Cornwall is beautiful and St Just is one of those places you think no longer exist in the world.
First on the list for us was a trip to the Minack Theatre. This place is truly magical – the work of one incredibly feisty, determined lady.
We had hoped to secure tickets to the Proms concert that evening, but the booking process had not liked our overseas IP Address and, by the time we were on British soil, it had sold out.
This worked in our favour as we were one of a select few roaming the theatre that morning and, as we were leaving, the heavens opened and didn’t let up until the next morning.
Next on the list was Lands End. In contrast to our first stop where everyone was smiley, happy and so proud of their home, from the local man who stopped us as we panted up the steps (primarily to let us know the coffee shop was closed because the owner was taking his daughter to Durham University, but our chat covered many subjects) to the ladies in the gift shop, Lands End was dour. Admittedly, it was pouring with rain by then, but no one was that keen either on seeing us, or being there themselves (Us to Man in Parking Booth: Do we pay you the entry fee? Man: Well, do you want to go in or don’t you? – Ask a stupid question, I guess 🙂 ). We looked at the first and last hotel, the first and last postbox (ironically no longer in use), the first and last giftshop…and then we decided we had seen enough.
Penzance, our next stop, was the exact opposite and, surprisingly, everyone who hazarded a guess at our accent got it exactly right down to the guy in the Post Office picking we were from the South Island. We had the best Cornish Pasties in the world for lunch (coupled with possibly the worst coffee, but you can’t have everything), sloshed around seeing the sights and then ventured back to St Just to dry out.
Dinner was at a pub in St Just which (have I mentioned) is a wonderful, little village made even more wondrous by the thick fog which had settled.
Spookily beautiful.
Union Homestead 
Well, you certainly made the best of a pretty damp day, well done.
Cornwall is so beautiful it would take more than some rain to put us off😊
Seems to me that rain is a fairly normal occurrence in Cornwall, you’d think it wouldn’t get them down quite so much…sounds like you did all right in spite of them :). Cornish pasties – I just watched an episode of GBBO where Richard the Builder made them with lamb and something…and Paul liked them. Yes, I am hooked.
GBBO does that to you. Farm Girl turned on the TV here last night for the first time and the new series was on…oh the temptation! The Goat Herd had to get quite forceful in reiterating our pact to watch it in order once it hits our shores.
We weren’t very impressed by Land’s End when we went there either.
But still we all feel a trip to Cornwall incomplete without visiting it…strange
The scenery at Land’s End is beautiful on a sunny day, but the ‘Land’s End Experience’ or whatever it’s called is dire. Nobody is impressed, but it’s such an iconic location that a trip is generally deemed worthwhile. We quite enjoyed going last year, but only for the glorious views. As you say, the rest of Cornwall is lovely and friendly and the Minack Theatre is amazing (sorry that you missed the great cakes in the coffee shop though).
We always manage to sniff out a cake shop so all was not lost 😊
Phew!
A well-made Cornish pasty is just the thing to eat on a damp autumn day! Don’t let the old miseries get you down!
Hi, Now you have been to Lands End, you need never go there again! You will probably remember those Cornish pasties for years.
Our thoughts exactly
What a beautiful place
It truly is. Photos don’t do it justice
I am so glad you enjoyed Cornwall. I write a lot about Cornwall as it is very close to my heart. I will be uploading more poems about Cornwall soon, but there’s a few on my blog at the moment. I have just returned from a week staying in Hayle near St Ives. I miss it so much but we have booked again for May next year. We are only a few hours away in Bristol. The Minack is amazing isn’t it. I would love to see a show there. I wrote a poem about the steep cliff path from the Minack to Porthcurmo beach. Please have a look and let me know what you think x
Will do 😊