A group of Crowlas and Ludgvan WI recently visited the beautiful Grade II listed Georgian Country House, Pencarrow House, near Bodmin. En-route they enjoyed a coffee stop at a garden centre near Wadebridge. The house has been used as a filming location in a number of tv programmes and movies, in particular adaptations of Rosamunde Pilcher novels and in the Doc Martin tv series. Following an interesting tour of the house some members walked the grounds to see a large lake and area of an Iron Age Fort while others relaxed in the gardens. The afternoon was completed with a delicious cream tea in the Pencarrow tea room.
Our August book choice was Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks – everyone enjoyed it – it scored mostly 10s and all felt it was very well written, with the added bonus that the story was derived from a true event in Derbyshire in 1666.
An unforgettable tale, set in 17th century England, of a village that quarantines itself to stop the spread of the plague.
When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and through plants, as an healer. Through the eyes of Anna we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666 as she and her fellow villagers, particularly the vicar and his wife, Elinor, for whom Anna works, confront the spread of the disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive, despite the loss of her two young sons, a disastrous year becomes a year of wonder.
A lot of the characters of the village are incorporated into the story – from the people in the Big House disappearing to a safe place without any regard for their community, to a young Quaker girl left on her own to mine coal from her coal mine.
The story is inspired by true events of a village Eyam (pronounced Eem) in the rugged hill country of Derbyshire, it is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history.
The remedies obtained from plants in this era is so very interesting – no doubt many of them in use today.
Our Meet and Eat lunch group visited the historic pub The King’s Arms in the pretty village of Paul. The menu is interesting and varied and includes a wide range of local, sustainably sourced ingredients. Several members of the group agreed that the highlight of this trip was the amazing, plentiful and delicious Ploughman’s lunch. You can find more details on the pub HERE
Our August Meeting is, by tradition, our Picnic Meeting. We met at The Murley Hall for a fun afternoon with Phil Angell, who took us through a history of music from 2100 BC to the modern day, with anecdotes, stories and songs to sing along to. The array of picnic food provided by members was delicious, plentiful and much appreciated.
Snappers, our photography group, have been undertaking a series of colour challenges in the past few weeks. With a different colour each week, members were tasked with looking around in daily life and selecting objects to reflect the theme. Our next meeting will be an evening trip to the beach. New members are always welcome.
Our friendly and informal lunch group made a trip to Geevor Tin Mine this month to sample the food at their refurbished cafe. With an excellent selection of locally sourced food on the menu and a fantastic view of the Atlantic Ocean, it was the perfect spot. Parking is free, and the cafe is open to all. You can read more about Geevor Tin Mine Here:
The book for June The two Boleyn Girls by Philippa Gregory was over 500 pages and some of the members felt that this was rather a long book.
Those that read the book thoroughly enjoyed it, thought it was a thumping good read – the Tudor era was the background to the story with the main character being Henry VIII and those in his court vying for his attention and of course, the betterment of themselves. To this end The Howard and Boleyn family presented the King with two lovely Boleyn daughters. The uncle, the Howard side of the family, was a very unpleasant person just out for his own justification with no regard for the feelings of the girls. Mary had beautiful red hair and was the first to be presented to the King but at 13 had to marry someone before becoming the King’s mistress. Mary went on to have a son and daughter but of course, they were illegitimate and therefore unable to be a true heir to Henry. Ann the other daughter was at the French Court, again a very beautiful dark haired girl and when she came back to England, having been primed by the family, set out to become not only his mistress but his wife and Queen. At the time Henry was already married to a Spanish Princess Katherine, who was well aware of the position with regard to her husband and his numerous women. Again she had been unable to give him a male heir, in fact had Princess Mary. As various obstacles came into the path of Henry and Ann, who had all the tricks of how to beguile a man, with regard to them marrying in order that Henry have an male heir, several prominent men of the court were beheaded for simple matters no other than they had tried to flirt with the Queen. Ann was not a very pleasant person especially when the King’s interest started to wane. The book goes into great depth about the affairs of court, the various palaces where they lived throughout the year, especially Mary who desperately wanted to be with her children at Hever, but Ann who had a girl, (Elizabeth 1) said she would take Mary’s son as the heir. In time, Mary did meet someone, who had a small farm, fell in love and eventually moved to the country with him and her children.
Ann on the other hand fell out of favour with the King as she did not produce a male heir – she did have several miscarriages but this is another aspect of the story. She was beheaded together with several of her supporters.
By this time Henry was an unwell man and became very much attached to Jane Seymour who he married in due course but again no male heir.
The book chosen was ‘Caught out in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho’. Janie was a local author born in Falmouth in 1950 and died 2002. She delved into her knowledge of the local area, especially around the Newlyn, Marazion, Penzance district. She had many jobs before becoming a full time author; a psychiatric nurse, debt collector, working for a tour company, bookmaker’s clerk just some of jobs she tried before becoming a successful author.
Caught out in Cornwall was set in the Penwith area of Cornwall and it’s a cold November afternoon on the beach at Marazion overlooking St. Michael’s Mount with a particularly choppy sea. A distress flare goes up from a yacht in the bay, artist Rose Trevelyan alerts the coastguard and soon a small group has gathered to watch the rescue in progress. With the raining coming down in sheets, Rose is concerned to see a small girl wandering around on her own. Her fears are soon allayed as she is picked up and taken to the safety of the car park. The little girl did put her hands up to the main who picked her up. Her relief is short lived as a young mother cannot find her daughter and she fits the description of the child Rose saw. Little Beth Jones is only 4 years old. Her Mum is adamant that the man taking the little girl away must be a stranger as her father hasn’t seen her since she was a baby.
Rose was mystified as the little girl seemed to trust and know her abductor. As an artist she is trained to observe and she is sure of what she saw but now fears she made the wrong decision. Racked with guilt for not intervening feels she has to help in any way she can think of but as time passes the prospects of getting Beth back unharmed begin to look very bleak.
Many of the Book Club members felt there were far too many characters in this story – it is a light, quick read and does have a twist at the end.
Our walking group had a lovely walk on a breezy morning to he beautiful, historic site of Sancreed Beacon. Believed to have been inhabited as long ago as the Bronze Age, and set 172 metres above sea level here are breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside and on to Mount’s Bay. Now owned and managed by Cornwall Heritage Trust you can read more about it from the link below:
It was a glorious spring day for our outing to Caerhayes Castle. The gardens were at their absolute best with some magnificent magnolias, azaleas and early rhododendrons, while the grassy banks were smothered in primoses and bluebells. After an al fresco lunch in the courtyard we had a guided tour of the ground floor of the castle, which included being taken through a door hidden in panelling, into a room with a huge collection of mineral samples.
Crowlas & Ludgvan WI 