We've just returned from an amazing week's holiday in Cornwall. Jen and I stayed at a place we’ve returned to again and again. Trelowarren is an old estate on the Lizard that rents out lovely cottages deep in a forest. Besides brilliant woodlands to walk away the stresses of work, they also have an excellent restaurant, pool, spa and tennis court. We always go out of season. Then we have the run of the place for walks and snuggling in front of the wood-burning stove while watching endless episodes of The West Wing or The Sopranos.
Cornish Lizard Swans
One of the places in England I have got to know reasonably well is - probably unsurprisingly - Cornwall.
It's a place I'd always wanted to go to, drawn by the idea of a Hebridean-esque landscape, but a tad warmer.
In reality, the Cornish landscape is really quite different from the Hebrides, but still notably celtic. In the Lizard in the south of Cornwall, where this picture taken, there are lots of little creeks and inlets where wildlife abound. We have stayed several times at Trelowarren, an ancient forested estate that is re-inventing itself as an ecologically sound holiday location.
When I was there at Christmas time, I saw a rare turquoise flash of kingfisher in the same spot as these swans had performed their ballet a year previously. The moment was somewhat ruined by my lovely wife trying to have an earnest debate about the advantages of fixed rate over variable rate mortgages.