We moved to The Old Station in August 2017…

It seems an appropriate time to reflect on and share some thoughts on the passing of time.

To thine own self be true is my mantra

I believe that If you feel something is right, if you can, you should act on it, the time is NOW!

Instinct is everything and, for me, the safety net of life is that mistakes count as positive learnings, so to fear making mistakes would be to fear life experience… 

More importantly, I feel that a regret that I didn’t do something would be far harder to bear than any attempt that fails…

I listen keenly to the language that others around me use about themselves and their lives…

I’m consciously aware that each of us absorb our own thoughts and words and they in turn define us and our lives.

So, I am very sure of myself, I speak proudly and kindly to myself and I love my uniqueness. I make sure to point myself in the right direction of travel each day for what I want and desire in my life and… so far, so good.

In the past five years, I’ve removed those real and often perceived obstacles and I’m the driver not the passenger of my life journey…

It’s really worked for me and has helped me to focus on what’s important.

Community 

We are incredibly lucky to have settled into the beautiful little Cornish village called ‘Luckett’

From the outside you’d never know, it’s not obvious, but maybe the name of our little village was a hint of things to come for us?

As it is, we find ourselves living amongst, and even counting as friends, the most special, unique, caring, inspiring and wonderful people, we have been blessed and we are very lucky to have found Luckett. Maybe our border location between Cornwall and Devon attract people like us?
Those of us who wish to live in the amazing county of Cornwall but retain enough love, life and links to where we originally came from so as not to move too far down in to the county to make visiting journey’s too hard on us and our friends and families?
All I do know is that we live in a magical place that is perfect for us and one that thrives with a healthy mix of Cornish and us ‘Emmets’ alike.

Amazon Prime

When we moved to Cornwall we didn’t realise that shopping, as we once knew it, would disappear forever…

The high street is no longer what it once was wherever you go these days but down here the high street, as we knew it, never really existed in the first place.

The big chain shopping has been replaced by much more individual, bespoke and artisan type shops which thrive in tourist locations and provide us with our now, much preferred, one-off shopping experiences and quality goods in all categories, especially food and drink.
Like it or not, I unashamedly hail to my new passion ‘Amazon Prime’ without which, I don’t think we’d have managed to live here, quite so contentedly.

In my defence, I can provide an immediate response to whatever a visiting guest advises me is needed in our holiday cabins, especially something they expected to be available – anything from tiddlywinks, an apple corer, a bespoke birthday cake topper or a cerise pink yoga mat… it’s never a problem, at the touch of a button everything needed will be delivered tomorrow… and for that I’ll be forever thankful. Amen to Amazon.

How did anyone survive in this world without next day delivery?

We balance the debt we owe to our local community traders by very much dividing our spending between Amazon and our local shops…

Devon and Cornwall we love you

I don’t think we’ll live long enough to explore the whole of Devon and Cornwall in the detail we’d like, it would also spoil the life balance we enjoy here.

There really is so much to do, see and experience and, if that wasn’t enough, every single hour of the day, weather condition, season and month casts a different light and perspective on places we know very well and love.

We actually live here and accept that we won’t see it all in our lifetime, so we’ve learned to be thankful for what we have and remain endlessly curious.

Nothing stays the same, everything changes and there will always be places and experiences for us to discover which is just perfect.

Everything is viewed through our own unique perspective and is relatable to how we feel at the time so my perfect Devon and Cornwall and how I like to enjoy it might be very different to someone else’s but I will share our best bits along our journey in future blogs and in ‘Our Devon and Cornwall’ guide.

Out of season is best

Monday to Thursday inclusive is usually ‘our time’, we prefer to avoid Friday, Saturday or Sunday unless it’s necessary to see something ‘day’ specific like a concert, event or market.

When we can, we head out curiously exploring new places and enjoying new experiences, we get the best tables at restaurants, choosing the first or the last sitting is always a wise move too… and we often have places to ourselves at least for a short period of time, some notable examples of this are Agatha Christie’s Greenway House, we were the fifth visitor of the day and we had many of the rooms to ourselves to enjoy before anyone else disturbed our thoughts.

I especially like to think and imagine when I’m visiting such places which I find impossible when it’s too busy.

An empty St Ives, yes… honestly! Winter is a joy down here and we often enjoy the best tables for lunch and dinner in the most beautifully located foodie restaurants with our Italian mastiffs Rico and Nero lying by our feet. These experiences are a special luxury out of season.

And finally, the wild weather out of season may not be for everyone but we love the drama of wild, wet, stormy days of high seas, heavy rain, blankets of mist and unrelenting Westerlies… it’s hugely romantic.

Move to the West and feast like a king for the rest of your life.

The best seafood, meat and produce we have ever experienced in one place, consistently fabulous.

We always use a butcher and a fishmonger and try to buy and enjoy our food in season, the restaurants here in Devon and Cornwall are superb and we love eating out when we can, my favourite treat is fresh crab sandwiches and we have them as often as we can, they actually make me very happy I love the experience of eating them (with generously spread Cornish butter) so much.

A truth… I’d never had a crab sandwich before we moved to Cornwall so, this experience was enjoyed for the first time aged 52!

And finally, the events calendar, especially around Christmas time is phenomenal.

Because the communities around us are made up of small villages and to some extent, we live in a tourist area, each village has so many events across the year from amateur dramatics through to food festivals, from Tom Bawcock’s Eve at Mousehole in December through to the annual British fireworks championships in Plymouth in August and thousands of varied diverse events in between, there’s always so much on that we have to choose carefully what we decide to do each month otherwise we’d never be home! A big part of our lives here is spending quality time at home, something we hadn’t done before we lived here…