St. Levan

Sunday October 23rd
In Which we go to the Theatre

Our plan for today was simple - to explore the region near the westmost part of Cornwall. We wanted to drive along the coast as far as possible, taking our time to visit some of the tiny ocean front villages along the way.

Our first brief stop was at Zennor, before quickly getting back in the car as it was freezing outside. The wind had picked up to near gale force and the wind chill factor must have been around 2C or less. Even with our high quality $15 Aldi rain jackets on, the wind seemed to chill to the bone. We had originally planned to walk along the final section of coastline between Sennen Cove and Lands End, but the miserable weather was making that look very unlikely.

When we drove past a lovely looking coffee shop called "Heather's Cafe" in Pendeen, Maggie insisted that it was time for morning tea.

She was also excited because she has a sister called Heather and that seemed to provide some extra reason for not driving past. We pulled up, battled to open the car doors against the wind, and staggered into the lovely coffee shop.
I had to admit that it really was a perfect place for a cup of hot chocolate and their Rocky Road Cheesecake was a real treat. With our core temperatures temporarily elevated, we staggered back to the car and continued on our westerly way to Cape Cornwall. The proprietor of our B&B had advised us that this was a much nicer location than the famous Lands End and it was almost the most westerly part of England anyway.

We pulled into the little carpark, handed over a handful of pounds for the privilege of parking and gazed at the wild ocean scenery in front of us. I had to admit that this part of the world does have a unique character. With the combination of treeless, windswept mountains, wild oceans, rugged cliffs and dark, stone cottages it certainly looked like it would be an unforgiving place to live. Maggie and I looked for adjectives to describe this type of location and the most appropriate word we could come up with was "bleak". I wondered what the local children and teenagers do for fun around here, or maybe they just leave as soon as they are old enough to do so..

Although Maggie was too frozen to leave the car, I forced the driver's door open and tumbled out into the gale. Donning my woollen hat, pulling the thermal hoodie over the top of that and finally zipping up the Aldi rain jacket, I thought I was almost ready for the arctic blast that awaited me.

I then climbed down from the car park and followed the walking path to the prominent outcrop of land that constitutes Cape Cornwall.

With the narrow path and the precipitous drops to the raging ocean, combined with the pull of the the howling wind doing its best to throw me bodily into the crashing waves, it was something of a mental challenge to climb to the little stone chimney at the top of the highest point. I then took a few minutes to survey the scene before me. The sign explained how this used to be the site of a struggling tin mine before being donated to the nation in 1987 by the HJ Heinz company. It was good to see how the sales of millions of tins of beans had actually been put to a good use.

After being almost frozen, I struggled back down to the car and resumed our drive to Lands End. As we approached this famous location it did not take us long to see that we were going to be very disappointed. It had been made into a money making amusement park of the worst possible order. With its tacky collection of dodgy food sellers, arcade rides and so on, we felt cheated that we had to pay so much for the brief time we parked in the car park. After a quick look around, we could not wait to get away from the place. What a disgrace to do this to such a famous location.

While we had been having breakfast this morning another couple who were also staying at the same B&B overheard us discussing our plans for the day. "You must visit Minack's Theatre",they suggested. I had not even heard of the place, but once they started explaining what it was, it did ring a bell somewhere in the back of my mind.

After the unexpected gem we had experienced a few days earlier at Clovelly, we added it to our list of objectives for the day. We were so very glad we did as it turned out to be the outstanding highlight of the day.

The existence of this theatre itself is due to the untiring efforts of a rather eccentric lady called Rowena Cade. From a wealthy background she moved to this part of Cornwall in the 1920s and built an impressive mansion at the top of the cliffs. She then became involved in amateur theatre and decided to use part of the cliffside as the location for the staging of a production of "The Tempest" in 1932. The show was such a huge success that she made the design and construction of the Minack Theatre her life's work.

The rest of her life was spent in developing this incredible ocean front location into one of the world's most incredible outdoor theatres. In spite of the exposed situation, it is actually used for six months of the year with a new production starting every week. Apparently around 70,000 people watch these productions every year and another 100,000 come to just see the theatre itself.

I had to admit that it really was one of the most incredible places I had ever visited and I had to admire the tenacity of those who brave the elements to either participate in or watch a production here.

On the day that we visited, the wind was so strong that it was difficult to stand upright. Down below the waves were crashing ceaselessly on the rocks, sending up huge clouds of foam and spray with each massive impact.

After sitting and watching the spectacle for a short while we retreated to the sanctuary of the kiosk for lunch. Our table was right inside the front glass window and we sat mesmerised by the ferocity of the elements while we enjoyed a delightful Cornish "Cream Tea". it was another example of how the very best travel experiences are the ones that are not planned. It was certainly an experience we will never forget.Read more