The Cornwall Blog

Such an interesting perspective at The Eden Project, found by Maggie Beautiful shot of surfers on Polzeath Beach by Tom Barber Fine dining at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant, photograph by Andy Callard St. Mawes, photograph found on Tumblr St. Michael's Mount, photograph by JP Offord

A new play by Bill Scott, with lyrics and music by Tom Adams. Don’t miss Cornwall’s favourite alternative to pantomime this winter, when Miracle Theatre bring ‘the ultimate monster-mash up’ to Bude’s Parkhouse Centre on Thursday 20th December! Renowned for their surreal and comic re-workings of well known and loved stories, Miracle’s inventive approach to FRANKENSTEIN!  promises to tickle funny bones and have audiences jumping out of their seats! Originally a Victorian novel, famously a black and white movie starring Boris Karloff and the inspiration for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Miracle presents its Frankenstein! as a musical performed by the Ffitch Repertory Players in 1947. As with past Miracle shows, The Revenge of Rumpelstiltskin and Aladdin, audiences will enjoy backstage glimpses of the intrepid players as they struggle to create their terrifying vision of the future - a world where the rich and famous have paid huge sums to have ...

After a traumatic birth, Cornish resident Sophie Hibbs was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus. She was fitted with a shunt to keep her alive. Her desperate parents were told her quality of life would be poor. At three years and six months Sophie’s trunk was too weak for her to sit unaided. Her limbs were spastic, she had difficulty swallowing and no speech. Both her communication and her ability to understand language were poor, she could not play or show normal emotions. If her younger sister poked her or took away a toy she did not cry out or protest. Her vision was limited and she had a squint. The future seemed bleak. One year later according to Sophie’s medical records she has become a different child. She sits independently. She can lie down and right herself. She is beginning to crawl. She is alert and social and can use her hands to play with toys at pre-school. She looks towards the teacher who calls her name on the school register. She uses paint and crayons ...

The search is on for a winning new pasty flavour to celebrate the ninth Cornwall Food & Drink Festival, which is taking place from 28th to 30th September on Truro’s Lemon Quay. Do you have a favourite pasty recipe that you think visitors to the festival would enjoy? If so, this is your chance to shine. Open to all amateur cooks and recipe creators, Simply Cornish, one of this year’s festival sponsors, is looking for a new pasty to become the flavour of the festival. The winning pasty will go on sale at the Simply Cornish stand in the festival’s Croust Bar and the winner will receive a box of their special flavour pasties and a fantastic Simply Cornish hamper full of tasty Cornish produce. Jason Jobling, Business Development Manager for Simply Cornish - part of Warren’s Bakery – is delighted with the idea. “We really love being part of Cornwall Food & Drink Festival and we’re excited about creating a new pasty that can be launched there. While the traditional Cornish ...

If you are looking for something special for all the family this summer – look no further! Over the past two months Cornwall’s Miracle Theatre has been touring around the South West delighting audiences with their current show ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ and now it's heading your way. Miracle Theatre has once again teamed up with the King Harry Ferry and the Fal River Team to offer audiences the chance to take a special ‘showboat’ from Falmouth to see The Importance of Being Earnest on Wednesday 8th & Thursday 9th August at St Mawes Castle. The journey across the picturesque estuary will include a complimentary pint of ale from the local Skinners brewery range, a sunset cruise back to port, all hosted by the ‘Miracles cabin crew’ (Kyla Goodey and Sally Crooks of Trifle Gathering). This year the Showboats also marks the start of Miracle’s season of ‘Theatre around the Fal River’ this summer. “We are so pleased to be working with the Fal River team to run ou...

The Fisherman's Apprentice is the story of our fishermen's fight for survival, written first hand by Marine Biologist and TV presenter, Monty Halls as he experiences a year working as a small boat fisherman from Cadgwith Cove in Cornwall, the last defiant outpost of Britain's traditional fishing industry. Through the relentless labour of working on his own boat and the drama of great spiralling storms, Monty experiences a way of life that is quietly dying and looks at what can possibly be done to save a cultural heritage and industry, that has shaped the history and identity of our country for thousands of years. Tweet Whilst learning just how difficult lobster and crab fishing off the coast of Cornwall can be, and in between bouts of incessant sea-sickness, Monty discovers the hardships of the life of modern small boat fishermen. As an ex-marine, former winner of Channel 4’s tough-guy challenge Superhuman, and no stranger to a physical challenge, Monty is surpri...

The Sun is shining on Electric Beach Festival with more After Party artists confirmed. As another week flies by the exclusive after party list of confirmed artists continues to grow. Tweet Cambridge come Londoners The Nextmen have been confirmed to play a DJ set at our intimate party, after their explosive set at Watergate Bay. This UK DJ, production, song writing and bootlegging duo, also known as Brad Baloo and Dom Search exude a plethora of musical genres in one sound. Dancehall, drum’n’bass, dubstep, reggae, hip hop and funk are a few of their integrated styles. In 2000 they released their debut album Amongst The Madness, which propelled them into star status not just in the UK but breaking the notoriously difficult US market. Now being hailed as Hip Hop producers across the pond, The Nextmen began working with Public Enemy, Morcheeba and The Pharcyde. Following suit in 2009 they released Join The Dots influenced by their club smashing DJ sets and further cemented th...

Seeing as the weather this summer is leaving much to be desired, why not turn your attention inside your home and think about some interior design? Based in Launceston are Just Fab, the Cornwall interiors showroom, and they house the largest fabric and wallpaper collection in the South West. As well as being an Aladdin's cave for those who love soft furnishings, rolls of fabric and swatch books galore, Just Fab are renowned for their service. It can can be quite daunting at times, considering a room and working out how the space might work better, so it is good to know that Just Fab can help you with any or every part of the process. They have a really friendly and talented team who can help you match colours and textures, patterns and furnishings. If you need help with the measuring up they do that too and they make curtains, blinds and upholstery all to your specification. Keep an eye out for their adverts in the Cornish glossy magazines, and when in Launcesto...

This summer Cornwall’s own Miracle Theatre are hoping to score a double hit by swiftly following their recent self -penned production of ‘Tin’, with an absolute British classic: Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. Tweet Miracle will be adding an extra dimension to what is often cited as the ‘funniest play ever written’ and touring it to over 40 venues across the south west from 14th June until 2nd September. Every few years, Miracle likes to turn its hand to comedy classics of European theatre, particularly when they deliver powerful social commentary under the cover of laughter. This ‘masterpiece of sharp wit and preposterous plotting’ cries out for the sort of surreal treatment that has become Miracle’s hallmark. “Having visited Russia for The Government Inspector and France for Tartuffe, this summer, from our own shores we'll be exploring The Importance Of Being Earnest”, says director Bill Scott, “It is one of those rare scripts that it's impos...

Miracle Theatre has gone into production of a feature film based on its recent sell-out show Tin, commissioned by the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. Using an imaginative combination of digital technology and hand-made models, the Redruth-based company has now commenced production of a micro-budget feature film of this story of love and money, opera and tin mining. The film will feature the original cast of the theatre production, which includes opera icon Ben Luxon. They will be joined by other actors, including Jenny Agutter (The Railway Children, Call the Midwife, Outside Bet) and Dudley Sutton (Lovejoy, Weekend Retreat) who will play Abraham Bennett, one of the devious bankers. Jenny Agutter said of the project “I loved the production of Tin, which I saw at the Count House Botallack in a domed tent on the coast. This was an extraordinary and appropriate setting for the play, surrounded by ruined tin mines, one could easily imagine this fantastic tale taking place. The thea...

Known purely by her first name, October began her recording career as a solo artist, playing all the instruments on her recordings. October produced her first music video with Whirlwind Films for her song Ulterior Motives. She is a regular on the festival scene and has played 9 stages at Glastonbury Festival in just three years as well as singing with the likes of the BBC Big Band and BBC Symphony Orchestra, and has toured extensively playing solo acoustic shows all over Australia and Europe. October now plays as part of a talented 3 piece band collectively known as 'October', featuring Steve Wellbelove on drums, with Ben Hatwell and October alternately playing the electric, acoustic and bass guitars throughout their set. This tight little trio has developed a unique surfy pop/rock sound with memorable melodies that get the crowd involved. October fronts the band with her uniquely warm yet powerful vocal. Steve and Ben bring with them their experience of writing and touring ...

Bodmin Moor View by Joanna Commings, acrylic on watercolour paper, 94 x 71 cm Exhibiting in North Cornwall is the artist Joanna Commings. She was born in London and grew up watching her artist father paint and draw, and then began trying to achieve results herself, exploring different approaches and techniques. Her main interest in the early days was life drawing and portraiture. Receding Tide Polzeath by Joanna Commings, acrylic and oil on watercolour paper, 78 x 102 cm Later, while living in Kent and then East Sussex, Joanna frequently walked on the South Downs and over the Weald, where she began to develop an interest in the subject of landscape and how to express it. It was her move to Cornwall in 2002, joining the talented Cornish artists, which really unleashed her fascination with painting the landscape in all its moods, alongside a continuing passion for portraiture. View her website here .

The 2012 CORNWALL Summer BEAR FAIR will be staged at the Lostwithiel Community Centre (PL22 0HE) on Sunday 17th June. This will be the sixteenth Bear Fair in Cornwall involving organisation of Teddies of Trenode and the second involving the new partnership with Urchins Bears of Boscastle and the 2012 Fair promises to be even better than the previous ones! Tweet The Community Centre, situated alongside the A390, which runs through Lostwithiel – ‘The Antiques Centre of Cornwall’ – is a very popular venue and has very good catering facilities, with free parking outside and throughout the town itself. The Fair will once again feature over 45 stands with hundreds of teddy bears - old and antique – new artist and designer, handcrafted by national, international and top local artists - with many from Cornwall and Devon. Urchins Bears and Apple Pie House will have their superb stocks of well known international trademark bears and friends Bear Basics and Mohair Bear Making Supplie...

Rick Stein and Jill Stein have opened a new fishmonger’s in Padstow. Stein’s Fisheries, selling fresh fish, shellfish and pre-prepared seafood dishes, opened for business on Monday 26th March on the South Quay, next to Stein’s Fish and Chips. After being closely involved with the fishing industry for well over 35 years and seeing the growing success of their fish counter at Stein’s Deli, it was a natural move for the business. On offer will be lobsters, crabs and an extensive range of fresh fish and shellfish as well as pre-prepared foods such as fishcakes, seafood salads, fish soups and a selection of salmon, prawn and crab sandwiches. The opening of Stein’s Fisheries will also create additional space in the deli to stock more local meats, salads and olives. Rick commented ‘We are delighted to have a proper fish shop after all these years and think it will be popular, we know that fishmongers are closing down all over the country but we’re very optimistic about Stein’s Fisheries ...