So much for a regular cafe update. It must be several weeks since my last blog following a lovely lunch in Perranuthnoe. THINGS have happened - diverting me from the important pursuits of walking,and sitting, and thinking, and drinking tea. So since Perranuthnoe I've managed only two true cafe visits, two (or three) campus canteeen visits, two restaurants and one very lovely pub. But the parameters are set - this is a blog about cafes. Not for me to review restaurants and pubs - a subject covered many times and with great enthusiasm by others more august (and more read.) The driving force behind this blog is the excellence of cafes in Cornwall, and my personal preference for them. As an aspiring writer I like to think in cafes. The actual process of writing often takes place in silence, sometimes in the middle of the night - but the thinking and working out and the chewing of pencils is helped by the hub-bub of life milling around and about me, and postively uplifted by a fine home-made soup or a piece of cake.
So - last week my good book-club friend Donna & I discovered a shared love of gardens. Living in West Cornwall I'm often distracted from other beauties by the sheer unadulterated glorious wildness of the coast line, and my default is to set out from Godrevy and walk to Hellsmouth or to potter along the shore line, paddling preferably, either bare foot or in wellies, when the cold gets too extreme and my ankles start to freeze solid. Finding someone with a shared interest then was a great impetus to go discover more of West Cornwall's bounty. WE decided to go to Trengwainton - our nearest National Trust property - and as neither of us had been before it was the obvious choice. The gardens are spectacular and after three or four hours wandering around a cup of tea was in order. Cafes at National Trust properties are very reliable these days in my experience, and like Doctor Who, I always look for the little shop and the cafe before leaving. The Cafe at Trengwainton is no exception, with welcoming friendly staff, a chalk board rich with appetising dishes sounding, looking and smelling lovely and an array of home-made cakes and desserts.
Sitting outside in the walled garden, basking in the warm late September sun Donna & I tucked into tea and cakes - for me a really good scone, soft and crumbly but holding its shape under a good spread of butter & very good jam (no cream on this occasion) and for Donna a thick brownie - soft , chewy and with good chunks of chocolate.
Last week felt like true holiday for me. Having decided to go to Uni in Falmouth the beginning-of-term feeling I always get in September was literal this year -so the trip to Trengwainton was the first day of a short holiday before term started, blessed with incredible summer weather that most of the country has been revelling in (and talking about of course, this being England). So on Sunday - the most fabulous of days, friend Eve & I walked from The Lizard to Kynance Cove - one of my favourite walks from many spectacular options down here. I felt quite envious of Eve because it was her first time, and I remember how blown away I was just last May when I did the walk for the first time - also on a sunny day when the sun on the water sparkles like no place else on earth. We parked at The Lizard and walked to Kynance equipped with water-bottles and swimming costumes and arrived to find Kynance at the perfect point between high tide and low tide. Still in enough to experience the slow reveal as the tide sweeps back to reveal the magical beach in its full glory but far enough out to see the Cove taking shape WE couldn't resist the water - clear, a little cold, but too enticing to ignore so a swim - however brief - was a necessary action. Followed by another NT cafe - where the food is simple but appropriate. Hearty pasties - each enough to feed several people, freshly baked baguettes, burgers made from local organic meat, and more home-made cake. I felt a pasty was in order after all the walking and swimming but then remembered the last time I'd had one I'd shared it with two other people - so for me a bit too huge. Also not too sure of its provenance - I think it contained lumps of minced meat - and I think my cornish friends would say it should be blade steak. But tasty and sustaining enough for more swimming and the walk back to the Lizard. We had intended to have supper at the very excellent Porthpear cafe on Lizard Point but lunch still felt too recent so we had ice-cream instead and promised ourselves that we would return another time to Polpear to watch the sun go down over the sparkling silver sea, and to eat fresh caught fish and Jubilee meringue....
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