A visit to Trevarno Garden with Barbara & exciting jewellery making wonderful gifts

Trevarno Garden is a must!! - If you have never found this beautiful place then you just have to go and see all the wonderful things it has to offer. If you are looking to get away and commune with nature then you can do just that, you can meet with friends or just be alone and dine in the conservatory restraurant, scrumptious food wholesome and good, but not all of it! there is a huge selection of mouth watering and yummy deserts and cakes on offer as well.

Then there is the gift shop, the gardening museum, the Trevarno shop shop and of course the Peacocks - loads of them - up in the trees and just everywhere and making their eirie and haunting call.

The weather on the day I visited recently was not at its best, mixed sunshine, cloud and the odd spit of fine rain! - but that didn't stop my friend Barbara who was over for a visit from her home town in Germany and I from exploring the gardens, enjoying a super lunch at one of the outside tables on the lawn (in the sunshine), watching the peacocks and enjoying the trees, unusual plants and flowers expecially the deep red 'gladdies' down by the steps near the conservatory. We had a lovely day and I am sure you will too.

New in at the Village Crafts shop this week are some really lovely items of fashionable and different jewellery. Not expensive this time - easily affordable for presents and a joy to wear just anytime, no need to keep for special high days, holidays and nights out. Birthday and Christmas gifts (I know but already there are people buying!) are not a problem here because we have a huge selection of gifts to choose from.

Jewellery - lots and lots of choice at Village Crafts - silver, copper, gemstone, pearls, amethyst, and Cornish tin - pendants and necklaces, bangles and bracelets, rings and broochs - there is so much to choose from. This pendant on the left is selling at only £11.95

And finally for today I must just show you this beautiful Indian leather Elephant purse. Fair trade and a lovely little gift idea at £3.95

And so - that is all I have time for today I must get on and get all the new stock priced and into

the shop - so cheerio for now from Val and 'Sharni Babes' one of my best pals - here she is - bless her - she is so patient and waiting for me to finish the diary so that we can go for a walk across the cliffs to Marazion - and perhaps have a swim down at Trenow Cove - Lovely!!

Moomaid & Trenow Honey and knowing that someone is listening to me

Its been a strange day! - both weatherwise and just generally. The weather hasn't really known what to make of itself, it's warm but not hot! HOT! which is what we were longing for this August and there are grey clouds in the sky and yet the sun shines periodically - so there's hope. It's certainly been a good day for getting out and about and Perranuthnoe has seen a fair number of visitors, many just drifting around, others making the most of the beach and the sea, and serious walkers with hiking poles akimbo striding out for all they are worth. I was asked this morning on my way back from walking the dogs
Sharna and Layla, if this was the way to Porthleven! Some serious walkers they were - they were certainly going to need the poles!

Destination Porthleven - Leaving Perranuthnoe, first you need to make for Cudden Point which is the Eastern boundary of Mount's Bay. At Cudden point our 'walkers' would need to pass by Pixies Cove, a fine chasm, riddled with caves into which the sea rolls with great effect in rough weather, then there's Bessies Cove, once the site of an inn frequented by smugglers and kept by one Bessie Burrows then, coming to Prussia Cove. In the 18th century this cove was the head-quarters of a band of smugglers whose leader, John Carter, was called by his followers, the King of Prussia, after the hero of those times. Hence the name of the Cove. It was John Carter who cut the harbours and the road and adapted the caves, and he is the hero of many tales of the good old days. Shades of Smuggling, French Brandy and Revenue men.

And so back to our Serious Walkers complete with hiking poles! and onwards and upwards to Porthleven
A mile eastward of Prussia Cove is the beginning of Praa Sands, with it wonderful sandy beach, lots of places to eat and of course the restored and yet still haunted Pengersick Castle. - following the sweep of the bay our walkers must continue with rucksac, stick and pole along the cliff path to Porthleven - up hill, down dale and over many ancient styles. Eventually they will arrive at Porthleven, and one of my favourite views - looking down on Porthleven Harbour with its many fishing boats, gift and craft shops and lots of really good places to eat. Our walkers can then relax - they have made it - completed the trek from Penzance to Porthleven which must be 15 miles or more - difficult to say when it all up and down and round! Well done them!

Now Moomaid's quite a different thing altogether and with Trenow Honey it's to die for - really it is. Moomaid is 'some' beautiful icecream made down on the farm at Zennor with Clotted Cream and Chocolate and Fudge really Cornish and yummy. Why Trenow honey - well my friend Karen has her bees down at Trenow all buzzing around and collecting pollen from the wild flowers on the cliffs roundabout and some time ago she gave me a lovely big tub of honey and there's nothing so good as a dollop of Moomaid (clotted cream) and a twirl of real Cornish honey - mmm! - to be honest that was my treat to sit down today and write my diary. I could have been wandering along the beach paddleing!

And then - what do you think? I have been writing this diary for only a little while but every time I wrote a little more and posted it I used to think - where is it going? whoever is going to find this? and who is going to be reading it? would anyone be reading it! I actually do have one follower but would you believe it - its a dog! lovely to have a follower but a dog and I bet it can't read - shame really.

And then today - Val came in - no not me but a lady called Val (just a coincidence - no I am not making this up!) and would you believe it - well I couldn't - her daughter who lives in Oxford had found me and our little shop 'Village Crafts' and had said that Val should come to see us and have a look around - in Val's hand was a printed 'off the computer' sheet headed 'Val's Diary' - you could have knocked me over with a feather!

It was lovely to meet Val, it seems she does some lovely craft work - textiles in one form or another and we found lots in common to talk about - at the moment she is working with an embellishing machine and making collages from all manner of things. Val is going to come again and she will bring some of her work for me to see - I am really looking forward to this and to seeing her again.

So the time has come to bring this to an end - and I haven't yet talked about anything I was going to originally - like lovely gift ideas, beautiful scarves and jewellery that has just come in and new Cornish Ganseys and Chunkies, post cards from Murrey King and lots and lots of other things - anyway enough for another day.