Combing the Penwith Peninsula

Posted on 7 June 2026 by sheg4184

Phase 6 of the Salt Path: St. Ives to Prussian Bay

‘By Tre, Pol and Pen, Shall ye know all Cornishmen’

On the south western tip of Cornwall (or Kernow as it is known by the Cornubians) is the rugged Penwith Peninsula, wrapped around on three sides by the feisty Atlantic Ocean. From St Ives to Marazion, punctuated by St Michael’s Mount, the lofty, gnarly granite cliffs cup an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: rolling hills, lush fields and deep wooded valleys, tiny stone villages and steep, winding lanes, ruined remains of old tin mines.

Traditionally a land of farmers and fishermen, the Penwith peninsula has also been one of the most significant areas in the world for tin and copper mining since the Bronze Age. Sadly, the very last working mine closed in 1990, and the area now relies heavily on tourism. But it does explain the vast number of chimney stacks that litter the Cornish countryside – and the Cornish miners who made their way to South Australia in the mid-19th century to take part in the copper boom. Their mining expertise and advanced equipment helped to make the Copper Triangle in the north of the state such a runaway success, and more than repaid the colony for the assisted passage granted to so many of them. By 1865, Cornish settlers made up more than 40% of South Australia’s immigrant population, and the Yorke Peninsula would later become known as Australia’s “Little Cornwall” as Moonta’s copper output surpassed that of Cornwall.

***

Meanwhile, we are staying in the picturesque village of Marazion, overlooking that celebrated little island of St Michael’s Mount. It was once a site for pilgrims, like its cousin across the channel, Mont St Michel, and lies just half-a-mile offshore. At low tide, a causeway is exposed, and you can cross to the island on foot – in fact you don’t even need the causeway, you can just stroll over the sand – but at high tide, it’s necessary to find a willing boatman to bring you back. From almost anywhere in the town, and around Mount’s Bay, you can spot this iconic, fairytale island.

On a mere fraction of a square mile, this rocky outcrop is a microcosm of Cornwall with its granite cliffs crowned by a mediaeval castle and church, wooded slopes to the sea, terraced, subtropical gardens and even a tiny village and a pub. But be warned, there is no access on Saturdays, and you have to be off the island by 5pm any day, presumably to give the thirty-odd residents a break from the onslaught of curious sightseers.

As I have been working as we travel – when I am not playing chauffeur for the obsessed, long-distance walker in my life – I realize there is not always time to visit all the popular tourist destinations along the route. So, I intend to return another day to see Tintagel and Land’s End, the Minack Theatre and St Michael’s Mount, which, despite its proximity, is closed to the public on the one afternoon I am free. So selfish!

There have, however, been some fascinating, off-the-beaten-track discoveries, like St Columb, Boscastle, the Bude Canal and Hive Beach. And I have learnt the little ditty (above) that explains how the ancient Celtic prefixes still denote historic Cornish surnames and villages: ‘Tre’ is an ancient Cornish word meaning ‘homestead’ or ‘settlement’ as in Tregony and Trelissick; ‘Pol’, which meand a ‘pool’, a ‘pond’, a ‘well’ or a ‘cove’, as in Polperro or Polruan; ‘Pen’ which means headland or hill, as in Penzance or Pendeen. There are others, too, such as chy (pronounced ‘chee’) which means ‘house’ or ‘home in Cornish, as in Chyvarloe.And then there’s Cornubia, the ancient Latin name for Cornwall meaning people of the horn, referring to the shape And then there’s the Morrab Library & Gardens in Penzance…

***

Arriving early in Marazion – hours before we could gain access to our latest abode – we followed the trusty oak leaf to Trengwainton Gardens, just outside Penzance. The gardens were, of course, reliably beautiful, mixing wilder woodlands with tropical plants and a huge expanse of walled gardens. We do love a walled garden! So, we wandered through the mizzling rain, and eventually discovered a café and a second hand book shop. It was here that I inadvertently found my hideaway for the week: a private library in the heart of Penzance. And my heartfelt thanks to Kelvin, who suggested it might be an interesting place to study. So, I overcame all the aggravations of parking issues and impossibly narrow lanes to find this wonderful library, surrounded by the splendours of another rather lovely garden.

The Morrab Library (Cornish for ‘by the sea’) is one of only fifty independent libraries in Britain, and was founded in 1818 by ‘the great and good’ of Penzance who were apparently tired of hearing themselves mocked by the Londoners, and decided to indulge in a spot of reading to improve their minds and their social kudos. Over the years, the library has outgrown several homes around Penzance,  and now lives in stately splendour at Morrab House, a splendid Victorian house with high ceilings and large windows, and walls lined floor-to-ceiling with bookshelves. The house has gradually filled with donations from generous Cornish benefactors, and many of the books are incredibly old and rather special. I even found one by a 19th century female travel writer, whose trip to China provided amazing context for my own research.

***

The One & Only has taken on the wind and rain this week, as our steamy, summery May turns into a wild & woolly June.  Luckily, he had a couple of friends for moral support earlier in the week. And despite the unpredictable showers, he managed a bit of seal spotting between St Ives and Pendeen Lighthouse, while I was sipping coffee (undercover) by the sea pool at Penzance, during a short study break. Everything here is such an easy distance. Having moved house, I was gobsmacked to see we were still only 8 miles from St. Ives. Even our local pub – The Fire Engine – is no more than 50m from the front door with glorious views of St Michael’s Mount.

Our cottage – which shall be renamed Bumblebee Cottage as it is so themed – is a quaint little gem a few steps up the hill from Marazion’s market square. For anyone over 5’5″ there’s a bit of ducking required to avoid concussion, but it is beautifully appointed, with a terraced garden at the back that hangs above the rooftops, as long as you don’t mind clambering up a dozen very steep slate covered steps. (They very wisely left us plastic wine glasses for outdoor boozing! Did I mention I love cider?)

***

Today, as I was about to wrap this up on a wine-sozzled note, the Wild and Woolly has turned into a proper tantrum. The wind whistled around the house all night and this morning the roads were strewn with leaf litter and stray branches. And still the One & Only was not deterred. I am so proud of his persistence – but is he just a little bit mad? Apparently the wind on the track is almost blowing him backwards!

Anyway, our devoted GPS “Daphne” decided, in her infinite wisdom, to take us off the main road this morning and redirect us down a back lane that rapidly grew narrower and narrower, with no place to turn and hedgerows that were closing in on us like some horror movie. Would it come to a dead end? How on earth could we ever reverse? Would there be any paint left on the car at all?! We made it out eventually, but it was more like a pedestrian track by the time it found the main road again. I am now back in Penzance enjoying a savoury cream tea to settle the nerves: cheese scone, Philadelphia cream cheese and chutney. Anyone got the brandy??

Thank goodness we are moving to the east coast tomorrow – I have my fingers crossed for calmer weather once we are no longer facing the tempest-torn Atlantic.

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Of Martyrs and Artists and Clamorous Bells

Posted on 4 June 2026 by sheg4184

Phase 5 of the Salt Path: Boscastle to St Ives

This past week, we have been based in St Columb Major, a Cornish town a few miles inland, and well away from the hustle and bustle and total chaos of the seaside towns over half term.

St Columb Major is named for a sixth century Cornish saint (saintess?) St Columba, who was martyred by a pagan king for refusing to renounce her faith and was apparently buried somewhere around here.  It is a quaint little town, with impossibly narrow streets and very little parking, but the centre contains many lovely slate hung houses and several stately bank buildings. (Oh, by the way, the label ‘Major’ distinguishes it from St Columba Minor, a neighbouring village on the outskirts of Newquay.)

Apparently St Columb Major was once destined to be the banking capital of Cornwall, but then Truro took over as the county capital, and St Columb has become largely overlooked since it was bypassed by the Atlantic Highway (aka A39) that charges down from Bath, through Somerset  and Devon to finish its journey some 200 miles later in Falmouth, on the south east coast of Cornwall.

In the centre of town, overlooking the churchyard, stands St Columba’s Church. Built in the 14th century, it boasts an eighty foot belltower, containing eight church bells. In 1920 a chiming clock was added, as a memorial to the local boys who died in World War I. Less than 100 metres from our bedroom window, that clock chimed like Big Ben at every quarter hour and then struck the hour as well. As a special bonus, the town’s most excellent and dedicated bell-ringers practice for two or three hours on a Wednesday and are justly proud of their expertise. I wasn’t at all sure they needed quite so much practise – they sounded well-nigh perfect to me! My ears are still ringing…

***

As we venture further into Cornwall, it is amazing to see how many artists have established themselves in this remote county. Every town we pass through, we find at least one private gallery, often more. Seascapes and fishing villages, stormy moors and sweeping sandy beaches abound.

Cornwall has been a major hub for British art for decades and is defined by three distinct movements. The Newlyn School was a colony of artists based just south of Penzance in the fishing port of Newlyn, from 1880 until WWI. These painters were inspired by the French Impressionists who loved to paint outdoors and capture the natural light, typically finishing a piece in a single sitting. In Newlyn they found the light wondrous, the rent inexpensive, and models – usually local fisherman and their families – remarkably cheap.

In the mid-20th century, St Ives became a renowned hub for Modernist painters, sculptors, and potters, including Dame Barbara Hepworth and her husband Ben Nicholson. There is even a St Ives Tate these days, where many of the most famous Cornish artists are exhibited. We spent a quiet morning there, exploring its collection of modern art and enjoying the fabulous views over the rooftops of St. Ives, Porthmeor Beach and the Atlantic Ocean.

Cornish Naïve Art emerged between the world wars, in response to the work of Alfred Wallis, an artist without formal training who began painting at the age of 70, in something of the style of Lowry or Ken Done.

Today, many contemporary artists still gravitate to the dramatic Cornish coast and bucolic countryside. So, it was a particular joy to discover that our cosy flat in St Columb was owned by a Cornish artist and his wife.

Jeremy Annear is a renowned Modernist and abstract artist, who lives and works in St Columb Major, his studio and gallery just metres from his front door. While I am totally ignorant when it comes to abstract art, I learned a lot this week, chatting to Jeremy over a bottle of Rosé and hearing how he processes the world around him to create the simple lines, block colours, and geometric forms that reflect his unique, somewhat stark vision of the landscape. Standing in his gallery and contemplating his paintings, I was surprised to find myself drawn into his images, and perhaps even beginning to understand what he was trying to achieve; starting to glimpse what was beneath the surface. And imagine my even greater surprise to discover a small Aboriginal dot painting leaning against the wall just inside his gallery. Apparently, he has made several visits to Australia and has been inspired by the ‘graphic elements’ of Indigenous Australian art.

***

After hours of trudging along the Cornish coast each day, the One & Only has been perfectly happy to put his feet up and survive on my cooking, and with a great little space in the heart of the town, we were not terribly inspired to eat out this week. Especially as the reputable pub next door had been recently sold and had yet to reopen. We did, however, enjoy a cider or two at a local pub, when I went to collect the intrepid walker at the end of each day, so he was at least rewarded with a beer after all his effort.

So, I got to meet Boscastle, a tiny village owned by the National Trust, that is tucked into a deep cleft in the landscape just north of Tintagel. We didn’t have time to stop for long – and don’t drive down there if you are prone to vertigo – but we were able to spend a lovely, tranquil hour there, following a family of soft, fluffy ducklings along the little River Valency to the harbour, laughing as they bounced over – and under – the miniature rapids with infectious delight. The natural harbour at Boscastle is protected by a 16th century stone wall, and from the top of the wall, you can see the blowhole just beyond the harbour entrance, which shoots out a horizontal spout at low tide.

Unfortunately, I gave only a passing nod to Port Isaac – Doc Martin territory – and was forced to scoop up the One and Only from the forecourt of the Co-op supermarket at the top of the town, as all the car parks were school-holiday-choc-a-block. When I dropped him off the following morning, to continue on his merry way, I thought I may be stuck there forever, as the lanes near that famous wee harbour were so narrow, and I had to squeeze between the Hobbit-sized – but very solid – houses with an equally solid car that was not inclined to imitate the Knight Bus.

Our next successful pickup point was at Rock, an extremely popular holiday destination across the Camel estuary from Padstow. It’s got a much more romantic name in the original Cornish, but I can neither remember it or spell it, so Rock it is. Rock is crawling with foodies and holidaymakers and their Down-From-London juggernauts, and has been nicknamed both ‘the Kensington of Cornwall’ and ‘Chelsea-on-sea’ as a nod to its more affluent visitors. Thanks to an unusually hot half term, all the beach dwellers were a bright shade of lobster. By pure fluke, I managed to snag a parking space, so we were able to enjoy a walk on the vast sandbank on the northern side of the estuary and even have a drink at a bar overlooking the ferry to Padstow, a multitude of boats moored in the shallows between.

For some reason, Perranporth had stuck in my head as a pretty name, and as it also boasted a 2- mile stretch of beach heading north to Newquay, I thought it might be worth a visit. It wasn’t going to work as a pickup point, but I wandered down anyway and met the One & Only for morning tea, instead. The tide was right out, exposing veritable hectares of sand that were the delight of every local dog and its owner.

By the time I took off, the carpark – almost empty when I arrived – was crammed with holiday makers. Does this blog seem heavily focused on carparks? To be honest, it has been the most stressful part of the trip, steering our overly large car around tiny streets and into extremely cramped parking spaces – if there were any to be had. And let me add, anything bigger than a Fiat 500 would be overly large around here! So, I was very grateful to reach St Ives and find a more-than-generous carpark at the top of the town. I only wish I’d had roller skates – or skis – to whizz down the almost vertical footpath to the harbour.

St. Ives was our last collection point before we left St Columb, which happily coincided with a day off for the One & Only, and gave us a chance to spend a happy, sunny day in this delightful town. Here we found cobbled, pedestrianized streets, quaint old fishermen’s houses, pretty shops and a plethora of art galleries, copious venues with rooftop bars, and not one but several coves and beaches. This was our day to visit the Tate, inspect the Lifeboat Station on the West Pier with its  £5,000 rescue boat and tractor, enjoy a Thai lunch on Wharf Road and walk a lap of ‘The Island’ – or rather the headland – above Porthgwidden Beach. On this broad, grassy bluff with its panoramic views of the town and coastline, we found a brief and peaceful respite  from the crowds along the seafront. We also found a small stone chapel perched on the top. St Nicholas was the patron saint of sailors, as well as children, so he was a most suitable saint to give his name to this pocket-sized chapel that is surrounded by sea on three sides.

And now it is time to move on across the Penwith Peninsula to meet some friends near Penzance…

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Down on the Border

Posted on 24 May 2026 by sheg4184

‘…For men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
And the harbour bar be moaning.’
. ~ Charles Kingsley (Three Fishers)

Phase 4: The Salt Path: Westward Ho! to Bude

Our accommodation these past few days has been a lovely, comfortable, compact barn conversion that sits right on the border between Devon and Cornwall and covered us for  the stretch of the Salt Path from Westward Ho! in Devon – the only town in Britain with an exclamation mark in its name – to Boscastle in Cornwall. Along the way there has been a plethora of remote, picturesque fishing villages, complete with doll-sized stone cottages and steep, narrow streets, completely unsuitable for any vehicle but a donkey.

One such village was the childhood home of historian, novelist, and poet Charles Kingsley, who, you may remember, wrote The Water Babies. He was also responsible for a poem, ‘The Three Fishers’, about the harsh realities of a fisherman’s life, their families constantly alert to the life-threatening dangers of working on the sea. The poem was published in 1851. It was later set to music by English composer John Hullah and became a popular ballad. (Coincidentally, Australian writer Henry Handel Richardson used the line ‘And women must weep’ as a title for one of her short stories written in 1931.)

Clovelly is an age-old fishing village that has somehow evolved down the centre of a dramatic ravine in the cliff face, on the rugged north coast of Devon, overlooking Bideford Bay. Consisting of eighty-three cottages, Clovelly is privately owned, with no cars, no stairs, no lift, not even a zip line for easier access. Visitors – and residents – must park their cars at the top of the cliff, and make their way down the precipitous, cobbled high street on foot. Preferably not in heels! In the past, donkeys were used for transport. Now they are enjoying their retirement, and residents must use sleds to pull everything up and down the hill, from furniture to food, luggage to garbage.  Even the local milkman uses a sled apparently!

How fit must you be to live here?

Originally, the land at the top of the cliff was farmed by the Celts, who built an Iron Age fort on a plateau, known as Clovelly Dykes. Located just a mile inland from Clovelly village, it is one of the largest hill forts in Devon. So how many are there to compare? Apparently fifty!

After 1066, the Clovelly estate was owned by William the Conqueror, who gifted it to his wife, Matilda, and had it entered in the Doomsday Book, that first giant survey of England and Wales completed on the orders of King William. In 1242, it was acquired by the Giffard family, also Normans. (I wonder about that word acquired. It could cover a multitude of sins. Was it bought, stolen, gifted..?

Within a hundred years it had changed hands again, and been purchased by the Cary family, who was responsible for building the drystone breakwater at the base of the cliff, to replace a rudimentary, 13th century quay and thus create a solid, safe harbour for the local fishermen.

Due to its perilous cliffs and treacherous seas, this stretch of coastline once earned the nickname “The Shipwreck Coast.” While these shipwrecks were sometimes caused by bad weather – or poor navigating – the area was also infamous for ‘wreckers’. These local smuggling gangs deliberately lured ships onto the rocks in order to pillage and plunder their cargo. (Try reading Daphne Du Maurier’s book Jamaica Inn for the grisly details.) And when the fog hangs low over the cliffs and the wind whips across the sea, it’s not hard to imagine a world of brutal pirates, cunning smugglers and grinding poverty, and the likes of Joss Merlyn growling ‘dead men tell no tales.’

Christine Hamlyn inherited the estate in 1884. When she married in 1889, she and her husband went to work renovating the cottages.  She also asked him to change his name, as hers had such a long connection with Clovelly, and there were no male heirs.

 John Rous, the current owner of Clovelly, is Christine’s great grand-nephew, and has continued her work there, ensuring that the village is not taken over by holiday makers, but remains a real community; the cottages are leased only to full-time residents who live and work in the neighbourhood. It is, however, the tourists who keep the village intact: the entrance fee charged to visitors helps to maintain the buildings and ensures Clovelly retains its unique charm and timelessness.

Unfortunately, we did not stay long – the One & Only had just finished a gruelling day’s walk and was ready for a hot shower – but we paused at the inn for a cider, said a quick hello to the donkeys, and enjoyed a few moments at a lookout above the harbour. My ticket was good for 24 hours, so I popped back in the morning to watch the film about its history and village life. I was going to venture back down to the village or perhaps to the gardens at Clovelly Court, but the mizzle had set in, and I was wary of slipping on the cobblestones and ending up in the sea!

And speaking of cider…

Just in case you have never come across it – however unlikely that sounds – let me introduce you to my favourite local beverage. Cider is an ancient alcoholic libation made from the fermented juice of apples, unlike beer, which is brewed from barley and hops.

As I am not a beer lover, cider was my best (cheapest) option when I first went backpacking around Europe. In South Australia, where wine is King, I don’t often consider drinking cider. But back in the west country this summer, it has become the obvious choice. (FYI: ciders from the Southwest of England are generally higher in alcoholic content.)

Cider can be sweet or dry; cloudy or clear; light gold to dark amber brown; sparkling or still. Most types of apples, including crab apples, can be used to make cider.

Cider has been around for centuries. Apparently, Julius Caesar found the Celts fermenting crab apples right back in 55 BCE. While these days the recipe and the taste for cider have spread all over the world, cider is a quintessentially English beverage, its history deeply rooted in England’s southern counties, Kent and Somerset, and the “Three Counties” of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. Traditional English scrumpy is a rustic robust style, typically cloudy, still, and filled with apple flavour. But I won’t drown you too deeply in the folklore of cider-making. I’ll simply recommend that if you’ve never tasted it, try it. See what you think.

In the meantime, lets go for a stroll to Bude, a more accessible seaside town just south of the border, but still on Bideford Bay, at the mouth of the River Neet. Originally a busy harbour, it became a popular seaside resort in the Victorian era. And there is an amazing tidal pool on Summerleaze Beach to the north of the estuary, which is hugely popular with local bathers.

Much of this coastline is protected by the National Trust, who began a campaign in 1965 ‘to address the rising threat of overdevelopment of the coast’. Since then, the Trust has acquired almost 900 miles of seaboard around Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which recently includes a stretch of cliffs at Tintagel in northern Cornwall and a strip of coastal grassland near Swanage, which we visited earlier this month.

Back in Bude, we arrived at the crack of dawn, as the weatherman was predicting hotter days this week, and the One & Only was keen to start early. Needing a leg stretch, I found a suitable carpark and wandered up and over the first hill with the One & Only, before circling back into town. I had parked the car in the middle of the island formed by the river and the Bude canal.

Have you ever seen a canal that ends up in the sea? Of course, it only works when the tide is high, or the boats would through that final lock onto the sand! Apparently, it was built to transport mineral rich sand up to the farms for fertiliser, and rose, through two locks, from sea level to an altitude of 132 metres. I tried to understand a lengthy description of its construction but, not coming from engineering stock, found myself utterly bamboozled. Regardless of how it was made, the results, for mere pedestrians, are lovely. And beside the canal – where I’d parked the car – there was, on this lovely Friday morning, a local market setting up.

The Bude Farmers & Craft market is held on the wharf every Friday from Easter to the beginning of September, from 10am – 3pm. There were all sorts of fresh produce, crafts and clothing available, and I had soon filled the boot with a grainy malt loaf, two quiches, a bottle of local cider and an Oak Leaf wine. Oh, and a sharp and crumbly cheddar. Well, far be it from me to leave such a fabulous block of cheese behind.

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“A Wimpling Wind”*

Posted on 17 May 2026 by sheg4184

Phase 3 of the Salt Path: Lynmouth to Westward Ho!

Wandering through a tranquil wilderness beneath dappled beechwoods, I emerge into green fields beside a still and silent lake, and it is hard to imagine that I am in the middle of an island of almost 70 million people. There is not a person in sight and not even a murmur of traffic. Only the restful sound of wind in the trees, the soft twittering of birds and an invisible stream down at the bottom of the valley purling and plashing over the rocks. Down on the coast, it was a thoroughly Pooh Bear Blustery day. Here, among the beechwoods, there is only a peaceful serenity as I tread softly along the muddy path. To my left the hillside is submerged in trees, to my right a steep grassy slope is sprinkled with azaleas, gorse bushes and ferns…

Earlier this morning I left the One & Only on the windblown coast neart Combe Martin to hike to Woolacombe, before ducking inland to stretch my legs in the grounds of the Arlington Court estate. Yes, it is indeed another National Trust gem.

As I followed the oak leaf signposts along the constricted, twisting lanes, boxed in by overhanging beech trees and hedgerows, I felt as if I were hurtling down an endless luge track with as much control as the ball in a giant pinball machine, ricocheting past flippers, bumpers, and slingshots. Yet, gradually, as I banked around the curves and accelerated down the infrequent straights, I realized that I was at last rediscovering my long-neglected skills for skimming round hair pin bends and dodging milk trucks and tractors by a whisker. I was Ernie Prang driving the purple Knight Bus, holding my breath as I squeezed through the incy-wincy gaps between those unforgiving stone walls and muscle-bound SUVs. And somehow, I arrived safely at the Leaky Cauldron. Or rather, at Arlington Court.

In the Visitor Centre, I discovered that the house wouldn’t be open to the public for another hour. Never mind, I now had the perfect opportunity to explore the grounds. Arlington Court and its 2,700-acre estate belonged to one family for several centuries, and apparently it is a nine-mile hike around its boundary. Yeah-but-no-but. Today I would only take the two-mile Lake Path, after which I had promised myself a cup of tea at the Old Kitchen Café.  

Deep in the woods, doubtless full to the brim with fairies, I nod to the brambles and beech trees, Scots pines and newly minted oaks. I pass by a vivid display of pink campion and a scattering of early bluebells, then a bank of large, glossy yellow kingcups. The unappealingly pungent smell of onion weed catches me unawares, yet it is somehow nostalgic. As I pad along the woodland path, childhood memories of Flower fairy books drift through my mind, and I wonder if there be dragons in the bottom of the valley. Busy blackbirds dart among the ferns ahead of me, before spinning into the shadows. An impertinent grey squirrel scurries across the path and dashes up a nearby tree trunk, before he realizes I am there. Then, like a game of Grandmother’s Footsteps, he freezes, stock still, imagining this makes him invisible. As grey clouds mass overhead, it’s not a good time to remember that I have left my raincoat in the boot of the car, or to notice that my sneakers have sprung a leak.

Emerging at last from the dim and shadowy wood, the landscape opened out towards Exmoor National Park. A green hill like a patchwork quilt, its uneven squares edged with hedgerows and spangled with sheep. Rounding the bend towards the house, I spotted splashes of shocking pink on a tall, skimpily clad azalea. Further on, I reached the back corner of Arlington Court, where a full blown and bosomy azalea was parading a profusion of fuchsia flowers. And beside the azalea, the Old Kitchen tea rooms, where a pot of tea and a slice of orange and poppyseed cake was waiting for me.

***

In the beginning, there was a Tudor house-cum-hunting lodge near a mediaeval Church. By the late 18th century, the house needed upgrading, to reflect the more prestigious status of its owner. A fashionable country seat was designed and built beside the original, but within thirty years this shoddy Georgian replacement developed severe structural faults, and the site had to be abandoned. The latest iteration is an unprepossessing, boxy, grey-stone Regency house built some distance from the original. The owner, however, Colonel John Palmer Chichester, died before it was completed. His son, Alexander, added a servants wing; his grandson, Sir Bruce Chichester, added further extensions, to both the house and the stables.

The last owner of Arlington Court was Miss Rosalie Caroline Chichester, the only child of Sir Bruce Chichester, and I have become fascinated with her story. When Rosalie was only sixteen, Sir Bruce, died at the age of thirty-eight, of brucellosis. A pun? Apparently not. Brucellosis is a rare infection you can catch from unpasteurised milk and cheese or from contact with infected animals.

Rosalie inherited the entire estate at twenty-one, along with the vast debt her predecessors had incurred; debt that would take her almost half a century to repay. She never married, but lived all her life at Arlington Court, managing the estate and following her passions for photography, painting, writing and collecting, and turned her home into a private repository. She was also a keen protector of wildlife – to the detriment of the local hunt, who were legally forbidden to hunt across her estate. She also established Arlington as a sanctuary for rare breeds of sheep and Exmoor ponies.

Rosalie was a suffragist, supporting the campaign for women’s right to vote, but she did not approve of the militant methods of the suffragettes. Rosalie and her mother were both prominent members of the Primrose League, an organisation, founded in 1883 to support Conservative, or Tory, Party principles. (Unusually, women were included from the beginning, although eventually a separate Ladies Branch was formed.)

Her story brought to mind Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse, who tells her friend Harriet very firmly that she will never be an old maid to be mocked by society for her poverty. As ‘a single woman, of good fortune’ Emma could maintain her independence from both ridicule and marriage, for her wealth would always ensure her respectability. Rosalie Chichester appears to have heeded Miss Austen’s advice, for she chose never to marry, but nonethless maintained a busy, interesting – and presumably respectable – life without resorting to her parents lavish and flamboyant lifestyle.

Born in 1865, Rosalie was educated at home by a governess, and obviously learned enough in the school room to manage the sizeable estate she inherited at twenty one. In contrast to another Austen character, she chose to retrench, prioritizing repayment of debt over personal extravagances. As a child, she had travelled widely with her parents, aboard her father’s yacht, and would do so again, in later life, with her paid companion, Miss Chrissie Peters, but not until the debts were cleared. In the 1920s, however, she travelled to Australia and New Zealand, and took a round the world cruise. The travel bug was obviously a family gene: her nephew, Sir Francis Chichester, was the first man to circumnavigate the world solo.

When she died, in her eighties, her ashes were buried on the bank of the lake at Arlington Court. Adamant that the property would not be turned into a golf course or made into an exclusive club for the elite, she bequeathed her entire estate to the National Trust for everyone to enjoy. Since then, the National Trust have done much to restore the long-neglected grounds to their former splendour.

The house has become something of a museum, reflecting Rosalie’s many interests: collections of pewter and silver; art and textiles; rare seashells and a ridiculous number of model sailing ships (her father had owned two full-sized ones, which presumably added to the vast debt he left behind). Following her example, the National Trust has collected around forty carriages and created a museum in the old stable block. I didn’t make it over to the stables today, as my work was calling. But it’s always good to leave something for next time…

*’A wimpling wind’ comes from the Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem, “The Windhover”.

**The image of the Primrose League badges came from Henrygb at English Wikipedia. – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3970414.

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A Glimpse of Somerset

Posted on 14 May 2026 by sheg4184

Phase 2 of the Salt Path Experience: Minehead to Lynmouth

We have moved on to Somerset this week, but only fleetingly. The walk, as I think I mentioned before, officially begins in Minehead. So we have spent two nights in Porlock, which has a lovely but extremely narrow high street, where I have been playing a dangerous game of dodgems with other drivers, and attempting not to career through the shop windows. I’m sure within a week, I will find myself craving the elbow room of the wide streets and ample parking in Normanville, but so far it has just made me smile. A lot.

Today I am heading south into Devon, to meet the One & Only in Lynton & Lynmouth, a bizarrely situated twin town, where one town is located at sea level, and the other sits atop the cliff above, with a ‘Cliff Railway’ between. But I’m not there yet, so we’ll save that for later…

…Coz I am currently sitting in The Old Library Café in Porlock – despite its name, it is remarkably bereft of books – and enjoying a mid-morning breakfast of mushrooms and spinach on sourdough, after packing up our darling little AirBNB cottage; the perfectly named “Hidden Cottage”. Tucked away at the end of a maze of narrow alleys, it took some finding. The hunt proved worth it for the treasure we found at this end-of-row, two-up-two-down cosy retreat, swathed in full blown roses. It also proved to be something of a Tardis: miniature on the outside, surprisingly roomy within, with a wood stove, two deep sofas, and a great country kitchen. Even the bathroom rates a mention with its beautiful claw-footed bath, a separate shower, and still enough room to hold a party – a far cry from so many English bathrooms which seem to have been squeezed into a wardrobe with barely room to pivot on a pin.

The beautiful Somerset sandstone, iron rich and almost Titian red, rules supreme in Porlock, where it is used for garden walls, churches and houses; giving off a warm and inviting autumnal glow. An after dinner stroll takes us along winding lanes and down hidden pathways, and we find ourselves quite enamoured of this pocket-sized village built for hobbits.

Meanwhile, only a couple of miles down the road, is Porlock Weir (above), where sign warns us to duck before entering the pub. And duck we do, or risk losing our heads!

Having just driven up Porlock Hill, I had to pause at the top – firstly to admire the view, secondly to describe to you the steepest hill I have ever ascended. At one point it felt as if the car were balancing on its back wheels – and as for the corkscrew bends. Apparently, the gradient is 1:4 which is the maximum steepness for roads. It feels as if a strong gust of wind would send the car somersaulting backwards down the hill.

Onwards and upwards we go, through bright green tunnels of beech, past the most neatly clipped beech and hawthorn hedges I have ever seen, and out onto moorland studded with yellow gorse that smells so invitingly of coconut – or pina colada if you prefer – and hawthorn sprinkled with white confetti blossom. It is spring, and the verges are stippled with campion and cow parsley, bluebells and buttercups.

Now, I am parked just off the road overlooking densely wooded valleys to the east and turbulent, grey, white-capped seas to the west. Green fields on the far side of the valley are freckled with mouse-sized sheep. In the distance, the bare hills of Exmoor stretch as far as the eye can see. The wind is careering through the shrubbery and whipping around the car with a boisterous ferocity. I would take a stroll over the moor, but I suspect I would promptly be blown over the edge and up into the sky, like Mary Poppins.

Perhaps, while I am so warmly cocooned in the car, with such a superb landscape before me, I will take a moment to recap on yesterday’s journey from Weymouth, when we paused for morning tea and a picnic lunch at two conveniently placed National Trust properties.

In much the same way that England is dotted with sheep, it is also dotted with a profusion of wooden signposts indicating walking paths, and National Trust signs pointing the way to another castle, beach or stately home.

Yesterday, we did not even need a signpost, as Dunster Castle rose out of the trees ahead of us like something from a fairy tale. Apparently, this glorious stronghold has been commanding the best view of the coast and surrounding countryside for hundreds of years, and despite several attempts to destroy it, it has somehow stood its ground. Although Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarians had a good bash at toppling its 13th century curtain walls and bastions, reducing them to rubble in 1650. Thank heavens the house, the gatehouse and the mediaeval village below, were spared.

Ironically, the Luttrell family were originally Parliamentarians themselves, but after they were besieged by the Royalists – twice – they succumbed to arm twisting and swapped sides. As a reward for their gracious surrender, they were allowed to host the young Prince Charles (the future Charles II) while he attempted to rally support in the west. This, of course, did not go down so well with the Parliamentarians when they arrived in town.

The Luttrells had, by then, owned Dunster castle for almost two hundred and fifty years. And somehow, through all the vagaries of history – and spendthrift custodians – they held onto it for another three centuries. Timely marriages helped to refill depleted coffers, one in fact to an Australian heiress, Alys Luttrell (nee Bridges) who met Geoffrey Lutrell in Australia, when he was working for the Governor General. They were married in 1918, and moved back to Somerset and Dunster Castle. Sadly, an enormous bill for inheritance tax after the death of his father, Alexander, in 1944 meant that even Alys’s fortune could not save them. Geoffrey had to sell off the entire estate to pay the death duties, as did so many of his contemporaries after WWII. Ten years later, however, he somehow managed to buy back the castle and grounds, and the Luttrells continued to enjoy their family home for another twenty years.

Geoffrey, however, died three years later, and after Alys’ death in 1975, their son Walter passed the custodianship of Dunster Castle over to the National Trust. It must have been a sad day for the family, after so many generations of stewardship, but for the rest of us, it is a fabulous opportunity to explore a beautiful property in the heart of Somerset.

As we walked up the hill from the carpark, the local bellringers were practising their talents in the church tower and – something I have never heard before – were playing a hymn I recognized from my youth (although I can’t now remember what it was!) An NT guide later told me they had played nursery rhymes for a group of school children only last week.

Winding pathways crept up the side of the hill face to the South Terrace. Flower beds along the way were choc-a-bloc with native and exotic plants. We were delighted to discover the same variety of bottlebrush that grows in our own garden in South Australia. A Victorian conservatory links the library and the drawing room, and contains many sub-tropical ferns, vines and flowering plants. Apparently, Alys Luttrell played a huge part in adding variety to the grounds and gardens at Dunster and was known to have brought back many interesting plants and seeds from her world travels. We sat on the terrace, in the sunshine, befriended by a pair of very cheeky robins, and enjoyed our sandwiches, gazing out across the Severn Estuary to Cardiff. Or perhaps Port Talbot.

Dunster castle, once a hardy fortresss, has long been converted into a comfortable home, to the extent that the old Victorian kitchen has even been replaced with a 1950s turquoise horror. Historical in its own way, I guess, and undoubtedly more practical, but decidedly lacking in charm. In the entrance hall, a local volunteer regaled us with a medley of Lerner & Loewe songs on the grand piano. I found it totally irresistible not to sing along.

After exploring the house (some ‘interesting’ flocked wallpaper, hand quilted bedcovers and one quite exquisite covering that had been knitted from cream cotton, above) we took a turn around the grounds and found ourselves down at the water mill, which has been beautifully restored. Then it was back along the stream to the carpark and onwards to Minehead and Porlock…

But just to back track for a moment, to our morning tea pitstop at Montacute House. Again, we saw a National Trust sign and followed our noses down a behedged lane, and through the picturesque village of the same name. This handsome Elizabethan mansion stands proudly above the River Parrett, built by an ambitious courtier, Sir Edward Phelips. Phelips used the distinctive, honey-coloured local limestone to build his ostentatious ‘prodigy house’, which he topped up with stones recycled from the remains of a nearby priory, abandoned after Henry VIII seized all the wealth and assets of the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century. Phelips then installed enormous glass windows and added many European architectural touches, designed to exhibit his great wealth. Apparently, it is one of the finest Elizabethan houses of its kind left in England.

The house has long been a popular film setting for many an historic drama. You may recognize it from the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility where it played the Palmer’s country home, Cleveland House, or perhaps as Greenwich Palace in the BBC series Wolf Hall.

Pausing at the stable café for a mug of tea and a scone, we thought about joining a tour of the house, just as a bus load of tourists descended upon us. So, we promptly deserted that idea. Instead, we happily walked a lap of the surrounding parklands and chatted with a herd of beautiful young chestnut-coloured calves along the way, before heading on to the coast.
I only wish we had had a bit more time to explore. But then, to borrow from Tom Gleisner and Rob Sitch, there is always a National Trust sign somewhere…

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A Soupçon of Dorset

Posted on 12 May 2026 by sheg4184

Lime Regis, where “the principal street [is] almost hurrying into the water, … [and] the very beautiful line of cliffs [are] stretching out to the east of the town.” ~ Jane Austen, Persuasion

Phase 1 of the Salt Path Experience: Lyme Regis to Poole Harbour

The One & Only is off to walk the Southwest Coastal Path, aka the Salt Path. This challenging, long-distance trek follows the coastline from Minehead in Somerset, through Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset for over 1000 kms (630 miles) of glorious coastline that includes windswept cliffs and pebbled beaches, fishing villages and remote farmhouses, sea pinks and sea kale, huge gulls and Mute Swans, and a smattering of woodland. The entire walk takes 7-8 weeks to complete. As the One & Only trudges up hill and down dale, communing with nature, I will trail along in the car to fetch and carry. It saves him having to carry kilos of camping gear and it is giving me a wonderful chance to explore the blissful Dorset countryside without having to suffer a single blister!

The SW Coastal Path became a national walking trail in 1978, and had earned a reputation as the longest, most challenging long-distance hike in England. That changed, however, when King Charles inaugurated a new coastal trail in March. Although it is still under construction, the King Charles III Coastal path will eventually wrap around the English coast for over 4,000km. The new trail incorporates several established coast paths, including the SW Coastal Path, with the optional addition of the Wales Coast Path.

The SW Coastal Path has received considerable attention over the years, from seasoned walkers, travel writers and bloggers. Most recently, Raynor Winn’s memoir, “The Salt Path,” published in 2018, has inspired a new generation of ramblers, and been nominated for several awards. “The Salt Path” is the tale of a life-changing journey along the SW Coast Path, after Winn’s husband had been diagnosed with an incurable disease and they had lost their home. The book even spawned a movie, released in the UK in May last year, which starred Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.

Since then, a journalist at the Observer has questioned the veracity of Winn’s story, and accused her of being disingenuous. While Winn has denied the accusations, it seems they are hard to refute. Yet, despite the scandal, the book has continued to sell. And even if she did fictionalize some of the story, this ‘novel’ about resilience, love and self-discovery has sold well over a million copies. Reviews have been mixed, so I will leave it to you to decide if it was worthy of all the attention!

In the meantime, I am sitting over a cooling coffee at the bottom of Broadstreet – that principal street in Lyme Regis that does indeed seem to nosedive into the sea. As I look out over the English Channel, the marina and the Cobb, I feel very close to Jane Austen this morning, who first came here for a holiday with her sister Cassandra over two hundred years ago. Lyme Regis became a popular seaside resort in the early nineteenth century, and, like multitudes of summer visitors before and since, Miss Austen was immediately enamoured with the charms of ‘this pleasant little bay.’ The town went on to play a significant role in her final novel, Persuasion, in which Anne Elliot reconnects with her past love, Captain Frederick Wentworth. Oddly, this is also a novel about second chances and self-discovery, although arguably rather better written. Not surprisingly, it has become something of a mecca for Austen enthusiasts.

Today, at this early hour, the sea is steely grey and there is a bracing breeze that sends me scuttling into a friendly pub for my first cup of coffee. By the time I emerge, the sky has cleared and is only lightly whitewashed in cloud. Crossing the car park at the foot of Broad Street’s steep descent, I meander onto a truly English seaside scene. The sun and the day trippers have emerged, and an array of deck chairs add a splash of color to the pebbled beach in front of a busy kiosk. A multitude of masts are clustered in the marina, the Cobb curving around behind them. This 13th century harbour wall has become a famous landmark, starring in several versions of Persuasion and also in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, with Meryl Streep. More importantly, it provides crucial protection from storms.

Along the promenade above the beach, I wander past an eclectic collection of cottages, guest houses and cafes. With a nod to Jane Austen, two matching cottages bear the names Harville and Benwick. Almost everyone I pass is bearing an ice-cream cone and the scent of chips doused in malt vinegar wafts past my nose. I don’t make it quite as far as the Cobb, as I have no desire to imitate Lousia Musgrove by leaping precipitately from the steps to be ‘taken up lifeless!’ Instead, I climb the steps from the beach, past several of those unnervingly enormous English seagulls – closely related to the albatross – that shriek rudely at passersby while others swoop overhead, surveying the beach for treats. Tucked up against the retaining wall, a tidy line of white bathing huts with pretty pastel-coloured doors gaze out to sea.

But it is time to move on. I am aiming to meet the One and Only further down the coast, and have read about a rather nice café where I plan to get some lunch.

Protected by the National Trust, Hive Beach is a picturesque shingle beach at the western end of the famed Chesil Beach. Encircled by golden sandstone cliffs that provide stunning panoramic views along the Jurassic Coast, it is a World Heritage Site, and home to the popular Hive Beach Café.

As I pull into the car park, I notice the sea is now a sparkling blue, an obstreperous breeze fluttering across the waves. Tucked behind the pretty stone village of Burton Bradstock, Hive Beach is sprinkled with dog walkers, hikers and young families. The Café, perched above the shingle, is sheltered from the wind and I find a sunny table looking out to sea. Fish and seafood are obviously prominent on the menu, much of it caught locally. How do you fancy a chilli and anchovy linguine? Or an entire West Bay Lobster? More modestly, I opt for a a crab tart, topped with a bird’s nest of rocket, orange and pinenuts. I can’t remember eating an English crab since we were living on the isle of Wight several years ago, but it is every bit as tasty as I remember. And what else to drink in Dorset but a half pint of cider? As it will be a while before the One & Only arrives, I take my time, and, after a short intermission, I take on a pot of tea and a scone to finish.

Afterwards, a siesta in the sun, lying on soft, spongy grass dotted with buttercups, halfway up the cliff.

Dorset is renowned for its Jurassic coastline, the sandstone cliffs brimming with fossils. Stretching 95 miles (154 km) from Orcombe Point in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, it is England’s only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site, designated in 2001 for its geological features and its famlous fossils. Highlights include Chesil Beach, the Isle of Portland, Lyme Regis, and the aforementioned Old Harry Rocks.

This stretch of the southern coast is largely rural, and gloriously green in May, and the fields brim with young calves and lambs.

On this first lap of the walk, we are staying at Wyke Regis, tucked into the eastern end of Chesil Beach, just across the causeway from the Isle of Portland. Each day, I drop the One and Only at his starting point and collect him later from the finishing point. Previously, he has walked the Salt Path in fits and starts, so this month he is planning to fill in the gaps. Sometimes he walks east to west, sometimes it is more convenient to go west to east. On day one, he walks around the edge of the Isle of Purbeck, and finishes at the official end of the walk, which is marked by a metal sculpture near the Sandbanks Ferry terminal on South Haven Point, opposite Brownsea Island. The surrounding landscape is low lying, coastal scrub, but he says the last few miles from Swanage have included a stiff climb up Studland Hill, and a wonderful view over the Old Harry Rocks. These three chalk formations stand in the sea, once part of a long chalk band that stretched between Purbeck and the Isle of Wight, which have since been eroded by the sea. Now only three stumps remain at Handfast Point, gazing across the water to three matching chalk stacks – known as the Needles – on the western end of the Isle of Wight, which we once circumnavigated in a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat).

By the weekend, I finally shake off a persistent cold and wander down to Chesil Beach. The Visitors Centre is only a 10-minute walk from our front door, where there is an excellent exhibition explaining the geological history and the particular wildlife you can see along this extraordinary stretch of coast. Chesil Beach is 18 miles (30 kms) of shingle; the pebbles naturally graded in size from new potatoes at the Portland end to pea-sized at Bridport. The map shows an inner tidal lagoon – the Fleet – protected from the sea by a natural barrage of billions of pebbles. It resembles the Coorong in South Australia, albeit on a smaller scale, and like the Coorong, it is renowned for exceptional fishing and bird watching – although the strong undertow and the steep drop into the sea make for dangerous swimming conditions. That’s OK, as I’ve no inclination to even dip my toes! I am happy, however, to lie out of the wind, and find my stony bed surprisingly comfortable. For a while, at least.

To the south, the Isle of Portland rises out of the sea like an enormous whale heading out into the Channel. Dotted with quarries that are still in use, the island is renowned for its white Portland stone, a famous limestone that has been quarried since Roman times. More recently, it was used to build St Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace and the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

On the eastern side of the island, Portland Harbour is protected by Chesil Beach on one side and a vast stone breakwater on the other, built from Portland stone between 1848 and 1905, which makes it one of the world’s largest man-made harbours.

With only one road across the causeway between Fortuneswell and Wkye Regis, the rush hour traffic can be surprisingly heavy, as many of the 13,000 inhabitants commute to the mainland. Out on the southern tip of the island, a tall lighthouse overlooks Pulpit Rock, an unstable-looking rock formation that appears to balance precariously off the edge of the island. While the scenery is rather stark and severe and this exposed spot might be daunting on a blustery day, today the sea is calm, the breeze is gentle and the outlook is softened by patches of sea pinks tucked into the rocks.

And that’s probably enough for you to be going on with, so I will bid you farewell, until we meet again in Somerset, where the One and Only is off to find the very beginning of the Salt Path at Minehead.

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Campania Felix

Posted on 15 March 2026 by sheg4184


I am not very good at reacting joyfully to surprises, as the One & Only knows only to well. So, it was a rare thing that he chose to surprise me for our anniversary this week, and an even rarer thing that I reacted rather better than expected, and was quite delighted with the treat he had arranged for us…

To many South Australians, Rosa Matto is a well-known and much-loved chef and food writer. As a champion of Italian cuisine and culture she has made a considerable impression on this state over the past three or four decades. To outliers like me, she is a wondrous new discovery. Entertaining, informative, talented, Rosa has won awards in Italy and Australia for her services to gastronomy. She is the patron of Nonna’s Cucina, a volunteer-based meal delivery service for the elderly and disabled. And she now heads Slow Food in South Australia. (For the uninitiated, Slow Food is an international organisation founded in 1989 by Italian activist Carlo Petrini. It is an organisation attempting to preserve local food traditions and provide an alternative way of life to our fast-food lifestyles by emphasizing local, seasonal, and sustainable farming, and enjoying food at a gentler pace.)

Rosa Matto also runs cooking classes. Yesterday, as part of the 2026 Fringe Festival, Rosa ran a cooking course on the food and wines of Campania. And this was my anniversary surprise.

Campania is a mountainous region on the ankle of Italy’s boot, which incorporates five provinces: Napoli and Salerno, Avellino, Caserta and Benevento. Thanks to plentiful rivers and its rich volcanic soil, this region was known as Campania Felix by the Romans, which is Latin for fertile or happy country. Campania boasts some spectacular coastline, a rich culture, many good wines, and some fantastic food. It is also the land of Rosa’s forefathers.

Rosa, ably supported by wine buff David Crossman, entertainer Lino Cardone and her two excellent sous-chefs, not only introduced us to her culinary heritage, but provided a great afternoon’s entertainment at the WEA on Angas Street, the home of adult education.

Like the children in the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, we followed the sound of Lino and his piano accordion to the door of the demonstration kitchen. We were ushered to a free desk and, as the room filled, we glanced through the menu, the wine list and the regional songs we could sing along the way. Apparently, Campanian cuisine has been heavily influenced by the Arabs, the Spanish and the Greeks, all of whom found their way to southern Italy in past centuries and introduced various ingredients and dishes that have remained popular there.

Meanwhile, Rosa had started work on a Primo Sale cheese, or a fior di latte. This is a semi-soft, fresh Italian cheese of a delicate, milky flavour with just a touch of saltiness. As Rosa reminded us firmly, this is NOT mozzarella – for which the region is famous – as mozzarella MUST be made with buffalo milk, while fior de latte is made with unhomogenized cow’s milk. (By reheating the leftover whey from this recipe, you can apparently create the more commonly recognized ricotta.)

Rosa has a friendly, casual approach to cooking, which I thoroughly enjoyed. As she chatted away through the afternoon, we learned culinary history and cooking techniques, and tasted some marvellous food. It was another anniversary surprise that I wasn’t expected to contribute any of my dubious culinary skills to this particular cooking class. Instead, I was allowed to sit back, sip my wine and watch the experts at play. From time to time, Rosa offered the floor to David, who would discourse on the Campanian wines he had chosen for us, or to Lino, who would entertain us with enthusiastic renditions of well-known Neapolitan tunes such as ‘O Sole Mio’, ‘Funiculì, Funiculà’, and the anthem of the S.S.C. Napoli football fans, ‘O Surdato ‘nammmurato’. Occasionally, we were offered prizes to answer a question or sing a song. And from time to time, a completed dish of zucchini scapeci or insalata di rinforzo would be passed around the room to general acclaim.

Many of Rosa’s recipes proved to be interesting variations of dishes we already knew. The pizza fritta, for example, was a mini pizza topped with a simple tomato sauce, her freshly made primo sale cheese and a basil leaf. Familiar? Of course! The base, however, was a fried dough with the texture of a donut, all golden and puffy and deliciously moist. Or the simple spaghetti alle vongole, complete with Goolwa pipis, was jazzed up with the interesting addition of coarsely chopped, fried breadcrumbs that added a super, crunchy texture to the dish.

Sartù di riso is a typical Neapolitan dish that resembles a glorified arancini ball. Apparently, it was adapted from the French cuisine of the Bourbon kings who ruled southern Italy for almost fifty years in the nineteenth century. Rosa made this dish look relatively straightforward, with many of its constituent parts produced earlier. However, like fresh pasta, it is not one I am likely to reproduce at home, as it is a real labour of love. As Rosa tells us in her notes, it harks back to the days of plentiful hands in the kitchen. So, in these days of the servantless home cook, it seemed to me a gargantuan task.

Baked in a bundt tin (the cake tin with a hole in the middle, notorious in ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’), sartù di riso consists of savoury layers of breadcrumbs, rice, mushrooms and tiny meatballs (polpettine), sausages and peas, mozzarella and a tomato ragù. Once cooked, it was tipped out of the mould – to cheers from the audience – and sliced up like a cake. Topped with a spoonful or two of the remaining ragù and a sprinkle of Parmesan or pecorino, it proved scrumptious. It was accompanied by a glass a highly tannic, smoky red wine from the Campanian mountains called ‘Terra Stregate’, meaning ‘land of the witches’ or ‘haunted lands’. (The winery’s name was inspired by the ancient legend of the witches of Benevento, who were said to gather around a walnut tree on the banks of the Calore River, a little Google wormhole search I found fascinating.)

As all roads lead to Roma, all menus eventually lead to dessert. Or in this case, desserts. Rhum Baba I knew well from our years in the Philippines, where it is a popular pudding. A cylindrical sponge (think of a friand but lighter), it was filled with creamy custard, which, in case the rum was not sufficient, had been spiced up with a splash of Strega.

Rosa’s second offering was a gastronomic oddity that proved unexpectedly tasty.

Melanzane al cioccolato is indeed – if your knowledge of Italian has pre-empted the surprise – eggplant dipped in chocolate! This was a recipe Rosa had acquired on her travels along the Amalfi coast. Thin slices of eggplant are first fried in olive or sunflower oil (NEVER canola!). Candied fruit, lemon zest and pinenuts are then sandwiched between two slices of melanzane. The ‘sandwich’ is dipped in egg and fried till golden, dusted in caster sugar and cinnamon and topped with bitter chocolate sauce. Strangely, surprisingly, moreish.

Everything on the menu now cooked and devoured, we were offered a digestivo – a homemade limoncello or limoncello crema – which Rosa told us gaily would ‘push you over the edge kids!’ On which note our class was complete. And thus, after a successful afternoon full of surprises, I found myself heading home with a happy stomach and ‘O Sole Mio’ playing around in my head like a paternoster lift, to a dinner of seafood marinara by the beach.

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Proud Mary, Proud Mum

Posted on 23 February 2026 by sheg4184


‘I love the java jive and it loves me’ ~ the Inkpots, 1958


Proud Mary Café (PMC) has been a popular coffee shop on Oxford Street in the heart of Collingwood, Melbourne for over sixteen years. It was founded by Aussie husband and wife team Nolan and Shari Hirte in 2009, and in all its years of business, it never seems to have run out of steam. In 2012, it was ranked by The Age Good Food Guide as Melbourne’s Best Café, and as Australia’s second best cafe by review site Beanhunter in 2016. Then, just last year, PMC was voted No.4 in the world at the inaugural World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops Awards. And the PMC team was justly proud of its achievement.

This new global competition is judged by 800 industry experts and public voting who address coffee quality, service, innovation, sustainability, consistency and barista skills in order to decide on the world’s best coffee shops. The results were announced at the CoffeeFest in Madrid, Spain in February 2025.

As Time Out’s Melissa Woodley reported last year: ‘It’s common knowledge that Melbourne is renowned far and wide for its world-class coffee culture. Coffee is an integral part of the Melburnian identity, which is why we have seemingly endless options of cafés keeping us caffeinated with the finest brews. The global acclaim for our city’s top-notch coffee spots continues, with a Melbourne café ranking in the top five in the whole world.’

This year – last week in fact – PMC was again rated the best in Melbourne. As Winnie Stubbs wrote in Time Out last week, Proud Mary ‘continues to fly the flag internationally. After an eye-watering fourth place finish in 2025, Proud Mary slid to 27th in 2026 – a drop on paper, sure, but still comfortably within the global top tier. Given the sheer volume of cafés assessed (more than 15,000 worldwide), remaining in the top 30 is no small feat.’

Certainly, staff and regulars have been delighted with the results.

Whenever we are in Melbourne, our first stop is usually at Proud Mary. It’s a good central spot to meet up with family and friends. There’s a happy buzz inside, and I have a soft spot for the big table in the corner where individuals can park themselves with a laptop, as I love to do. There is also an outdoor deck beside the road which is a great space on a sunny day. Service is as swift as it can be in such a popular café, and always friendly. As an occasional guest, I don’t expect everyone to know my name à la ‘Cheers’, but I am always greeted with a happy smile, that feels as if they are sincerely pleased to see me. And the added bonus? My son works there. OK, perhaps I shouldn’t have confessed, and you may be thinking that I am biased. Of course I am! And I am proud as punch for the café, for all its wonderful staff, and for my son.

And as I just happened to be there last week for brunch, days before the 2026 awards were announced, I felt it was about time to give Proud Mary a nod here. I may not be an afficionado of coffee, but living with a man of Mediterranean heritage for so long has certainly opened my eyes – and taste buds – to more than the instant coffees of my teenage years. And while I am yet to learn to appreciate a straight espresso, coffee has long ago risen way above tea in my list of favourite beverages.

While I am not as fluent as my offspring in the language of coffee – which has apparently evolved into something as complex as that used to describe wines – I can generally get the gist of the sophisticated language that is now common for the intricacies of the coffee bean.

If you fancy learning more about il caffè, too, or you are simply obsessed with all things caffeinated, Proud Mary have a wholesale roastery around the corner – ‘Aunty Peg’s’ – where they also showcase their coffee, holding regular cuppings (wine tasting for coffee) and hosting tasting events in a cool warehouse space that is essentially a cellar door for java. As the website says: ‘anyone can pop in, sit down at the bar, and have one of their baristas treat them to a truly special cup of coffee…’ and you will also get a personalized tutorial about the high quality coffee beans sourced from all over the world, the innovative blending methods and the different brewing methods … a real coffee nerd experience!

(And coffee does come from all over the world, now. Originating in Ethiopia in the 9th century, coffee spread through the Middle East, eventually reaching Europe in the 17th century, where coffeehouses became popular hubs for social, political, and intellectual discussion. Dutch, British and French colonists took beans and spread them through Indonesia and the Caribbean. These days, it has become a global commodity that is produced primarily in Brazil, but also in Vietnam, central America, Colombia, India, China and across equatorial Africa.)

Getting back to coffee in Collingwood. And assuming you want food with your coffee – brunch or lunch, as opposed to a sweet pastry – then it’s time to head back up the road to Proud Mary’s.

Usually, if I’m out for brunch, I find it hard to resist anything with avocado and/or mushrooms, but this time I have chosen something different: eggs with an Indian twist, otherwise known as a tamarind eggplant omelette, served on roti, plus a freshly squeezed orange juice with ginger. And a coffee. Of course. While my friends enjoy variations on the theme of eggs and bacon, I concentrate on a feast of flavours and fresh ingredients that are sending my tastebuds into overdrive. To quote Stanley Tucci, “Yum!” or more poetically, in Italian, “deliziosa!”

The menu is not too large – and to be honest, I prefer not to be deluged with too many options – but there’s plenty of variety, including tropical rice pudding, a sophisticated potato hash, or (if lunchtime is looming), a zucchini, ricotta and basil pasta. It is also possible to build your own breakfast from a base of eggs on toast. Gone are the days of eggs and bacon sunny-side-up, full stop. Now we can all be Meg Ryan ordering lunch in ‘When Harry Met Sally.’
So, drop in anytime between 7am and 3pm Monday to Friday (8am – 3pm on weekends.) But be warned – while you can book during the week, you are winging it over the weekend. As Proud Mary’s is popular – even more so since it has been internationally recognized – there is often a queue along the footpath and round the corner on weekends. Yet I am always amazed at how patiently people are prepared to wait for a seat. It’s obviously worth it. According to one enthusiastic review ‘Proud Mary is considered a Melbourne institution and rightfully so… they’ve absolutely mastered the art of roasting and hospitality over the years.’

Meanwhile, Shari and Nolan have not been resting on their laurels. Having found a gap in the US market, they have gone on to open outlets in Portland Oregon (2019) and in Austen, Texas (2023). Both cities now have a café and a roastery and they are apparently going great guns. There are even plans afoot for further outlets in the US.

If you can excuse me for a minute, our server (son) has just arrived with a coffee ‘flight’: three different coffees brewed three different ways. An espresso (an intense shot of pressure-brewed traditonal, Italian coffee), a “snap chill” (fast chilled coffee batch plus nitrogen, that pours like a beer and looks like a Guinness); and a “pour over” (a lighter, cleaner filter coffee that picks up all the subtle flavours but avoids the bitterness of an espresso.) My favourite? A little surprisingly, the “snap chill” or iced coffee minus milk.

While it may seem I am playing favourites, it has actually taken me several visits to Collingwood to broach a blog about Proud Mary. Yet, when the local and international coffee experts rate it so highly, I can’t believe I’m being unfairly partial to suggest that Proud Mary is truly a cut above. So, I am delighted to raise a glass – or rather, a cup! – to the continued success of this extra-ordinary café and its terrific staff. Congratulations, one and all.

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Comfort Food Rules!

Posted on 25 January 2026 by sheg4184

Pablo Picasso once said, most wisely, ‘Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.’ On the other hand, Mark Twain reputedly said, ‘Never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well.’

I suspect the latter has been my subconscious motto of the month. Given a computer glitch and more than a month of Christmas and New Year celebrations, I have just realized that we are at the tail end of January and it is over a month since I last wrote. So, I must apologize that it has taken me so long to gather my post-Christmas thoughts and wish you all a propitous and carefree new year. Hopefully, you have all had plenty on your own plates and have barely noticed my absence.

Like many of you, I have been entangled in wonderful gatherings of family and friends for several weeks over the Christmas season. After joyful but busy weeks preparing menus and cooking meals, stacking and unloading the dishwasher, setting tables and washing sheets, I am just emerging from that post Christmas malaise. The house is back in order, the ironing done, the fridge is empty of leftovers. Actually, it is empty of almost anything! So, reluctant to face another trip to the supermarket just yet, I recently explained to the One & Only, most gently and politely, that we were going out to dinner. After the gluttony of Christmas, I just wanted something simple. And comforting. With no washing up required.

One of our favourite local destinations is Marebello Pizza, and it has become a regular haunt. Originally housed in Normanville’s old Police Station, Marebello’s moved up to Yankalilla a while ago, and the owners have spent a lot of time, money and effort to create their new abode: a bright, family-oriented dining space, with a lovely courtyard garden out the back.

Apparently, there have had mixed reactions to the move. While the Carrickalinga crowd now consider it a bit of a schlep to go for pizza, Yankalilla residents are thrilled. And although I am sad we can no longer walk to dinner – and indulge in a bottle of wine with no car to drive home – the journey up South Road hardly requires a passport! Hey, I can even get home with a takeaway pizza long before it goes cold.

Each time I drop in, I swear I will try a new pizza, but from the time I discovered the Chilli Seafood Marinara, it has been a decided favourite. Anyone can have a favourite topping, and it is always going to be subjective – but there can be little argument that base is the most important part of a pizza. As the foundational undergarment, it provides the necessary structure and texture to best enhance the pizza’s flavours, and  I think we all agree there must be an element of crunch. Woe betide the soggy pizza base that collapses under the weight of our favourite toppings!

Now, you will rarely find pizza in the index of a book on gastronomy. Serious foodies would never deign to cover such a mundane topic. Pizza is, after all, only a flat bread with topping, a simple snack that was being eaten, in its original and most simplistic iteration, with oil, herbs and cheese, by the plebeian people of Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The mediterranean equivalent of toasted cheese. Yet, it is still one of those nostalgic comfort foods we all enjoy from time to time, whether it is a classic Margharita, or a Meatlovers pizza, doused in every imaginable pork product.

Although ‘gourmet pizza’ might sound a little pretentious for this Italian comfort food, who among us has been able to resist some trendy topping (tandoori chicken or Greek lamb) that takes the proletarian pizza up a notch in the pecking order? I admit, my Chilli Seafood Marinara is unlikely to have been eaten in old Naples, but what do I care for authenticity when the flavour is fabulous?

So, how many of you have succumbed to building a pizza oven beside your barbecue for ‘make-your-own’ entertainment? We’re not there yet, but it is a recurrent dream…

Yet it is still the simplest of pizzas that I remember most fondly. During a summer spent interrailing around Europe many moons ago and living as cheaply as possible, I was thrilled to discover slabs of pizza in a tiny side street pizzeria in Florence; a thick crust knee-deep in mushrooms, for around 50c a slice. I ate at least one slice every day for a week, and the memory can still make my mouth water. And yet it didn’t even have the traditional thin, crunchy crust, but more of the panfried, crispy bread-and-oil type base.

***

Another treat this summer has been ice cream. In a cone. As the algae bloom loses its punch and the Normanville jetty – damaged badly in winter storms – has been resurrected, I find myself drifting down to the beach on the hunt for sand, sea and… chocolate ice cream.

Now, I rarely eat ice cream, even more rarely in a cone, but on a flight back from London last year, I saw an ice cream stand at Dubai airport, and suddenly I craved a scoop. The chocolate flavour was intense and totally delicious. And it reminded me poignantly of a favourite ice cream from my youth: Golden North.

An iconic South Australian brand, Golden North was first created in a small, mid-north town about 2.5 hours north of Adelaide. Here the Bowker family had been providing milk for the local community for more than fifty years. Then, in 1923, they added ice to their cream and lo! a legend was born. Although the company has changed hands and recently moved south for easier access to its milk suppliers, Golden North is still a South Australian icon, and continues to win awards left, right and centre.

Today there are twenty-eight flavours to choose from, including iced coffee, rum and raisin and salted caramel. But that Classic chocolate ice cream is still a strong favourite for me. Although, if I was allowed to pick two, their honey ice-cream is also superb. Or maybe the hokey-pokey; that creamy vanilla ice cream mingled with crunchy chunks of golden honeycomb toffee… anyway, I’ll let you decide.

So there you have it. No gourmet dining, molecular gastronomy, frozen foams or sous vide, but locally made pizza in a good old-fashioned pizza oven and a legendary, home-grown ice cream in a waffle cone.

Not surprisingly, another favourite memory of ice cream comes from another youthful trip to Italy and the glory of those gelaterias filled with swirls and twirls of gelato in more colours and flavours than anyone could ever imagine. But that’s a story for another day.

Meanwhile, can I put it off until tomorrow, or do I need to whizz down to the Aqua Blue kiosk and splurge on a decadent, velvety, chocolate ice cream right now, in case the world comes to an unexpected end in the next twenty four hours…?

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“Wherever I wander, wherever I roam”

Posted on 9 December 2025 by sheg4184

Down in Normanville, we have had a brief day or two of heat, in an otherwise cool and windy spring. Nonetheless, the dulcet tones of a thousand corellas fill the Casuarina trees every morning, and Adelaide is awash with sticky jacaranda flowers that cling to the windscreen of my car and carpet the footpaths in purple.

It’s been a fun but somewhat frantic year that seems to have raced past me like a runaway train: a trip to New Zealand, another to the UK; then a quick spin over to the Hunter Valley for a beautiful wedding among the gum trees and grape vines. Then, of course, I’ve spent many a week glued to my computer, assiduously working on my thesis in the hope that it will be finished before I turn eighty. Fingers crossed. Not to mention the installation of a new hip and the extraction of an appendix. Add in the celebration of a significant birthday for the One & Only, and, as we descend into the tail end of the year, it feels like I have run a marathon. And let me tell you, I am no runner!

Phew! Time off for good behaviour?  Not yet – coz here comes Christmas!

The Christmas tree is up, and a couple of new Christmas angels have been added to the collection of decorations. The Christmas box of presents to be wrapped is almost full. Of course, there is a menu to plan, but I am still awaiting inspiration.

Meanwhile, I am really looking forward to a few toasty summer days and some much-anticipated time with the family. It’s never enough – time always seems to move twice as fast through those precious days – but I’ll take what I can get. And I will try and catch up on my blog, which has been sadly neglected since we returned from London. And as I recap on this rather manic year, I realize that I have left several noteworthy escapades unremarked. I can see that it is definitely time to put academia to one side and fill in a few gaps.

Perhaps just one for now, though. And that must be a reprise of the great family gathering at Pizzateca last month, when we threw an Early Bird Birthday Jamboree for the One & Only. I had booked months in advance, partly as I knew how popular it was, partly because we would be away until the week before our booking. Unfortunately, in my flurry to get it sorted before we flew off to London, I ticked the wrong box, and we turned up a day late! But our hosts refused to panic, and kindly found us a table anyway, then proceeded to feed us like kings.

Pizzateca isn’t a real Italian word, but is apparently a canny blend of “Pizza” and “Teca” (as in bibliotheca) coined to suggest an exceptional place for pizza and all things authentically Italian. This family run, family oriented restaurant has been a successful gourmet destination in McLaren Vale for almost a decade. Its website proclaims it Vera Pizza Oztalia – Italian Traditions & Australian Conditions. Or, to paraphrase, a truly great blend of Italian culinary know-how and fresh, locally sourced ingredients. It is run by the Mitolo family, who came to South Australia from the Italian region of Abruzzo many moons ago. (Mitolo Wines on McMurtrie Road is owned by cousins). Originally designed as a pop-up restaurant, Pizzateca quickly became a fixture in McLaren Vale, popular for its deliciously authentic Neapolitan pizzas.

And even on this rainy day in early November, the indoor/outdoor restaurant space is buzzing with activity. Our booking is swiftly reinstated; my nerves are settled with a glass or two of wine, and the food arrives promptly. With a big group, it makes life so much simpler to order a set menu (its compulsory for groups of eight or more anyway) and we are all too busy chatting to worry about what we want to eat. Luckily, it’s all fab, and everyone is happy. With the screens down to protect us from wind and rain, the decibels of a hundred diners rise exponentially. This could be distressing for some, but somehow we rise to meet the challenge, and if we can’t hear the person across the table, we simply swap seats. Our servers are friendly, despite the number of guests keeping them on the trot. And the pizzas are simple, and simply delicious. Somehow, even on this damp afternoon, there is a casual, cheery vibe that brings to mind that great Disney song from the Jungle Book, ‘The Bare Necessities’. And there is no doubt that the wine has washed away ‘our worries and our strife’, as we happily ‘fall apart’ in Pizzateca’s back yard.

Next time, hoping for a warmer – and sunnier – day on the Fleurieu Peninsula, it would be fun to sit out on the lawn beneath the gum trees, to enjoy a rather more mediterranean atmosphere as we nibble on our gourmet pizzas and sip on the homemade limoncello…

It’s good to be home!

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