DRIFT Volume 22

Volume No22

£10.00

Ways of

SEEING

Are we winning the uphill battle of gaining visibility for Cornwall’s resident artists?

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Drift /drift/

noun 1. the act of driving something along 2. the flow or the velocity of the current of a river or ocean stream

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On the cover Trudy Montgomery’s ‘Tethered’, as featured from page 19, where Mercedes Smith explores the changes happening here in Cornwall that are giving greater visibility to the work of its resident artists. trudymontgomery.com

CEO

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Drift is published by: Engine House Media LTD Holbrook, The Moors, Porthleven, Cornwall TR13 9JX www.enginehousemedia.co.uk www.levenmediagroup.co.uk

ISSN 2632-9891 © All rights reserved. Material may not be re-produced without the permission of Engine House Media Ltd. While Drift will take every care to help readers with reports on properties and features, neither Engine House Media Ltd nor its contributors can accept any liability for reader dissatisfaction arising from editorial features, editorial or advertising featured in these pages. Engine House Media Ltd strongly advises viewing any property prior to purchasing or considerations over any financial decisions. Engine House Media reserves the right to accept or reject any article or material supplied for publication or to edit such material prior to publication. Engine House Media Ltd cannot take responsibility for loss or damage of supplied materials. The opinions expressed or advice given in the publication are the views of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of

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Engine House Media Ltd. It is suggested that further advice is taken over any actions resulting from reading any part of this magazine.

Engine House Media Ltd is a multi-platform media business with a passion for everything Cornish. Visit www.enginehousemedia. co.uk to find out more. Our mission is to create READ-WATCHEXPERIENCE media opportunities marrying together consumers with the fabulous businesses across Cornwall. Our publishing and marketing teams are specialists in creating print and online communications, devised to achieve a range of marketing objectives. With over 20 years of marketing, brand management and magazine experience we develop effective communications that deliver your message in a credible and creative way. We operate across all media channels, including: print, online and video.

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T E A M

Foreword Where once a big city was considered the beating heart of the arts, there has now been a conscious shift towards the coast and countryside where the pace seems more appropriate to creativity, and inspiration can be found at every turn. Cornwall, in particular, has seen a surge in talent locating to the county from those seeking a place to live and work that offers community and collaboration. Mercedes Smith talks to four resident contemporary artists (19) about the sea-change that is happening in the county, as Martin Holman discusses the importance of this artistic fellowship with Jonathan Michael Ray (53). The opportunity that Cornwall affords those who capture life through a lens is difficult to quantify, such is the life force of its landscape and natural world. Luke Gartside (31) documents the Duchy’s surf culture, capturing an

ocean community of professionals and local heroes.

Dan Williams (65) frames a different world; that of the birds and animals that inhabit our shores and fields. Exchanging city for coast, florist Hayley Scott (97) has found new purpose and a pace of life in Newquay that allows her floral artistry to flow in a rhythm set by the seasons, while a community of a different kind has been created on a Cornish cliff top (105) introducing sauna bathing and the benefits of hot and cold therapy for mental and physical wellbeing. Blue health is something that mental health charity, Sea Sanctuary (122) is a leading exponent of, as their new wellbeing hub encourages and supports meaningful connection.

Whatever the connection you seek, we invite you to immerse yourself in DRIFT’s champions, pioneers, designers, innovators, and entrepreneurs.

Our contributors

Hannah Tapping

Mercedes Smith

Dan Warden

Rosie Cattrell

Martin Holman

Lucy Studley

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Call Richard McEvoy on 07771 868880 or email richard.mcevoy@enginehousemedia.co.uk Visit drift-cornwall.co.uk to read more about our writers

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We invite you to continue your lifestyle voyage online.

Find inspiring stories and uncover more luxury content on Instagram @driftcornwall. Join our exclusive e-journal community at drift-cornwall.co.uk to receive recipes, reviews and insider knowledge of some of Cornwall’s most-loved luxury destinations. drift-cornwall.co.uk T HE

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driftcornwall L IFEST YL E

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QUENCHWELL, NEAR TRURO GUIDE PRICE £1,150,000 Enjoying a discrete and secluded position between Truro and Falmouth, this charming, unique and extended country home is beautifully crafted and is set within level gardens approaching an acre with a swimming pool, double garaging and studio. 2,422 sq ft (incl. garage) EPC = E.

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TREWINNARD COURT, TRURO GUIDE PRICE £900,000 This elegant and spacious Edwardian residence has been redesigned and stunningly refurbished whilst retaining the original integrity. With beautifully appointed accommodation and landscaped gardens, this superb home is located within one of Truro’s most discrete, leafiest and desirable areas. 3,269 sq ft (incl. garage & garden studio) EPC = D

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C O N T E N T S

At a glance 19 31

W AY S O F S E E I N G A change for the Cornish art scene

T H E WA N D E R I N G C H RO N I C L E R

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L U X U RY H O M E S

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C O N N E C T E D TO T H E L A N D

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F L O R A L A RT I S T RY

At the pinnacle of the Cornish market

ARCO2’s award-winning Waterhouse

Photography from Luke Gartside

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S E T T I N G T H E S TA N DA R D

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A N C E S T R A L VO I C E S

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T R E A D I N G L I G H T LY

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M A K I N G C O R N WA L L H O M E

A floral abundance of colour

For luxury outdoor kitchens

105

Making history the new contemporary

H E A T, H E A L T H AND HORIZONS A unique, wood-fired sauna experience

115

Wildlife photography from Dan Williams

122

A fresh face to the Savills team

SHOW OF FRIENDSHIP A celebration of shared history

EVENTIDE A final word from Joseph Sabien

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Inspiring better holidays...

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Ways of

SEEING WO R D S B Y M E RC E D E S S M I T H

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C R E AT E

Despite being a long-established area for the fine arts, Cornwall’s remoteness from London and other urban art centres has worked against the visibility of its resident artists. But are things changing?

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to artists by the internet, to new private investment in Cornwall, to the emergence of open art shows nationally, is there a sea change on the horizon for the visibility of contemporary Cornish art?

s a writer and publicist for art in Cornwall, I can tell you that attracting the attention of national newspapers and magazines, or persuading art critics to make the journey from London to Cornwall to see a show is an endless uphill battle. “It takes a committed gallerist or arts writer to travel west for six hours based on your Instagram feed or invite,” says multimedia artist and Newlyn School of Art tutor Dan Pyne, “it’s not like popping across to a Peckham warehouse show on a hunch.” Artists here will tell you they face numerous hurdles to building a successful career, from a lack of opportunity to show progressive or challenging work in Cornwall, to an apathy from national galleries towards work they consider ‘regional’. Even the arrival of Tate St Ives in 1993 is considered something of a double-edged sword, having failed, according to some, to profile art in Cornwall as it is right now. But are things changing? From the reach now afforded

“Everyone is so familiar with the narrative of art in Cornwall,” says Dan. “We used to be connected – Victorian artists came here in the 1800s, establishing colonies and sending work back to London for exhibition.

When Modernist artists moved here to escape the war, Cornwall drew the gaze of the art world even more, and the art made here in the 50s and 60s was so strong that it bypassed London and spoke directly to contemporaries in New York. That golden heyday still defines Cornish art for many people living outside Cornwall, but to me that feels like a vision of the past. Today, the image of Cornish art is caught between the rock of an idyllic landscape and the hard edge of the Modernist museum’s glass.

PREVIOUS ‘Raven’ – Shelly Tregoning

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A B OV E Artist Maxwell Steel at his Cornwall studio

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A B OV E ‘ Breaking Glass’ – Shelly Tregoning

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A B OV E ‘ The Mixer’ – black pigment on canvas – Maxwell Steele

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A B OV E ‘Tethered’ – Trudy Montgomery

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C R E AT E

make. There just aren’t sufficiently strong, commercial contemporary galleries here that would show it.” Both Dan and Shelly’s experience demonstrates how difficult it can be to access audiences both inside and outside of Cornwall when this county is your home – a double whammy for artists making original and progressive work. “You have to work hard to get your work out there,” says Shelly, “and you still need to show in larger urban settings in order to reach that bigger audience – in London in particular. You’ve got to be willing to put your work up for exhibitions anywhere nationally, and that can be expensive. But there are many national open exhibitions, and that’s a good way of getting national exposure. I have been very lucky and have had work included in The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Exhibition, the Columbia Threadneedle Prize and the Discerning Eye Exhibitions, and exposure in these shows can lead to other opportunities.” “But,” notes Dan, “entering open competitions means delivering your work to a show hundreds of miles away, at great expense and with no guarantee it will get hung. The cost of merely entering these competitions is increasing, and when the average wage in Cornwall is less than half that of the rest of the country those costs can be prohibitive.”

This may be a provocative thing to say, but I think Tate St Ives, as wonderful as it is, does contemporary Cornish art a disservice. Their standing collection preserves that supposed ‘golden age’ of Cornish art in aspic, and it doesn’t reflect what is actually happening here now. The last show of contemporary Cornish art that Tate mounted was in 2007 – that’s 15 years ago. If the public art galleries in Cornwall never reflect its contemporary face, how will anyone outside the county know it exists?”

Cornwall’s private gallery scene, too, is often accused of failing to invest in truly progressive Cornish art, favoring instead the more accessible works that sell to seasonal visitors. Artist Shelly Tregoning, for example, studied Fine Art at Falmouth, lives and paints in West Cornwall, and is building a successful art career – but entirely outside of Cornwall, by necessity rather than choice. “I make work here but show exclusively out of the county,” she says. “Cornwall is certainly recognised as a place where artists live and work – you can’t throw a paper dart here without hitting an aggregation of chattering artists – but being recognised nationally as ‘relevant’ is, I think, much more difficult.” Shelly was offered her first solo show, perhaps the most important moment of a rising artist’s career, not in Cornwall but in Edinburgh, 600 miles from her Helston studio. The few shows she has held in Cornwall, she has arranged herself because “there is still a lack of galleries in this county where young and challenging artists can show their work’.

So why do so many artists come to Cornwall from far and wide, to settle and pursue their career here when the challenge of reaching collectors is so tough? “Because Cornwall has always had a voice of its own, a sort of unique visual language,” says artist Maxwell Steele, who recently moved to Cornwall and completed Newlyn School of Art’s One Year

Dan supports this opinion, telling me: “there are so few outlets for the kind of work I

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A B OV E ‘Organised Abandonment’ – Dan Pyne

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A B OV E ‘Don’t Take It Personally It’s Just Business’ – Dan Pyne, Unstable Monuments exhibition, Bristol

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C R E AT E

visiting Cornwall. “One family drove all the way back to Germany with a one of my works wedged in the back seat!” Trudy tells me, “and now they’ve turned into loyal collectors who buy via my website.” But challenges remain: “I had a corporate collector derail his visit because he hadn’t realised how far west I was,” she adds. Despite such problems, she tells me, “as a place to work, Cornwall is amazing. I can get any supplies I need delivered to my door, I use a delivery service to get my art to London, and my galleries visit at least once a year. The best galleries are happy to make the journey to find the best art to share it with their collectors.”

Mentoring Course for professional artists.

“The remoteness is a plus in a way, you’re free, to think and create and not be influenced.” Shelly agrees, saying: “here, I am less influenced by what the national art scene expects me to create. That pressure can be counterproductive. Down here there is less ‘noise’ in terms of ‘should’ and shouldn’t’, so I can focus more completely on what I want to do.”

“I think the challenges to artists have always been the same,” adds Maxwell, “of survival and a desire to be heard, a chance to tell your story.” Maxwell’s mention of ‘story telling’ is pertinent: sharing stories around inspirational locations, exhibitions, and the creation of artworks is a key strategy in my own area of work, and one that attracts gallery and collector attention through print and online publicity that reaches far beyond Cornwall’s borders. It’s an approach that more and more artists are tapping into.

“With social media,” says Maxwell, “you can create your own persona, and you can be anywhere in the world, however remote, and still be heard.”

While efforts continue to connect our most progressive contemporary artists with the wider art scene, here in Cornwall much still relies on the self-promotion and collaboration of artists themselves. “The art scene here is huge and vibrant, and is infused with a strong DIY ethos,” says Dan. “If you want to show work here, you find a space and make it happen, and there are some great spaces to create your own shows, such as Jupiter Gallery, Daisy Lang Gallery, PZ gallery and the amazing Tremenheere Gallery.” And hope for more opportunities within Cornwall remains: “Things are changing,” says Shelly, “but slowly. You really can find galleries here showing new, relevant and challenging work – but they are still few and far between. My hope is that new galleries and curators will emerge here to showcase new kinds of work.”

“The pandemic forced me to look at doing more online,” says Penwith based abstract artist Trudy Montgomery, “like exhibiting with online galleries with a national and international reach, or holding online open studio events. The internet makes everything visible in seconds, so the barriers to connecting Cornish artists to the rest of the country are much less now.” Digital communications also make it easier than ever before to maintain relationships with collectors who have purchased works whilst

danpyne.co.uk shellytregoning.net maxwellsteele.co trudymontgomery.com

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The wandering CHRONICLER WO R D S B Y H A N N A H TA P P I N G

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F O C U S

Following swells and surfers, Luke Gartside’s photography evokes a sentimentality and appreciation of space and time, resulting in a deep connection between people and place.

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Ocean frontage, Cornwall provides ample opportunity for this kind of exploration. “It’s always struck me how lucky we are to have such complete access to our headlands, bays and beaches via the South West Coast Path,” he says, “a luxury not enjoyed by many other wave riders around the world.”

or over ten years Luke Gartside has been documenting surf culture through stories and photography.

After graduating from Plymouth University in 2015, he settled in Newquay and joined the team at Wavelength magazine, Europe’s longest-running surf title. During his time at the publication, which included a four-year stint as editor, he was able to travel widely, capturing eclectic surf scenes from New Zealand to the Outer Hebrides. However, Cornwall’s rugged coastline has always remained his favourite subject.

Getting to know each local community is also key to Luke’s approach. “The South West is full of passionate and talented surfers, hailing from all different walks of life, but united in their dedication to their local spots. I’ve been lucky enough to work with the country’s top professional surfers,” he says, “but there’s also something so special about capturing a workaday local hero on the best day of the year at the break they’ve spent their life surfing.”

“I love the way the weather, light, and surfing conditions change so drastically, between the seasons and from minute to minute,” he says. “My goal is always to capture images that evoke the sensations of being out in the elements. Whether that’s surfing amid the bright blues of summer, or huddled beneath the cliffs during a winter storm.”

Since stepping down from Wavelength and going freelance at the beginning of this year, Luke has been working on a range of photography and writing assignments for various brands and publications. No matter who the client, he always seeks to maintain an editorial approach, where crafting a narrative and aesthetic that will engage the viewer is the top priority. “I love working with small, independent local companies,” he concludes, “but also, bigger brands looking to authentically navigate the surfing space.”

“Most of my favourite local spots require a bit of hiking to get to,” he continues, “little coves and tucked away beaches framed by grand scenery – which often forms the backdrop to my shots.” A big part of Luke’s working practice is learning about the intricacies of the coastline, in order to forecast where and when the best waves will be breaking and to pick the best angle from which to capture them. With over 400 miles of swell-drenched Atlantic

lugarts INSET Luke Gartside

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P R E V I O U S PA G E Pete Geall, fresh home after a stint living in western Australia, standing casual as you like in a whomping Cornish barrel

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A B OV E Jack Johns leans into a brilliant blue wall during an early summer session in west Cornwall

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TOP In Galicia, ‘Percebeiros’ risk their lives to retrieve goose barnacles from swell battered rocks – in fancy restaurants in Madrid, a plateful can fetch over 100 euros – here Santi Diaz returns with the morning’s haul

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A B OV E A gentleman takes his morning stroll between the sandy shoreline and mist-shrouded peaks that define much of northern Spain’s coastal landscape

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A B OV E Alan Stokes throws a sunlit arc at north Fistral – the break he has frequented more than any during his 20-year-long career as a professional surfer

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TOP Oli Adams clad from head to toe in thick neoprene following a session in the northernmost reaches of the British Isles

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A B OV E Devon-raised big wave specialist Taz Knight photographed near his adoptive home in Ireland for a profile feature in Wavelength magazine

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TOP Reubyn Ash framed by sun-blushed spume and folding sandstone in north Cornwall

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A B OV E Adam Griffiths observes the lineup as a squall blows in from the Atlantic

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A B OV E The morning sun burns brightly through a cascading lip as Harry Timson tucks in for the tube

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TOP Seafoam snagged on the dark rocks of the Hartland peninsula

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A B OV E Corduroy swell lines rolling into Fistral beach one beautiful February evening.

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A B OV E Harry Timson admires the surreal geology during a winter escape to Portugal’s southwestern tip

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Setting the

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I N SPI R AT I O N

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ooking outdoors under the summer sun with friends and family has become what almost feels like a right of passage for us here in the UK, and after the frost of winter has faded into spring and the warm promise of sunshine days, we find ourselves drawn into our outside spaces once more to soak up the rays with the ones arounds us. Sharing a meal in the summer shelter of our gardens feels like a luxury in itself, but we’ve come a long way from flipping a couple of burgers on the grate of a rusted barbeque that’s been temporarily liberated from a forgotten corner of the garden for a couple of months.

Transforming the world of al fresco cooking and dining, Bradshaw Luxury are introducing us to a world of luxury kitchens, specially made for the great outdoors of your own back garden.

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W O O D F O R D ARCHITECTURE

INTERIOR DESIGN

Woodford Architecture and Interiors were the winners of the 2020-2021 international property award for the best residential property in the United Kingdom.

From our studios, we work on projects across the South West and the UK, as well as overseas.

15 North Street, Ashburton, Devon, TQ13 7QH Tel: 01364 654888 www.woodfordarchitecture.com

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and what we want to achieve from it have significantly evolved, and in combination with developments in the technology and equipment now available for outdoor cooking, we’ve come to a point where it’s no longer unreasonable to aspire to the same quality of build and flexibility outdoors as we have come to expect inside. Although, as we’ve already learned, Bradshaw Luxury is about more than mere aspirations…

From boiling a big pan of corn on the cob, to simmering your famous BBQ sauce, a decent outdoor kitchen needs a proper rangetop burner, not just a side burner which is there to ‘make do’. You need warming units to keep food moist and reduce rebound time from temperature drops after you open the cabinet door. You need a professional wine cabinet and refrigeration system so that you don’t have to keep running indoors to keep your guests watered. A skilled outdoor chef demands the best aesthetic and performance from an outdoor kitchen to complement that of the kitchen they have indoors.

perform all year round, but are also designed to last throughout a wet and windy Cornish winter, ready to be made use of as soon as the clouds clear, which Lee fervently agrees with: “An outdoor kitchen is not just for summer, it’s for all year round; I even use mine on Christmas Day. The versatility it gives is huge and after the last two years it’s great to be able to have an extra space in which we can enjoy time creating memories with our family and friends.”

Outdoor kitchens are becoming an increasingly popular means of achieving the lifestyle that several lockdowns left us yearning for, that is, the kind that allows us to gather comfortably with our nearest and dearest whilst immersing ourselves in the natural beauty of the outdoors. Gone are the days of a simple, often slightly rusted gas barbeque sitting under cover for nine or ten months of the year (although I think we’ll all agree that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that!). Approaches to outdoor cooking

TOP Kalamazoo

A B OV E Wolf

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TOP LEFT Wolf

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A B OV E Wolf

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WAT E R S H E D D

Architecture, Interior Design & Development

0207 659 0 8 85

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I N SPI R AT I O N

Carefully considered, and meticulously scrutinised, Bradshaw Luxury have gathered some of the best brands in the world for this particular market, with a wealth of advice and expertise on hand for those of us looking to dip our toe. Innovative and passionate, the visionary creators behind the Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet range strive for excellence and perfection, and so far, they haven’t disappointed, continuing to set the bar for industry excellence in your very own back garden. Urban Bonfire offers a lust worthy selection of cabinets crafted from the highest quality materials, and with a range of accessories and finishing options, there’s nothing to stop you from finding the outdoor kitchen of your dreams. Let’s not forget the Italian quality of Steel Cucine, or the home gourmand opportunities that come with Lynx Grills, Wolf and DeliVita.

It doesn’t seem to matter where you are, the team at Bradshaw Luxury are determined that you should share in the experience of cooking in the great outdoors if that’s what you seek, as Lee explains: “Our outdoor kitchens can be installed in all geographical regions, from mountains to coastal retreats, and this is possible because of the marine grade metal choices we have with Kalamazoo and Urban Bonfire products. The addition of an outdoor kitchen gives you an additional functional living space, and it has been proven that their existence increases the value of a property and its attraction when on the market.

“We often consider the kitchen as the heart of the home and as true as this is, having an outdoor kitchen allows there to be a heart on the outside too,” Lee reflects. “Having a complete outdoor kitchen allows you to prepare, cook and serve your family and guests all from the same space. No longer are you having to run between the kitchen

A B OV E Lynx

TOP DeliVita

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When it comes to performance, aesthetics and functionality, the outdoor kitchen world is about to hit new heights as we come to terms with the fresh opportunities that this concept can bring to our outside spaces. With al fresco culinary adventures in mind, expect a prickle of adrenalin as the fire from your dual grill literally roars into life, and you realise that you won’t have to compromise on your cooking experience when immersing yourself in the great outdoors. After all, we’ve been harnessing fire to cook outdoors for two million years, why should we stop now?

to the grill. Our outdoor kitchen offerings include grills, side burners, sinks, storage, refrigeration, pizza ovens and cocktail stations. It allows you to have a space where you can relax and enjoy the outdoors whilst looking after a basic need of life, and that is to eat, while being a healthy way to feed the family, but more importantly enhances the social aspect of cooking.” Over-cooked meat and charred vegetables are a distant memory with a myriad of products on offer with Bradshaw Luxury, from rotisseries, griddles, smokers and wine cabinets to pizza ovens, formidable dual grills and more. Indeed, the kitchen is the heart and soul of the home, and why should it need to stay inside?

bradshawluxury.co.uk

A B OV E Urban Bonfire

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Making sustainable living beautiful

Artisan homeware handcrafted in Cornwall. www.tomraffield.com

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07/07/2022 10:21 14/06/2022 11:57:03

Ancestral

VOICES

John Hersey

WO R D S B Y M A RT I N H O L M A N

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C R E AT E

How Jonathan Michael Ray makes history the new contemporary.

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his art – photography, film, engraving, cutting – are man-made. Some materials he finds by chance or seeks out in reclamation yards and repair studios. Others are specifically ordered from suppliers who will dress pieces to the dimensions he wants.

Ray is happy to involve others in the search. But the job of transforming the material by grinding, polishing, sanding and incising is his alone.

or artist Jonathan Michael Ray, materials have always been his starting point. House bricks, several types of slate and granite, serpentine stone, glass and lead make up a quick tally of the media in his current show at Tate St Ives, in which his work is paired with paintings and drawings about landscape by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, one of the leading figures in post-war painting in St Ives. To that list can be added chalk, limestone, windfall oak, wax, seashells and discarded objects found on the Thames foreshore since they feature in other works not included in the exhibition.

Within the dense, tactile solidity of stone, Ray perceives a multitude of stories. Handling the slab of granite in ‘Following the Seam (no. 20)’ (2019) unravelled a stream of associations about the rock that dominates the geology of Cornwall. He finds that the colour, texture, weight and shape, and where the rock is quarried, narrate to him the passage of time and the remorseless forces that modelled their physical properties over millennia deep below the surface.

The thread that connects them is direct experience of land, sea and air; most of these materials derive from nature. Only the techniques Ray uses to incorporate them into

A B OV E ‘Following the Seam no. 20’ 2019 photograph, gelatin silver print on paper, and granite, ink, aluminium, steel 42 x 30 x 3cm

PREVIOUS Jonathan Michael Ray in his Penzance studio 2022

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Jonathan Michael Ray

A B OV E ‘Waiting Grounds’ 2020 stained glass fragments and lead 30.7 x 21cm

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STYLISH

A D D I TI ON

TO

A N Y

H O M E

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C R E AT E

District, locations endowed with a strong sense of place.

Equally important for Ray is the age-old interaction between humans and their natural surroundings. Generations have earned their livelihoods from the minerals and sediments running in seams far underground. Granite was the backbone of the county’s existence, generating perils and profit.

A family vacation introduced him to Cornwall.

Years later, after completing his postgraduate study at London’s Slade School of Fine Art in 2016, he returned with his wife to settle in Penwith. At that point, he had two goals: to be part of a thriving artistic community and to engage in his work with the reality, history and traditions of the landscape. He had just been awarded a year’s residency at St Ives’ Porthmeor Studios, where Barns-Graham had worked 50 years earlier alongside Ben Nicholson and Patrick Heron. Meeting artists Nina Royle and Abigail Reynolds, who had established careers with national scope in the region, was instrumental in his move west.

Because the material contains that heritage, the granite rock in this work is mounted on the wall, where pictures are traditionally placed. The grainy grey photograph fixed to its surface depicts Botallack mine, from which shafts were sunk into the bedrock to reach the copper and tin deposits under the sea.

Like the slab, the image has layers: multiple viewpoints of the mine are compacted one upon another in translucent strata as if trying to pull together the experience of time passing or, perhaps, the jarring impact of wind and rain on the mine’s exposed cliff-top setting.

The fluid lattice of lines that course in shallow gold rivulets below, incised into the skin of the slab, invoke the subterranean channels that were cut into during a long history of human excavation.

Unlike most artists of Barns-Graham’s generation in St Ives, Ray does not paint. But the processes his materials undergo are almost as numerous as the materials themselves.

Occupying the centre floorspace in the Tate exhibition is a rug with a shallow pile. It measures 300 centimetres (almost ten feet) in length and almost as wide, so visitors have to walk round it to reach the other exhibits.

Continuous across its expanse is a realistic design of wild green undergrowth in which images of yellow flowers can be picked out from time to time. Unlike a conventional rug, however, the surface undulates unevenly like a miniature landscape, perhaps one upon which architects might model a future town.

This facsimile sward is even divided into a grid resembling numerous adjacent plots of ground.

The artist’s heightened sensitivity to landscape dates back to childhood. Growing up in Buckinghamshire, he recalls playing in woodland and fields around Downley Common, where banks and ditches delineate ancient patterns of ownership and land usage.

An appreciation of nature and its diversity was nurtured by his mother, a florist and keen gardener, and holidays were spent walking and hiking in the Chilterns or the Lake

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and between the contrasting encroachments of nature and technology, between the real thing and the artificial.

Visible at the edges, where the canopy lifts off its temporary plinth, are the profiles of used bricks as if literally swept out of sight. Outside the gallery, that would look neither remarkable nor out of place. Shrouded mounds just like it are often seen on building sites or abandoned land; they contain rubble and look forlornly redundant, maybe harbouring puddles in which birds wash. Bringing the ensemble inside the museum amplifies both its incongruity and its unsuspected multivalence.

There the visitor’s mind fills with associations, prompting thoughts about texture, shape and colour – artistic thoughts – but most of all about urban neglect and nature’s ability to harmonise the disruption, taking back what man once snatched from it.

This artist is constantly struck by barely noticed evidence of how change over time destroys as well as builds. He delights in collecting graffiti because it contains words and symbols with intimate meanings that outsiders cannot know. They have accumulated over centuries and the inscriptions that crowd ‘Three Thousand Years’ (2021) give glimpses of dates from 1652 to 2012. Ray brings disparate examples together in one place, a block of dark Delabole slate quarried in Cornwall on which he incised with gilt lettering the inscriptions he has faithfully copied onto five sides of a single standing object, a kind of roadside milestone through time that points nowhere. But it gives mute voice to a population’s ancestors.

The artist’s own experience is the origin of the work. Titled ‘Underdeveloped Reconstruction (Made in China)’ (2017), it was made during a residency in Hong Kong. Next to the studio he occupied was a vacant patch of ground, itself a rare occurrence in that sprawling city of towering glass and steel. Fascinated and moved by its survival, Ray recorded the unlikely florescence of haphazard organic beauty in a patchwork of scans in as big a format as his handheld equipment allowed.

These he sewed together digitally into a new, portable experience of the scene.

Touring churchyards to find those scripts, he discovered overlooked examples of unpredictable change that he had never believed permissible. Salvaged remains of stained glass had been reconstructed after some catastrophe – a fire, for instance, or bomb damage during the last world war – had blown asunder both the sacred figures once depicted in glass and the stories or commemorations the windows had once visualised. Pieced together in a random, abstract fashion, windows that once envisioned heavenly glory in triumphantly coloured light now unwittingly projected the very picture of disorder.

Handing the composition to a manufacturer in mainland China, a printer with fine ink jets then precisely sprayed the image of verdant vegetation onto a sheet of synthetic felt, the antithesis of nature. The result makes a profound point with poetic brevity about volatile boundaries in the modern world – between open space and dense habitation,

Delighted by this realisation, Ray embraced the same accidental aesthetic. Purchasing

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Jonathan Michael Ray Oliver Udy

TOP ‘Three Thousand Years’ 2021 ink on Delabole slate 42 x 18 x 10cm

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A B OV E ‘Underdeveloped Reconstruction (made in China)’ 2017 (detail) UV printed synthetic felt rug and bricks 297 x 216 x 30cm

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Oliver Udy

A B OV E ‘Golden Vortex’ 2022, stained glass fragments, lead, oak 126 x 42 x 55cm

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Oliver Udy

A B OV E ‘Ere long done do does did’ 2021 ink on slate 87 x 61.5cm

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Quarryman Side Office, Edmonton, Wadebridge Cornwall PL27 7JA

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Tel: 01208 369007 Web: www.cornwallkitchencompany.com Email: info@cornwallkitchencompany.com

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C R E AT E

developed the technical precision required in constructing high-end bespoke garments.

from dealers and warehouses discarded glass panels, dating back centuries, he constructed his own ‘windows of dystopia’.

Shuffling segments from unconnected eras and sources, he improvises new designs that imitate the method he had admired in the rebuilt churches.

Art played no further part in his career until he moved to Montréal in Canada and became studio assistant to the sculptor Michel de Broin. “My real education as an artist started there,” he says. “I learned from Michel what it meant to live and work as an artist – about structuring my day, building a studio practice and how to deal with failure. I learned that being an artist was possible and not a fanciful dream.”

‘Golden Vortex’ (2022) can be legitimately interpreted as elaborately decorative. The painted curls and flourishes imitate sculpted stone and are optically dynamic, like multiple facets reflected in a kaleidoscope that might rotate into new configurations at any instant.

They please and confuse the eye at the same moment. Simultaneously, however, Ray’s repurposed stained glass engages the imagination in seeking out the meaning the dislocated details yearn to convey. The key to interpretation is nowhere to be found, leaving the search among the mute symbols to intuition.

De Broin also provided a model for a career spread across numerous media. Active in video, performance, photography, drawing and found objects, his range foreshadowed the multidisciplinary approach Ray adopted when, with his mentor’s encouragement, he enrolled at the Slade in 2014.

Ray is captivated by the beauty of craftsmanship; its survival reassures him. His remarkable composition on slate, ‘Ere long done do does did’ (2021), appropriates ornate designs emblazoned on 17th century headstones in West Country graveyards. With its title quoting Morrissey’s song, ‘Cemetry Gates’, about the vagaries of artistic inspiration, the goldfilled inscriptions reflect on the enduring power for remembrance of lettering on stone. Despite the modern ubiquity of easily accessed digital formats, this ancient custom continues to represent permanence.

Like many artists, literary science fiction is an influence on his approach. A favourite is Riddley Walker, the 1980 novel by expatriate American writer Russell Hoban, in which a futuristic, post-Apocalyptic community stumbles on evidence of the previous civilisation wiped out by conflict, while lacking the key to understanding its surviving relics. So myths arise based on imagination and misapprehension which, Ray implies, unleashes new creativity.

His own route to creativity did not take the conventional path. Lacking direction after completing his undergraduate art degree in Nottingham, Ray entered the fashion industry, initially in print design at Paul Smith before becoming a pattern cutter with Roland Mouret in London’s Mayfair where he

The exhibition, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Jonathan Michael Ray, continues at Tate St Ives until 2nd October 2022. jonathanmichaelray.com

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Can you help Fund Our Future?

At the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, we're raising £1.3m to build new pools for our resident seals. Can you help us? Every penny will go into building this state-of-theart facility that will help us remain world leaders in marine animal care for generations to come.

To support us, scan the QR code to donate or why not host your own fundraiser?

Head to sealsanctuary.sealifetrust.org/en/fund-our-future to find out more.

@CornishSealSanctuary

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The Cornish Seal Sanctuary is a © SEA LIFE Trust Sanctuary SEA LIFE Trust is a charity registered in England & Wales (1175859) and company limited by guarantee (10833916); SLT Sanctuary Trading Limited (11160544) is a limited company; all are registered at Link House, 25 West Street, Poole, BH15 1LD.

07/07/2022 09:33

Treading

LIGHTLY WO R D S B Y DA N WA R D E N

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F O C U S

Wildlife photographer, Dan Williams, offers an insight into the importance of fieldcraft.

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Lucky, then, that a good friend of mine is a photographer. Dan Williams’ interests lie in the natural world. More specifically, he finds himself perpetually fascinated by the animals that live within it. To give you an idea, of the countless nights I have spent fishing with him, I could probably count on one hand those during which we weren’t accompanied by his whistle-trained springer spaniel, Jasper. Or, indeed, his Harris’s hawk Freya.

Dan is a falconer, and Freya is one of two raptors with which he works. The other is a peregrine falcon named Loki, and outside of his day job hours, Dan can often be found patrolling the cliffs along various stretches of the coast, binoculars in hand with a camera in the bag, searching for Loki’s wild cousins who return every year to nest on Cornish shores.

Treading lightly and keeping out of view as much as possible, Dan would much prefer to

crolling through my feed on Instagram, I find myself on autopilot. It’s not that I don’t like, or am not inspired by, the endless scroll of images that are posted from the planet’s farthest-flung corners. But I certainly don’t feel the same sense of awe as I did even just a few years ago. Maybe it’s just me. Don’t get me wrong, whilst my own interests are limited almost exclusively to fishing and lazing in a hammock (doing them at the same time is the dream), they are extremely well catered for; I can’t remember the last time I opened up my Instagram and didn’t get the chance to admire the apple-slice scales of a carp shimmering in the British sun. But there’s a lot of it, and whilst I love the subject of the content that my cookies have deemed relevant for me, I have, I think, lost an appreciation for the craft that lies behind a beautiful photograph.

PREVIOUS Stonechat

INSET Dan Williams

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A B OV E Long-tailed tit

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TOP White-tailed eagle

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A B OV E Blue tit

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F O C U S

miss the shot entirely than disturb the birds from going about their natural behaviours.

His priority is the protection of the species; in fact, he was recently issued a Schedule 1 Permit by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and Natural England, specifically for peregrine falcons. This affords him the permission to observe protected peregrine nesting sites up-close, which in turn helps to generate information on their survival, productivity and movement, assisting the BTO and Natural England in understanding why populations are changing.

It is this level of respect and investment in the welfare of the subjects he aims to capture, that lies at the core of Dan’s photography.

Back to my point earlier, watching his style develop and speaking with him at length about the craft and obsessive planning that sits invisibly behind each shot has given me a renewed respect for the medium.

“I’ve always loved observing wildlife,” says Dan. “Now that I do it with a camera to hand, the ‘shot’ is just a by-product. I think for wildlife photography to be at its best, it has to be taken by causing as little disturbance as possible. To see and capture completely natural behaviours is only possible when photographing an animal that has no idea you’re there, which is impossible without fieldcraft.” He explains that fieldcraft starts at home – reading books, researching online. “You know, if you want to get close to a timid, shy and elusive species, you need to find out where it’s likely to be found, which means understanding their favoured habitat. You then need to try and understand everything about that habitat, including the other flora and fauna. As you research, you gradually become more familiar with the animals’ behaviour, breeding cycles, food, even the size and colour of their faeces, all of which is key to finding them.

A B OV E Black redstart

TOP Buzzard

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The Somerset Four Poster Bed

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F O C U S

but not so close that the animal will see you, if you’re lucky, they’ll turn up. Then you can simply sit, observe, maybe get some images, then wait until they’ve disappeared to leave. All without them ever knowing you were there.”

For me, it’s only once I’m armed with as much information as I can find, that I call it time to get out in the field!”

Even having learned all of this, as is nature’s way, Dan assures me that there are always other factors that will impact your ability to ‘get the shot’ without disturbing the creatures you’re trying to capture. At this stage, he explains: “You begin to learn the habits of individuals – many animals of the same species will act very differently, which makes them even trickier to understand.

But it’s also when it gets really interesting, and when you start to see the individual characters come out in a way that you don’t usually see in pictures, or even on TV.”

Being a Cornish lad, the Duchy’s wildlife features heavily in Dan’s portfolio. But with family also living in Scotland, since childhood Dan has felt himself magnetically drawn by the diversity of life to the north.

More recently, he has taken to making dedicated trips to areas like the Cairngorms, and the Isle of Mull, in a bid to try and capture the amazing and often highly elusive species that reside there. He tells me about one experience in particular that stands out in his mind. “I had never seen a wild Eurasian otter before, and it had long been an ambition of mine to observe them outside of captivity. They’re so charismatic. As I began my research, I learned that coastal otters in Scotland, although the same species as inland otters, behave very differently.

It’s no exaggeration when I say that Dan has spent entire afternoons hidden in the undergrowth, downwind of a site he suspects might be visited by a particular species, only for the animal not to show up. “That’s how it goes sometimes, but by observing and getting yourself into a position that’s close,

A B OV E Juvenile peregrine

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A B OV E Greater spotted woodpecker

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A B OV E Cornish chough

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F O C U S

without causing any disturbance. “I decided to get downwind of an area where he’d been coming ashore, hide in the kelp, and wait. I did this at the next low tide, and right on cue he appeared out of his holt and hunted down the coast towards me, before coming ashore to rest just 20 metres away. All the while I lay there, stinking of seaweed, soaked and sandy, but completely in awe. That,” he explains, “is hands-down one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had!”

Their feeding window, for instance, depends on the tide, instead of the rising and setting sun. At low tide, they can reach their prey on the seabed more easily, and spend more time foraging on each breath.

“So, on a trip a couple of years ago, I went searching at high tide when the otters were unlikely to be present, looking for signs like spraint (faeces) and prey remains. Having found a likely looking area, I returned at low tide and sat quietly, quite high up and away from the shore. Eventually a male otter showed himself, appearing from the rocks and making his way to the shore to go about his feeding routine. He would dive down for about 20 seconds, before surfacing with either a small crustacean or a fish.

After about six dives he came to shore, rolled around on the kelp to dry off, then had a snooze. It was amazing.”

Whilst incredibly important, particularly now, when our wildlife has never been under greater threat of disturbance and human encroachment, fieldcraft remains just one piece of the photographer’s puzzle. The right equipment, for one, makes an enormous difference, as does having an innate ‘eye’ for the shot. But without fieldcraft, the rest is compromised, not least the natural behaviour that it is surely every wildlife photographer’s goal to capture.

Dan returned for the next three tides to observe this same behaviour, and carefully began to hatch a plan to get even closer,

djwilliams_photography

A B OV E Wild Eurasian otter

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15/06/2022 07/07/2022 15:15 10:27

C O M M E N T

Making Cornwall

HOME B Y P E N N Y B O LTO N

Savills’ new associate director has always known that she would settle on Cornwall’s north coast.

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an institution, and the most fantastic place for waterbabies to sail and ski from, although you do have to be a member. Otherwise, there is the Camel Ski School, which has something for everyone, from toddlers through to the most experienced watersports enthusiasts.

aving married into the military, it was several years before I was able to make that dream a reality, but since moving here in 2008, I’ve never looked back. North Cornwall has it all. The incredible landscape never fails to impress, and the lifestyle is superb – unlike anywhere else in the UK. I am lucky enough to live just a short stomp from what must be one of the most impressive stretches of the South West Coast Path, close to Polzeath and Rock. It’s hard to overstate quite how breathtaking the coastal landscape here is, taking in vast and rugged coastline one moment and pretty little bays and wide, sandy beaches the next.

My husband and children all enjoy wakeboarding, and while I love a boogie board from time to time, and find it great fun to get smashed around by the waves, there is nothing I love more than a spot of people watching and taking in the fabulous views out to Stepper Point, Bude and even Lundy Island on a clear day.

Some of my favourite restaurants on the north Cornish coast are The Dining Room in the heart of Rock, offering delicious fine dining and a special experience, and the Mariners, which is the perfect local pub. It then doesn’t take much to convince me to jump on a water taxi to Prawn on the Farm for some of the freshest seafood, cooked beautifully in tapas style.

Another fantastic restaurant in the town is Café Rojano, which takes the best Cornish produce and gives it a Mediterranean spin. And if you are in Padstow, you would be missing out not to pay 17 Duke Street a visit for a Padstow Gin and Charcuterie.

A favourite walk of mine is from Lundy Bay to Pentire Point, passing through The Rumps headland, which is a haven of wildflowers.

In the summer months, Pentire Point is a wonderful lookout spot for wildlife, including dolphins, seals, even puffins, and on a sunny evening, my husband and I have been known to pop into Polzeath for a glass of rosé at The Waterfront.

Not too much further along the coast from Polzeath, the village of Rock is another favourite haunt of our family. Founded in 1938, the Rock Sailing and Waterski Club is a bit of

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P RO P E RT Y

COASTAL oasis

A four-bedroom home nestled above the banks of the River Gannel, within walking distance of the famed sands of Fistral.

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he accommodation inside 17 Riverside Avenue is laid out across two floors, and is replete with original features.

In total there are four bedrooms, along with a generous kitchen, a separate dining room and a useful study. Perhaps most exciting, is the enormous potential here to re-model and refurbish the interiors, transforming them to create the kind of coastal abode that most can only dream of.

Outside, the enclosed, well-established gardens provide a coastal oasis, with areas laid to patio and lawn as well as borders with seasonal flowering displays. A greenhouse provides budding horticulturalists the chance to grow their own, while a detached garage offers ample space for hobbyists to pursue their pastime.

Add to all of this its close proximity to Newquay, with its extensive range of restaurants, shops, schooling and other facilities, and 17 Riverside Avenue becomes a dream come true for a discerning buyer in search of their forever home by the sea.

RIVERSIDE AVENUE Guide price: £1.15M DAVID BALL LUXURY COLLECTION 01637 850850 sales@dba.estate

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SPACE FOR modern living

This exemplary property comes to the market incorporating high specifications and leading-edge design.

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ositioned just inland from Rock in the tiny hamlet of Tredrizzick, this inspired, imaginative and unique contemporary home features leading-edge finishes, style and attention to detail throughout. The balance of styles between classic and contemporary minimalism blend beautifully to create a modern family home that is spacious, versatile and surprising, complemented by level gardens and a sizeable garden studio.

Totally remodelled and extended this year, the focus has been on open-plan living. A spacious entrance hall leads to a double aspect sitting room and kitchen that incorporates Siemens appliances. The master bedroom suite, replete with a dressing area, en-suite and walk-in wardrobe is on the ground floor, with a further two bedrooms downstairs and two upstairs.

Tamarisk enjoys an open countryside aspect to the north and south, ensuring fresh air and a quieter atmosphere than bustling Rock and Polzeath. The nearby village of Pityme has a good local pub, grocery store, nursery and pre-school, plus a craft brewery and a Sharp’s Brewery shop.

TAMARISK Guide Price:£1.5M SHORE PARTNERSHIP 01872 484484 contact@shorepartnerhsip.com

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P RO P E RT Y

TIMELESS appeal

A magical and much loved four-bedroom farmhouse, steeped in charm and character.

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entrally located in approximately 28 acres of grounds, with woodland and a half-mile frontage of the River Allen, Littlewood Farm offers versatile accommodation with a potential income source from a detached, converted twobedroom annexe. It is a rare opportunity to acquire a rural property with a vegetable plot and mature gardens that enjoys the best of coast and country.

Set on the edge of the popular village of St Mabyn and within walking distance of the village amenities, this pretty, stone farmhouse boasts many charming features, including wooden floors throughout, open fires and well-proportioned rooms with high, beamed ceilings. An enchanting country home that occupies an exceptionally serene setting awaits the next custodian to update or extend, subject to planning consent.

The annexe was converted in 2010 and is currently used as ancillary family accommodation but also presents an opportunity for a potential income source as a holiday or long-term let.

LITTLEWOOD FARM OIEO £1.5M JB ESTATES 01208 862601 sales@johnbrayestates.co.uk

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P RO P E RT Y

INTO THE country

A gorgeous four-bedroom property set in two acres of stunning gardens and grounds, complete with a onebedroom annexe and tennis court.

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n the idyllic borders of the cathedral city of Truro, Little Idless finds itself in a lush green valley between town and woodland, edged with a little river to complete the atmosphere of perfect tranquillity.

Fully updated and remodelled by the current owner, the property’s luxurious feel stretches throughout the house, starting with a beautiful kitchen that opens to a bright and airy living area, which then leads out to the broad sun deck overlooking the grounds. The sitting room makes for cosy evenings in front of the wood burner, while the dining room presents an opportunity for a fourth bedroom in the main house. Upstairs you’ll find a luxurious master complete with ensuite, along with two further bedrooms, another en-suite and a charming family bathroom.

The garage with a self-contained annexe above is perfect for friends to spend the night, while the quaint summer house makes for an enchanting summer addition. With a tennis court to complete the picture, Little Idless is a selfcontained country sanctuary just waiting to be discovered by someone new.

LITTLE IDLESS Offers over: £1.5M ROHRS & ROWE 01872 306360 info@rohrsandrowe.co.uk

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P RO P E RT Y

OCEAN panorama

A stunning, reverse-level, three-bedroom freehold house with panoramic sea views.

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ocated in the charming fishing village of Coverack, Dolphins enjoys an elevated position overlooking the dramatic coastline of the Lizard. Extended and stylishly refurbished by its current owners, it currently serves as a highly successful holiday let.

Outside to the left of the path, a terraced garden with mature planting can be found.

To the right, an open slate-paved entertaining terrace is the perfect spot for summer soirees, surrounded by tropical planting and with magnificent views out to sea towards Chynalls Point.

Dolphins comes to market for the first time in many years, and with interiors finished to an exceptionally high standard, plus sea views from every room, it’s unlikely to remain there for long.

DOLPHINS Guide: £1.1M COUNCIL TAX BAND = F SAVILLS CORNWALL 73 Lemon Street, Truro TR1 2PN 01872 243200 cornwall@savills.com

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I N SPI R AT I O N

For the

FUTURE

Maer View – a collection of luxury homes from Burrington Estates that pays homage to Cornwall’s way of life.

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way for future generations. Air-source heat pumps provide underfloor heating in each property; wildlife friendly bee bricks provide a safe haven for pollinators, and every home comes with the option of PV solar panels and charging points for electric cars.

ornwall is no longer the tourist destination it was once considered to be. The bucket-and-spade days by the sea are still very much a draw for those choosing to holiday on native shores, as are the dreamy walks along the South West Coast Path. But for many, especially as it continues to build on its reputation as one of the UK’s top culinary destinations, and as a county with an increasingly impressive offering of luxury homes (from modern developments to historic estates and cosy countryside cottages), it is becoming a place where memories are made, and therefore one that fewer and fewer find themselves ever wanting to leave. Its rugged, beautiful landscape runs through the blood of those who call Cornwall home, and it is to this idea that Burrington Estates intends to pay tribute – by building a new collection of luxury homes in the heart of Cornwall’s northernmost town.

The site lies within walking distance of Bude.

A popular destination for many lifestyle activities, Bude is primarily known for its assortment of outdoor leisure pursuits, like surfing. Local beaches include Crooklets and Summerleaze, the latter being home to the ‘Pepper Pot’ – a picturesque landmark erected in 1835 as a refuge for the coastguard.

It’s also home to Bude Sea Pool – a tidal lido popular among locals and visitors alike, and a fine example of the town’s renowned coastal features. Bude and North Cornwall Golf Club lies in the centre of town and provides 18 holes of enjoyable yet challenging golf, and the development is only 51 miles from Exeter, meaning a city break is never far away.

Taking its name from Maer Lake, which is protected by Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Maer View sympathetically occupies a position near an established ornithological site, where the reserve’s wetland meadow and open water features attract myriad grazing animals and wildfowl. Ensuring that the development lives up to Burrington Estates’ commitment to a cleaner, more environmentally friendly future, the collection of homes at Maer View benefit from sustainable technology, promoting a greener lifestyle and paving the

Burrington Estates’ name flows through Cornwall, with developments occupying idyllic locations such as Truro, Fowey and Illogan, and as it brings Maer View to life, it remains dedicated to safeguarding Cornwall’s way of life, by providing a standard of luxury homes that are built sustainably for the future. burringtonestates.com

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Connected

to the LAND WORDS BY ROSIE CATTRELL

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I N SPI R AT I O N

In perfect harmony with the landscape that surrounds it, we take a look at one of ARCO2’s most impressive projects to date and peep behind the curtain of the exciting future that awaits Waterhouse.

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Modern, innovative and divinely picturesque against the stunning backdrop that is the Camel Estuary, Waterhouse was designed with the Cornish landscape firmly in mind, as Co-Director Ian Armstrong explains: “One of our main concepts for the build was to minimise the visual impact of the property when viewed from the Camel Trail across the river, with the secluded monument (a former windmill) beyond.

Waterhouse was designed to be read as part of the hedgerow, rather than a modern white block on the landscape.

When we took on this project, we were absolutely delighted at the opportunity to create a family home that better connects with its wonderful location.” Dressed in a restrained palette of natural materials, the architectural language of Waterhouse is simplified with a delicate nod to its agricultural setting, having settled in comfortably amongst its Cornish surroundings.

hen asked exactly what the home of our dreams would look like, it can be hard to grasp the finer details. While living room views and bedroom aesthetics may come to mind with ease, it’s difficult to know where you’d spend most of your time in an imaginary house, or how you’d make use of it on a daily basis.

However, architecture firm ARCO2 happen to be in the business of dream homes, and after the completion of one of their latest awardwinning projects, they may just have touched on the realms of my own.

Originally a 1980’s Cornish bungalow, what stands in its place couldn’t be any further from the tired property that went before, an oldfashioned structure that the owners and the team at ARCO2 didn’t feel was taking full advantage of the outstanding surroundings on its doorstep. In its stead, in all its glory, is Waterhouse.

PREVIOUS A stunning Camel Estuary backdrop

INSET Desgined with landscape in mind

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A B OV E Welcoming the outside in

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I N SPI R AT I O N

entire length of the walk way, letting in the sky for a view of the stars at night, while the secret doors in the walls hide the sanctuary of the bedrooms behind them.” Calming neutrals adorn these minimalist havens, each with pristine luxury en-suites and carefully arranged garden views, apart from the master room which delights in the gentle beauty of the Camel Estuary reaching in to lift your spirits each morning. Every aspect of Waterhouse has been carefully considered to absorb as much of the enchanting surroundings as possible, and it’s clear that this home has been made to be lived in to the fullest.

Interspersed with secret doors, cosy corners and spaces made for peaceful moments, Waterhouse draws you in through the front door into an internal courtyard turned sitting room, a truly striking space lit beautifully by the large roof light above. The grounded earth tones of bare brick and natural wood merge Mediterranean summers with the cosiness of a Cornish winter beside an open fire. Out through the Crittall doors, and hidden at the centre of this spectacular home, is the sun terrace; intimate, private and perfect for al fresco entertainment.

In a seamless transition between outside and in, the astonishing panorama of the Camel Estuary is drawn in through the expansive floor-to-ceiling glass front into the open plan living space to the front of the home, inviting a calm contemplation of Cornwall’s abundant natural beauty from the kitchen, the dining area and the cosy, comfortable lounge. Thoughts of cooking in the kitchen at sundown come to mind, the solid wood, stainless steel and matt black space tinted orange and glowing in the last light of the day before coming together to dine in front of the most breath-taking natural backdrop. With wonderfully high ceilings the horizon seems endless, and when it’s time to turn in the lounge invites intimate evenings in front of the log burner while the stars begin to appear outside. For the star gazers, the south-facing sun deck on the other side of the Crittall glass doors, while perfect for lounging the day away, holds a kind of magic when night falls, and the traditional, wood-lined hot tub makes for the perfect front-row seat to a cloudless night sky.

In an exciting and, albeit, unexpected turn of events, the fate of Waterhouse now lies with Omaze UK who, in a fantastic effort to raise money for Blood Cancer UK, are offering up this one-of-a-kind property in their millionpound house draw, the winner of which will be announced this August. While this direction for Waterhouse may have come as a surprise to the team at ARCO2, I asked Ian what he saw for the future of Waterhouse, and what this beautiful family home can offer the lucky winner of this compelling competition: “Health and wellbeing were at the forefront of our minds when we came to bring this house together, and the lifestyle benefits that come with it are exceptional. With incredible riverside views and popular surfing beaches down the road, this is a property to contend with anyone’s idea of a dream home.” Coming fully furnished in all its perfectly finished splendour, I’m sure onlookers from all over the country are crossing their fingers in the hope that they might just be the next owner of the barely conceivable dream that is Waterhouse.

When asked, Ian confesses that his favourite feature of Waterhouse is “the hallway turned gallery with its frameless roof that lights the

arco2.co.uk

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A B OV E Mindful, sustainable and made for living

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‘Viola’ ANDREW THOMAS Patinated Bronze on Granite Base

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Floral

ARTISTRY

Ingrid Pop

WO R D S B Y H A N N A H TA P P I N G

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I N SPI R AT I O N

A heady fusion of design and floristry celebrates a floral abundance of colour, texture and structure.

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titles over a period of six years. “I hit some really lovely goals in my fashion career, but the industry and pace wasn’t for me,” explains Hayley, “no accomplishment felt like I could stop and enjoy it; something was missing.

My day-to-day routine wasn’t bringing me joy and I think I just wanted to move back to Cornwall and be by the sea. And that’s fundamentally what I did.”

etting up a modern floral design business wasn’t something that had crossed Hayley Scott’s mind, and certainly not running it in Cornwall. A north London girl by birth, Hayley grew up in Edmonton and after finishing college worked as a personal shopper in Selfridges, a job of dreams for some, but it wasn’t enough for Hayley whose vivacity and passion for life made her want more. Encouraged by her best friend, Hayley found a course in Fashion Design at Falmouth University. “I had never been to Cornwall, let alone heard of Falmouth,” laughs Hayley, “but within an hour of finding the course I was packing a bag and being driven by my best friend’s brother Rick the five hours to the Open Day. I was accepted on the course and that was the beginning of my love of Cornwall.”

John Hersey

On arrival in Cornwall, Hayley made Helston her home and enrolled on a floristry course at Duchy College.

On finishing, she returned to her professional marketing roots for a short while, however redundancy and heartbreak were to be a sad but opportune catalyst for Hayley to sow the seeds for her business. Helped by a photographer friend, Jade Berry, Hayley Scott Blooms was born in Newquay in 2018: “Within two weeks, I had a website and six contracts in local shops, cafés and hotels. I think it was about the timing, offering something a little different and also being just a little bit bold.”

After completing her degree, Hayley returned to London working in fashion and marketing with numerous major magazine

INSET Hayley Scott

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Rosie Blake Ingrid Pop

A B OV E The combination of dried flowers and fresh blooms adds texture and dimension

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John Hersey

A B OV E A kaleidoscope of floral colour

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I N SPI R AT I O N

Blooms has grown exponentially since and while lockdown was a scary time, weekly flower drop-offs became hugely popular and Blooms’ Instagram following doubled, such was the demand for Hayley’s arrangements as gifts or pick-me-ups: “Starting with the B2B side of the business and then growing a local audience during that lockdown period has allowed me to have the presence (in the Newquay community) that I have now.”

Hayley works with local growers where possible, as minimal flower miles and seasonality are key ethical concerns for Blooms: “This is such an important element of my business, and I’ve got some great relationships with local growers, The Cornish Flower Patch and BJ Richard’s who is actually a UK supplier, but based in the Tamar Valley. My bouquets are f lorist’s choice, which is really a nice way for us to be creative with the f lowers that are in season. I love colour and feel that really carries through in my floral style. I think I definitely carry through some of the quirkiness from my fashion days into my palettes and combinations. It’s great to have the understanding of colour theory, whether that be monochromatic or polychromatic and so on, but then once you know the rules it’s also fun to be able to break them!”

The abundance of Cornish flowers allow Hayley to have access to a kaleidoscope

of colour and texture, including roses, larkspur, delphiniums, dahlias, phlox, peonies and some gorgeous Cornish-grown eucalyptus. In addition to keeping flower miles low where possible, Hayley is also very conscious of the materials she uses to present her bouquets and displays. Gone are cellophane wraps and floral foam, replaced by the simplicity of ribbon, kraft paper, and Agra Wool blocks, with chicken wire, plywood and moss being used for larger installations.

As Blooms has grown, Hayley now offers wedding flowers which are beautifully bespoke.

“I will always get a consultation call in the diary with the brideto-be and I have a list of questions I like to run through in order to best understand their vision for the day. We often share Pinterest images to help define a palette. I will then create a bespoke proposal and, rather than being too prescribed, I tend to retain some creative freedom so that I can truly make the best of the blooms on the day.”

“When it comes to arranging, I really let myself be guided by palette, texture and interesting combinations; I think rhythm is a good word to describe the process. I also like to play with offbeat styles and throw in some unexpected design elements at times (like the mix of fresh and dried flowers), but often there isn’t necessarily a formula

INSET Studio vases

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Since initially learning her craft, Hayley has attended a plethora of independent florist courses, from McQueens Flower School in London, and the Academy of Floral Art in Exeter, to the The Bath Flower School: “I really want to try to continue to educate myself and hope to take an independent course every year so that I can keep honing my skill set. Modern floristry has moved on and tutors want to make sure that everyone knows how to use techniques that are foam and plastic free.”

Hayley’s studio in Newquay is a pastel haven of calm, where her huge workbench dominates the space.

She’ll use this to line up her stems, with a bucket of water close by so they can be quenched as soon as possible. Wesley Yard, home to Blooms, is a growing community of thriving young businesses which Hayley is proud to be a part of. Collaborations are something Hayley loves, with work from local resin artist Zee Van Gils adorning the walls of her studio, and La Luna candles, Bloomtown beauty products and her own

personalised bar from Kernow Chocolate, making up her customised gift boxes.

Perhaps most impressive out of Hayley’s work are her dried flower installations which have found homes in some of Cornwall’s most prestigious wedding and dining venues. She tells me that dried flowers are very on-trend at the moment and have seen a resurgence.

“In a business or hospitality space, where you might have traditionally seen a piece of artwork, people are now choosing to have a flower installation,” says Hayley, who was commissioned to create a centrepiece for Adam Handling’s Ugly Butterfly restaurant on the Carbis Bay Estate. “It was a huge project and an incredible honour to be a part of. I approach my installations in a similar way to my wedding work with mood boards and sketched ideas. I work with the client so that the installation really enhances the space, and I always strive for each new installation to be my new favourite work!”

Frankie Thomas

for what works best. Traditionally, florists are taught to work with odd numbers, so you might start with one really expensive flower, and then three of another and then five of another... but I don’t think that necessarily applies to modern floristry. I think by working to a rhythm you get a feel for when you get it right, and the arrangement flows.”

Hayley goes on to explain that in keeping with her ethos, the Ugly Butterf ly installation was completely plastic free, using chicken-wire for the structure and moss to hold the f lowers.

“It took days and days of work to make sure that it was structurally secure while still having visual dimension and layers within the design,” explains Hayley. “These installations are long-lasting giving years and years of enjoyment, provided they are kept out of direct sunlight and not handled

A B OV E Flowers in the Blooms studio

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John Hersey

I N SPI R AT I O N

too much, and they also have the benefit that they can be refreshed and retouched over time and in tune with the changing seasons.” Alongside her bouquets and installations, Hayley also runs workshops in and around Newquay where guests can create flower crowns, wreaths or table arrangements all under her excellent tutelage in a fun and friendly environment.

When not creating her floral artistry, Hayley has fully embraced Newquay’s burgeoning coffee culture and can often be found having a pre-work cold water swim followed by a coffee at Basket Café (one of her favourites), and after work she enoys dinner at one of the town’s frequent pop-ups. She has also recently embarked on a pottery course with

Wesley Yard neighbours Wedge Studio: “I love it, it’s so therapeutic and calming, and actually one of the few times where I can really switch off,” says Hayley.

And life seems to have come full circle for Hayley as friend Jade, who helped her launch Blooms, has recently launched her own foodie business, Naughty Nonnas. The girls will be collaborating with Hayley supplying installation pieces and dining styling, while Jade cooks up a feast – their first pop-up, held at Wedge earlier this month, was a sellout success. It’s clear that life now for Hayley is a far cry from the thrum of the city and is blossoming on Cornish shores. hayleyscottblooms.co.uk

A B OV E Installation at the Ugly Butterfly

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Heat, health

and HORIZONS WO R D S B Y H A M I S H L AW S O N | I M AG E S B Y J O H N H E R S E Y

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SUSTA I N

A unique wood-fired sauna experience on the Cornish cliffs.

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n the cliff top overlooking Watergate Bay sits a stylish black wooden cabin with a large picture window looking out over the ocean. This is Sauna Society, a luxurious new experience open to all and offering heat, health and horizons from within its wooden walls.

Entering the wooden chamber provides a sense of peace almost immediately.

Golden, pinkish wooden tones are offset by hard, dark detailing, and a woodburner laden with stones specifically chosen for the way they radiate heat from the exquisitely designed HUUM stove.

A fire dances behind the glass of the door and a pile of evenly split logs sit between the entrance and the fire.

Sauna Society is the brainchild of Damian Lucas-Box and Anthony Mullally, a pair of sauna aficionados with a desire to share and build a community around the benefits of sauna bathing. This isn’t Damian’s first business in the Newquay area, having previously found success with restaurants and cafés, Box and Barber and Sushea – both are popular hangouts in the town and cater to Newquay’s taste for a nice brunch or classy evening meal respectively.

Anthony, meanwhile, is a professional rugby player, who discovered the power of heat and cold therapy and breathwork as a way to enhance his performance and recovery. The pair chose the cliffs above Watergate for reasons that are immediately obvious to anyone who has spent time there:

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SU STA I N

it’s a spectacular spot to catch a golden sunset or a cooler sunrise, and the ever-changing view can be taken in through the massive picture window that looks out over the bay.

Sauna Society offers a luxury experience for a fraction of the price. Spending time amongst the businesses that cling on to the cliffs above the bay, brings a festival holiday atmosphere – it’s easy enough to grab a coffee or a sandwich, head down for a swim in the sea or even book a surf lesson or yoga session.

“Having witnessed the success of the other businesses on the cliff-top, we knew that Watergate was going to be the perfect first location for Sauna Society. Community is important to us, and we want Sauna Society to be seen as an asset to locals and visitors alike, offering the benefits of sauna to all,” says Damian.

Anthony and Damian first met during the pandemic. Both live in Newquay and during the successive lockdowns they formed a friendship based on a mutual appreciation of the benefits of the natural environment. Both had turned to the ocean and ran into each other whilst exploring the coastline during those periods of staying at home. Chance encounters later evolved into a post-swim coffee club once society had opened up again, when a group of locals would meet up outside Damian’s café, Box and Barber, following sea swims. “I think we all realised that we needed some social warmth in our lives! We all had our own interests, but what brought us together was our enjoyment of pushing ourselves, and love for the ocean,” explains Anthony.

Box and Barber coffee sessions soon evolved into the Feel Cold Collective, a cold-water swimming group that the pair still actively participate in that has developed a life of its own. Members meet several times a week, sometimes daily, early in the morning to start their day with a swim in the sea.

Anthony and Damian are keen to espouse the benefits of cold-water, as well as the heat of the sauna. Both are fully committed sea swimmers, hitting the waters around Newquay throughout summer and winter.

The health benefits of cold water swimming are nowadays difficult to argue with, so when combined with recent scientific research into the emerging field of ‘blue health’ and how the sea can have a huge impact on our mental and physical wellbeing, it isn’t hard to see why so many people are joining Anthony, Damian and their friends for one of their early morning swimming sessions, as Anthony explains: “The science showing the positive links between sauna and cold water, and improved health and wellbeing, are staggering.”

As it so happens, the simple act of experiencing mild discomfort in a controlled setting can be good for you. It’s similar to exercising, except that instead of focusing on what’s going in your muscles it’s about what’s going on in your brain and your nervous system. Hermetic stress (low level deliberate stress) is a way of exercising your nervous system for improved health and wellbeing.

We live in a world where comfort is easier to access than it ever has been; between sugar, central heating, and television, we can get a

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chemical high whenever we desire. Modern science is showing, however, that by doing so, and by seeking and arguably overloading on comfort, ease, and convenience, we’re starving ourselves of discomfort and the balance that it provides.

The body likes homeostasis and maintaining balance within its systems. In the case of hermetic stress, this means the production of dynorphin. If dynorphin sounds vaguely familiar to you then it’s because you’ve probably heard of similar hormones that our bodies produce called endorphins – the socalled ‘happy chemical’.

Endorphins are the chemicals behind the feeling of a ‘runner’s high’.

What we now know is that for the body to experience the full benefits of endorphins it must also experience dynorphins, or discomfort. Too many endorphins, and the body’s sensors become saturated, and it requires a healthy dosage of dynorphins to flush things out and reinstate the balance and sensitivity of chemical receptors between the brain and the body.

It turns out that a little bit of discomfort, in whatever form you choose to engage in it, is good for you. Anthony and Damian know how they like to get their system to produce

a dose of dynorphins, and that’s through the heat of the sauna and cold-water swims.

Research has shown that individuals who regularly expose themselves to heat stress are 40% less likely to die of non-accidental death. Heat stress improves cardiovascular as well as neurological health, and broadly helps people to live longer, happier, and more fulfilling lives. Just as how running can result in the feeling of the ‘runner’s high’, exposure to different temperatures can result in changes in how the body manages stress in all situations.

Sauna Society is taking the science of wellbeing seriously. Anthony is a keen proponent of alternative practises to promote good health but also to improve performance, the benefits of which he discovered during his professional rugby career: “Whilst playing rugby with Leeds I also got pretty into breathwork and movement practises. It started as a way to develop my performance; I found that breathwork really helped me focus and be totally present on the rugby pitch. I was really surprised about the difference that breathwork could make to my performance and I started doing my own research. That pathway led me to Oxygen Advantage, and through their programmes I became

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This limited edition book is a celebration of the artists for whom Cornwall provides constant inspiration. Intriguingly current and timelessly readable DRIFT Art Review is at once a valuable tool for collectors, a coveted addition to coffee tables for the year ahead and a collectible for those who value the enduring appeal of the arts.

Visit www.drift-cornwall.co.uk/artreview and quote ‘DRIFTART#22’ to get 10% off your copy (RRP £29.99). Offer ends 22.8.22.

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a practitioner myself. Breathwork led me into the world of more spiritually enriching practises like yoga and meditation, all related to breath of course. I also became familiar with scientists like Dr Andrew Huberman and Dr Rhonda Fitzpatrick – they’re some of the leading scientists bringing cutting edge science regarding mental and physical wellbeing through to the public.”

It’s important to note that Sauna Society as a business sits on the intersection of community, education, and wellbeing. Its founders care about all three and are keen to promote and facilitate social experiences in Cornwall. There is something for everyone at Sauna Society, whether you are looking for a luxury private experience, or an education in breathing and reconnection, you can find it out on the cliff-top above Watergate Bay. Anthony has already begun his monthly workshop series which partners with Sauna Society’s neighbour, the Zen Den Yoga studio. These workshops utilise the sauna, as well as Anthony’s breathwork training and workshop leadership expertise. The time is split between cold water and the hot sauna, with walks down to the beach providing an opportunity for the group to discuss wellness and steps they have made in their efforts to improve their own health. They are empowering meetings of individuals, who often come from a range of walks of life.

Another success story of Sauna Society so far is the weekly ‘open to all’ communal sessions. Not satisfied with just running a sauna, Anthony and Damian are looking to create a business with meaning and social

impact. The communal sessions offer an opportunity for anyone to book a seat in the sauna and join others for some restorative time on the cliff-top. The result is an experience you can find in few other places in Cornwall, let alone Newquay.

Sunrise and Sundown sessions at the sauna represent the kind of luxury experiences that you don’t necessarily expect to find on your doorstep. Sauna Society therefore offers a friendly reminder about the opportunity to find the beauty in your home by thinking a little differently, and that when we embrace the natural beauty that surrounds us in conscious ways, peace can be found with very little effort. The location above Watergate is just the beginning for Sauna Society, an early adopter of Wildhut who are a new mobile sauna maker based out of Brighton in the south east. Their relationship and the initial success of siting such a stylish sauna unit in an incredible location will hopefully lead to more saunas in more locations throughout Cornwall.

“We already have plans for our second and third locations; Newquay is just the start really. We are also aware that to some people a sauna by the sea might be a slightly strange concept. We’re not expecting things to catch on overnight and we know that these things take time, but It didn’t take long for us to get hooked on sauna. As the number of people who experience the benefits of saunas grows, we’re excited to bring Sauna Society to more communities throughout Cornwall,” concludes Damian. sauna-society.com

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Three artists celebrate their shared history and the seminal impact of a particular stretch of the South West Coast Path.

Sasha Harding, Sophie Harding and Gemma Pearce are all highly regarded in the Cornish artistic milieu.

All three grew up in Dorset before moving independently to Cornwall, where they followed very different creative paths. As well as sharing childhood connections and artistic talent, all are also inspired by a particular stretch of the South West Coast Path, hence the name of the exhibition ‘From Mousehole to Marazion’.

Sisters Sasha and Sophie Harding, and their friend Gemma Pearce, grew up together in Swanage in Dorset. It was only by a quirk of fate that they all moved to Cornwall. Sasha was the first to feel the lure of the Cornish coast, arriving in Falmouth in 1989 as a Fine Art student. Gemma was a regular visitor, jumping on the train from Bath where she was studying Illustration to spend weekends enjoying student misdemeanours with her closest friend.

Sasha stayed on in Cornwall after her degree and began to create a niche for herself as an artist. Years later when, on an impulse, Gemma rented a flat for herself and her young son in Mousehole, Sasha was on-hand to help them move in.

Paul Massey

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n more ways than one, this exhibition – which takes place at The Old Coastguard in Mousehole this summer – is long-overdue. Three artists who share not only a love of a spectacular stretch of the coast path, but also roughly 40 years of familial connections and friendship, should surely have hung work alongside each other before. The concept of holding a group exhibition was devised pre-pandemic and after a two-year delay it will finally open on 24th July.

Gemma sees that move to the Cornish coast as an almost visceral reaction to an unhappy situation. She was craving freedom, uplifting surroundings and the steady routine she required to find her feet as an artist. Bit by

INSET The Old Coastguard

PREVIOUS ‘Snooze’ – Sasha Harding

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TOP ‘ Mousehole & Anemones’ – Gemma Pearce

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A B OV E ‘Mousehole & Wild Flowers’ – Gemma Pearce

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Paul Massey

and the absurd, injecting quirkiness and humour in careful measures,” explains Sasha.

“The resulting juxtapositions very much reflect my personality.”

bit those elements have fallen into place, and Gemma’s work is now some of the most distinctive on Cornwall’s contemporary arts scene. Her still life paintings depict interiors which contain simple objects imbued with poignancy (pebbles, jugs, flowers, feathers) and windows framing views of the coast – typically harbours. “I like the contrast between the pretty and the industrial;” she explains. “The two coexist happily in Cornwall’s working ports.”

Gemma’s work reflects her enigmatic personality; each canvas conveys a feeling of introspection and reflects the quiet joy of finding a room of one’s own. Sasha is more of an extrovert and again, this is echoed in the kind of images she creates. Her portfolio is full of storytelling, humour and connectivity – she clearly revels in human interaction.

“In all my work, I aim to strike a balance between the pensive and the silly, the serious

All this distillation of human life is conveyed using a simple method and only four colours.

Unusually she takes a notebook rather than a sketchbook with her on walks, writing a title and narrative for each work before returning home to bring the formal elements together using the technique of collage. She cuts out figures and moves them around, getting the composition just right as if she is creating a storyboard for an animation.

This idiosyncratic approach led Sasha into the world of book publishing, illustrating her adventures with her dog on the South West Coast Path in A Brush With The Coast; a second edition was released in 2020 with enriched text and several new illustrations.

Sasha also put pen to paper for A Brush With Anglesey and more recently the children’s book Plop.

Sasha’s sister Sophie was the last of the trio to relocate to Cornwall. She originally studied Fashion Design at Central St Martins and then worked in London for 11 years as a freelance painter, illustrator and textile maker for clients including Marks and Spencer, Friends of the Earth, Ladybird Books and WHSmith.

Eventually she followed her younger sister Sasha to the Cornish coast.

Sophie’s work for this show reflects her increasing mastery of colourist painting.

Her vibrant images celebrate the simple joys

A B OV E Dinner with a view at The Old Coastguard

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Idenna Creative

TOP LEFT ‘ The Lido’ – Gemma Pearce

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TOP RIGHT ‘ Two Luggers’ – Gemma Pearce

A B OV E ‘ Tight Lines’ – Gemma Pearce

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Cooper, who arranges and curates exhibitions at The Old Coastguard and sister hotel, The Gurnard’s Head, approached them to put together a summer exhibition. In preparation the trio have been walking the coast path between Mousehole and Marazion together, cameras in tow. Gemma explains: “We’ve been finding that we’re attracted to the same views, and keep tripping over each other as we stop in the same spots!” However, given the very different styles of the three artists, these shared vistas are likely to be more intriguing than repetitive.

in life, yet behind this lies an accomplished exploration of colour theory and fundamental form. Sophie’s still life images, and her depiction of Cornwall’s tropical gardens and beaches, has seen her gain loyal collectors from Tresco to Knightsbridge.

Sophie’s home is a colourful cottage in Penzance, while the sisters’ friend Gemma still lives in nearby Mousehole. Sasha is a regular visitor to west Cornwall and the picturesque harbour of Mousehole is where her favourite hotel in the world can be found.

Sasha stays here at The Old Coastguard with her dogs, and describes how she loves to wake up to the ever-changing view with the possibilities of the coast path stretching out before her in both directions, and her old friend Gemma and sister Sophie so close by.

All three artists were thrilled when Gillian

Charles Inkin, Director at The Old Coastguard, says: “Although their work is very different, it will hang well together and look fantastic in the space at The Old Coastguard. All three artists are working on a summer theme, so we’re expecting this show to be a really exuberant celebration of our special location on the coast at Mousehole.” This unusually interconnected exhibition celebrates shared history and a profound love of an adopted home, with different styles and perspectives bringing depth and nuance to the subject matter. It also presents a unique opportunity to see these paintings in the Cornish location which they take as their inspiration.

‘From Mousehole to Marazion’ is showing at The Old Coastguard from 24th July – 19th September. A ‘Meet the Artists’ event will be held on Saturday 17th September at 10.30.

LEFT ‘ Wiggly Tree’ –Sophie Harding

oldcoastguardhotel.co.uk

A B OV E ‘ Terracotta Pots’ –Sophie Harding

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Eventide WORDS BY JOSEPH SABIEN

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hese opening lines might be akin to a sad Russian novel but please bear with me – it’s going to be ok. Over the last two-years, as a consequence of the pandemic, the subject of mental health and wellbeing has featured in mainstream media on an unprecedented scale. As a result, and collectively as a society, we have seen a tangible shift towards more authentic connection; whether to the natural environment, friends and family or ourselves. The push to dive deeper into ourselves has been, for some, a welcome opportunity to explore our life meaning whilst for others, it has been an uncomfortable journey, to say the least.

With so much focus on fear, loss and, let’s just say it, death, is it any wonder people are experiencing heightened anxiety? But, if we re-frame this for a moment, doesn’t this present an opportunity for post-traumatic growth? To better understand the intricacies of what it is to be human and how to grow – in spite of what is occurring around us?

Like any process – let’s call it a journey – it will often lay bare areas that require improvement or identify where we need support and encouragement to emotionally prosper and reach a place of emotional equilibrium. For some, this

is certainly achievable without the aid of another person or seeking professional help. However, for others, the process will often require some gentle guidance in the development of insight and awareness. This is the remit of Sea Sanctuary’s ARC wellbeing hub.

Situated on the peaceful Penryn river, the 180ft ARC (which is a converted Dutch barge) hosts a raft of activities (like therapy, creative writing, yoga), all of which are designed to improve wellbeing, encourage meaningful connection, reduce feelings of isolation, and which can bring about positive change. Indeed, The ARC can be viewed as a community asset – supporting both groups and individuals, young and old. The ARC offers activities by the hour, the day, and even residential retreats – always with a focus on wellbeing and improved health outcomes. We believe The ARC is simply wonderful – why not come and see for yourself?

Joseph Sabien is the founder and CEO of, and therapist at, Sea Sanctuary, a unique mental health charity based in Penryn, Cornwall and one of the world’s leading exponents of blue health. seasanctuary.org.uk

INSET Joseph Sabien

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