The Cornwall Blog

Devon and Cornwall Film are running a competition for film makers in the South West to celebrate the Free Cinema Movement's 50th anniversary. They focus on the void that is quality cinema down here in the far west. If you are struggling to cope with the vacuous blockbusters and need some mental stimulation, take a look at their web site.

There has been a boom in businesses offering cycle hire as more and more people look to healthy options for their holiday entertainment. Ski resorts push mountain biking as soon as the snow starts to trickle away in the swelling streams, and it is not just adrenaline sports fans that take the headlong trip any more. There is an ever increasing number of families looking for excitement in this way. There may not be mountains in the South West, but there are a great number of companies that provide bikes to travel over the largely untamed landscape. A lot of these are based on existing cycle trails such as Trail Bike Hire on the Camel Trail near Padstow, but some now delve into the moors with mountain bike leaders. Coupled with cycle hire, this is a very convenient way to edge out of our individual comfort zones. The very factor that puts many off cycling in South West, the hilly terrain, can be the most attractive reason to make the extra effort. Fitness is not the only concern, there ...

We are very much in the main season here in Cornwall, the beaches are packed and the streets are full of slow moving tourists looking at the view - murder when you are trying to get to work in the morning! My wife gets very angry when it is so busy, as do many locals, but considering the tourist industry is the largest source of income in the South West, I have a more ambivalent view. There are many plus points to such an influx of visitors to a relatively small area, the sudden boost to the local economy not being the least important, but the season has become progressively forced into a tight time period year on year. One factor contributing to this has been the new policy for schools to penalise children that take holidays during term time. This has meant that parents will only go away during the six weeks school break, and are not able to take advantage of, perhaps, a short heat wave. The effect of this reduced season also means ridiculously expensive prices for the two months of h...

The Eden Sessions were again superb, a fantastic venue and relaxed atmosphere. A friend of mine went to see Basement Jaxx the night before Ian Brown played, and said that the crowd were perfect. Ian Brown was supported by Badly Drawn Boy and British Sea Power, and the whole evening was dedicated to a charity set up to help Kosovo. There was a young woman helping to raise awareness for the charity there, she had survived being shot 19 times. I had not heard British Sea Power before, and was not really engaged by them until their final number. A man dressed as a moth-eaten bear came onto the stage, whereupon the band started to beat him up, and each other; swapping instruments and generally making a complete mess of the stage. That certainly got my attention. I have both of their albums now. Badly Drawn Boy was excellent, but was playing to a crowd waiting for Ian Brown. This definitely affected his performance, but he still made the show for my wife and I. We saw him play at Eden ...