Monday 7th March St Agnes

 

 

We are off again.  It’s early in the season and the weather forecast is distinctly unsettled.  We leave home at 09.00 and are at Becky’s for lunch by 12.30.  Becky gives us a substantial lunch of shepherd’s pie and we walk round the woods after.  John joins us for lunch, and we get a glimpse of Will just as we are leaving. Sadly, there is no sign of Lillie the sheepdog, who has died since we were last down.  The family are still mourning the loss of this friendly dog.  She was apparently too nice to be trained as a working dog – unlike the new puppy, Rose, who takes to the sheep like a duck to water.  The other cause of grief is the recent storm, which ripped the fly-sheets off two of the safari tents on the glamping meadow.  Becky thought they were comprehensively insured – but in the small print it says not for storm damage. 

We can’t linger, because we are now in deepest Cornwall.  We leave West Hill at 15.00, and get to St Agnes by 17.00.  We are booked into the Driftwood Spars in Trevaunance Cove.  I am now on very familiar ground, because Becky and Kathy lived in and near St Agnes as children and I visited frequently.  Earlier, before I married Sue, their mum, the two of us spent a summer working as waiters in the Driftwood Spars.  The building has not changed much over sixty years, but obviously the operation is different.  In the sixties, the restaurant was much more prominent and there was no food served in the bars.  The hotel has also now opened a micro-brewery across the road.  In fact, we had all our meals in the bars.  One curiosity – tables in the main bar are all reserved for locals until 19.00.  After our good lunch in West Hill, we settle for fish starters.