My tiny Penzance bedroom – more like a ship’s cabin than a B&B room – overlooked the sea. The sea lured me out every morning despite the wet, grey weather, and I was fortified by a delicious breakfast. Everything is homemade, and my breakfast plate was decorated with sprigs of edible flowers from the garden outside. Walking to nearby Newlyn takes about ten or fifteen minutes along the seafront, accompanied by the rhythmic breath of the sea, the little town of Mousehole in the distance. I passed a Newlyn window with an Alfred in it.
Newlyn is a busy fishing harbour, with around a hundred fishermen spending several days at a time offshore. I met and chatted briefly with one of them who’d been out at sea for five days. It’s my life, he told me.
As well as the fishing harbour there’s a small cinema and the Newlyn Art Gallery, which has a little cafe – always a plus in wet weather. Its last exhibition, ‘Social Fabric’ was just finishing. I was intrigued by this work by Celia Pym, a jacket belonging to film star Vivian Leigh given to Pym by film director James Ivory, who’d stored it since 1965.
There was a table in the gallery spread with pins, scissors, cloth fragments and coloured thread. No one else was around. I spent a short but happy time assembling a picture. Thank you Newlyn.
Sounds like a lovely trip even in wet weather!
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