oversized muddy boots accompanied by their wet, shaggy, well-natured dogs piled in for lunch. Inside the log fire crackled as more wood was added to the hearth.
As the rain eased off I ordered half a carafe of Tempranillo ‘Albizu’ Vina Aalbergada Rioja to accompany a ploughman’s lunch; chunky cheddar, pickled onions, chutney, celery, apple and vine-tomatoes with big slices of bread. It was the perfect place to spend a Cornish lunchtime knees-up with a bunch of sodden locals.
Facts:
The author would like to acknowledge and thank Qatar Airways for his non-stop business class flight to Doha, Qatar and onto Lisbon, Portugal, as well as his return business class flight from Manchester to Doha, Qatar and then to Auckland. W: www.qatarairways.com
Visit Cornwall W: www.visitcornwall.com
Alamo/Enterprise Hire Cars W: www.alamo.com/nz
The Alverton, Truro W: www.thealverton.co.uk
Skinner’s Brewery W: www.skinnersbrewery.com
Mannings Hotel & Restaurant W: www.manningshotels.co.uk/ restaurant
Cornish Food Box Company W: www.cornishfoodboxcompany. co.uk
Polgoon Vineyard, Penzance W: www.polgoon.com
Pedn Olva Hotel, St Ives W: www.pednolva.co.uk
Gurnards Head, Zennor W: www.gurnardshead.co.uk
Tinner’s Arms, Zennor W: www.tinnersarms.com