Crowded Cornwall in Land’s End has become a yearly pilgrimage site for me

As you already now my favorite sports in the summer is to invade my friends’ houses and spend up to three nights with them. Beyond that, like the fish which stinks, it becomes too long. This time, and as in the last thirty five years, my final destination was Land’s End in Cornwall and since all flights from Paris to Exeter or Plymouth have been discontinued (my last experience through Bristol airport was a nightmare), I decided to drive. It was the opportunity for a fun journey!

Lulu trains her horse to cross country near Checkendon

Crossing on the Euro tunnel was a perfect dream, I got there 90 minutes early and was whisked through. So instead of arriving for tea at Checkendon Equestrian center near Henley-on-Thames, my first stop, I arrived for pudding and thank God, I had brought with me a Tarte aux fraises from my local village,  which was much appreciated. My first little accident happened almost immediately. The lovely dog of the house, Harry, had surreptitiously grabbed my passport from my handbag and was chewing it under the table. I had never before heard of dogs liking paper and plastic, but he was obviously the exception.

Tona is the inventive Mexican baker at Imma

Watching the talented 10 year old Lulu jump on her poney and teach him cross country techniques was  a true delight. As much fun as discovering a woodland peppered with hydrangeas in all colors, but mostly blues and dark purple. Perfect English values for me. We went to Imma, in Stoke Row, to buy the best bread loaf in Oxfordshire made by Tona, a formerly Mexican chef, who moved to this part of the world and now caters to Boris Johnson who has been seen buying sandwiches for his large family on a Sunday. We then drove to the beautiful village of Ewelme, where Alice, Duchess of Suffolk (1404-1475), enlarged the amazing church and built the cloister with almshouses which are still in use today. It also has the oldest school house in England still in activity and was long famous for its watercress beds.

Baron Jay of Ewelme shows us the Baptistere in Ewelme’s chuch

Our guide there was the wonderful Lord Jay (and his wife Sylvia) who was the British Ambassador to Paris from 1996 to 2001. Everyone would have seen him on television when Princess Diana died since he was the first official to announce her death in 1997. He is an active  member of the House of Lords and fights for the preservation of Ewelme, having purchased and restored the village shop. He explained with great generosity how the sculpted wood lid of the baptistere is elevated and lowered by way of  a pulley and how Alice of Suffolk had her elaborate tomb carved in the church. She was the poet Geoffrey Chaucer‘s grand-daughter and married three times.

The tomb of Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk in Ewelme’s church is in alabaster and stone. Her father, Thomas Chaucer, speaker of the House of Commons,  is also buried there

My road trip went on through Bristol towards Penzance where I attended the opening of the “Second Nature” show at Tremenheere Sculpture Garden and gallery. This amazing park which I first visited in 2016, has works by  Richard Long, James Turrell, Bernar Venet… and spectacular views of St Michael’s mount. During the opening, the Scottish artist  Katie Houston from Glasgow,  had a performance where she read the most hilarious story of two men and a woman in a bathtub. She also exhibited two paintings.

Ellie Reid , “A Moment of Being” at the Tremenheere Sculpture park in Penzance, makes incredible works in steel and sequins

Another interesting artist was Ellie Reid who used the wind to blow on her sequins and steel “paintings”. As part of the Changeable Beast collective, she will exhibit from October 17-20, in London at the APT gallery in Deptford,  place I will visit on my next trip. And Matt Foster who showed a “Compression”.

Matt Foster, “Compression II”, 2024 at Thremenheere

But obviously what is most interesting in Land’s End, are the sites and the beaches. Though I have to admit that I did not go swimming this year in the fog and the cold water. I shopped for excellent beef and lamb in Saint Just where John le Carré used to live, and discovered a new gallery, the Jackson Foundation, where the local artist Kurt Jackson (based in Cornwall since 1984), showed his series of paintings “The Cornish Seal”. I liked the works but found them slightly overpriced. The space of the gallery is superb.

Kurt Jackson, Caroline on Porth Seal, 3 500 £ at St Just

I made my way back to France on the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff,  a very exhausting experience with the long lines of cars and hundreds of passengers, which was made pleasant and fun thanks to writer Alicia Drake, whom I ran into by chance on board. She is the author of “The Beautiful Fall“, the fascinating book on Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld which created turmoil when it was published in France in 2010. She spent half of the night rescuing a lady with alzheimer who was looking for her family and insisted on opening the deck door… There are still angels on this earth!

Thank you to my cherished hostesses for their hospitality!