Beyond the Beauty: Tales of Cornwall

Helston and Loe Pool

Everyone knows that Cornwall is a place of beauty, magical coves and a sub-tropical climate – [beware this last bit, think warm and wet jungle rather than lying on a beach sipping cocktails!] But Cornwall also has a very proud history and heritage that is also well worth exploring….not to mention a bucket load of myths and legends!

I was born and raised in the small market town of Helston, ‘gateway’ to The Lizard Peninsula. It’s a modest town with a rich history. Maybe you’ve heard of the Floral Dance? Yep, that Helston. For those who don’t know, Helston is ‘famous’ for it’s welcoming of Spring festival known as Flora Day. Adults and children alike take part in several formal dances through the streets during the day, led out by the band playing the Floral Dance tune (made famous by Terry Wogan back in the day!!). The dancers dress up, the spectators line the streets, the band take a deep breath, and away we go from around 7am in the morning until the pubs shut in the evening. Street performers re-enact tales of good versus evil whilst waving branches of greenery and sycamore in the Hal-an-Tow, too many pints of the local ale Spingo are consumed, and general mayhem and merriment flows through the fair.

I digress, this blog post is about some of the lesser known tales of Helston, or rather of it’s nearby fresh water lake, Loe Pool. At the bottom of the town of Helston, there is a walk that joins the town to Porthleven on the coast. The area is known as Penrose and passes alongside Loe Pool before going out to the coast – with the coastal side culminating in a sand bar. Loe Pool has a circumference of around 8 miles and is the largest natural lake in Cornwall. It is home to loads of wildlife and is a popular local beauty spot with walkers, runners and cyclists.

But it is also packed full of local legends, including the sinister tale that the pool claims a life every 7 years. I remember being fascinated (and a little scared) by this as a teenager and, unfortunately, there have been quite a number of drownings both accidental and suicidal in and around the pool over the years. Some of these can be attributed to the particularly treacherous section of sea at the sand bar and, despite warning signs on the beach, do continue to happen.

The Pool is said to have had a plane crash into it with the loss of two airmen, and there are tales that a Spanish galleon laden with coins was thrown into the pool over the sand bar in a particularly ferocious storm, but, to be honest, there’s barely a beach on this coast that doesn’t have a similar story of Spanish gold attached to it! It has also been suggested that the Barnes-Wallace bouncing bomb was tested on the Pool too, although I’m not sure there’s any actual evidence of this.

To bring us back to Helston, Flora Day, and more specifically, the Hal-An-Tow, we need to mention that mythical mainstay, the dragon. It is fabled that the tradition of Hal-An-Tow began with a dragon. The people of Helston (known as Helstonians) were one day alarmed to see a dragon flying towards their town (well, you would be, wouldn’t you!) breathing fire and threatening to burn them all to a crisp. In an attempt to escape the fiery beast, they ran towards the surrounding countryside, and as luck would have it, the dragon plopped itself into Loe Pool and extinguished his fire. Phew!

As you can probably tell from this snapshot, there is no shortage of myths and legends in this area. Watch this space, I’ll be adding to this taster in the future.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider coming to look at my Instagram (@claremcewen) and bookmark my website http://www.seethecalm.com. And please, if you know anyone else that make like my blog or enjoy my photos, spread the word.

Thank you for being here 🙂

My Favourite Coastal Photography Destinations

Although we currently can’t get out and about again in the UK, I thought I’d write a post about where I love to go to take photos of the seaside. Not least because even I, not the most seasoned of travellers, have a bit of wanderlust for my favourite places! And I’m guessing I’m not alone

Coastal photography is not something I get to do very often anyway, since I now live inland, but when I get there, I want to make the best of it.

Naturally, since it’s my home county, Cornwall is my absolute favourite place by the sea. I am from the southern end of Cornwall, and it’s the south coast that I like to photograph the most – rugged, mysterious and full of history. The tiny fishing villages, the remnants of the mining industry, hidden coves, and the weird sense that smugglers could have trodden these very beaches not so long ago. Plus there’s a plethora of unusual features in this part of Cornwall.

I do, of course, also love the more traditional beach scenes for my photos, and for these, a lot are taken in Porthleven, Cornwall. A place I know well, but still has the ability to surprise me with it’s beauty. It’s a sight I took for granted when I was a child, but not any more! It’s often shown in the media when storms are ravaging it’s iconic Institute building, a magnificent sight, but not much fun for the locals!!

Another of my favourite places for seaside photos is North Wales. Much of my most popular photo art has been taken at Rhyl, at sunset on a summer’s evening. The beautiful, bright orange glow of the beach at sunset and the calming purples of the gentle sea have made popular framed prints. For me, it’s a wonderful place to feel calm and relaxed, strolling along the beach at sunset is a hard feeling to beat, right? It’s usually pretty quiet on the beach at that time of night too, which always adds to the sense of peace. Plus, I love a traditional British seaside resort – the charm of the slightly rundown arcades, fish and chips on the seafront, the slight tackiness – all things to be thoroughly embraced if you ask me!

Finally (for now!), the slightly less obvious Fleetwood in Lancashire. It is often described as a bit bleak, and that is definitely fair! The wind is usually blowing across the beach and in winter it is absolutely biting out there on the sand. In summer, it’s a bit better!! However, it’s the bleak feel that really appeals to me. The beach is spread out and you can always find a quiet area to take photos. It is pretty featureless apart from some wonderful groynes and random poles standing in the sea and on the beach. And it’s this that I love! Perfect for minimalist photo art opportunities and the capture of fleeting moments with seagulls as the only feature.

So, there you are, some of my favourite places for coastal photography. Please share any of your favourite seaside places in the comments – virtual wanderlust 🙂

Stay safe.

Clare x

http://www.seethecalm.com

Hello Autumn (farewell summer)

I LOVE Autumn.

It’s my favourite season, plus it’s the best season for getting great photos – the golden leaves, the crispy grass, fabulous light for portraits and backlit shots for a much larger part of the day. Those colours – WOW.

“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” – John Keats

So, I am very much looking forward to getting out and grabbing a few Autumnal photos very soon.

For now, I’m looking back at some of my summer memories, and I took A LOT of photos!

Plenty were taken at home – home schooling, nature in the garden, water fights – all capturing wonderful memories during a weird time. And there were many nature walks…

And eventually, I got to go home to Cornwall and get some photos of the beach. I am currently working my way through them – there are a lot to edit! Here are some of my favourites so far…

So farewell Summer and hello Autumn. I’d better get the rest of my photos sorted before I take a load more through the next few weeks!

Have fun, stay safe,

Clare x

www.seethecalm.com

Phoenix from the flames

A global pandemic, worldwide lockdowns, everything changing in the blink of an eye….2020 definitely had strange plans for us. Plans that have turned our world upside down.

Early on in this rapidly evolving situation, along with many others, I was struggling with the fear. But as soon as we were locked down, I knew I had to try to find positives. So I focused on my child and how we could make this a time to remember for good reasons (I also stopped looking at any news, to make this easier!)

Intentionally moving the camera a bit can create beautifully relaxed pictures

I tried to make home schooling fun….although my patience and energy definitely waned as the weeks went on! We spent a lot of time in the garden looking at nature and growing flowers and vegetables. Inevitably, we spent much more time in the house than normal.

We were supposed to see my family in Cornwall at Easter, so I missed my fix of the sea (we did get to go in August, see my previous blog post). But whilst thinking about this, I looked at some of my seaside photos. Could I bring the sea to me if I had them professionally printed?

Intentionally moving the camera can also give more painterly effects

The answer was yes! I immediately saw that those sea feelings could be brought back with the right scene. So I started thinking if the same could work for others? Could I bring the same feelings of calmness, joy and memories of times by the sea into other people’s living rooms.

So I set up my own website for selling prints of the sea, beaches, beach huts and general seaside feelings. I really wanted something positive to come out of this year, and this was my phoenix from the flames. My very own website showing the world some of my favourite photos.

Let me know any positives you’ve taken from the topsy turvy year that is 2020.

And if you’d like to see the website, it’s at www.claremcewenphotography.com I’ll be adding more photos very soon.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Stay safe.

Clare x

Emotional return home to Cornwall

We finally got to go to Cornwall to see my family last week. This was our very delayed Easter break, I guess, but we got there! The global pandemic may have screwed up everyone’s plans, but to finally be able to see my family was fantastic.

Cornwall is still home. I may live my everyday 100s of miles away, but Cornwall is still home. And Cornwall provided! Quiet coves, rocks to climb, the gentle lapping of the waves on the shore, rock pools, pretty stones, limpets, anemones, shells, plenty of photo opportunities, and food for the soul.

Seeing my family was lovely and we had a brilliant time, but it’s a weird feeling when you’re physically distancing from your sister because she’s not in your social bubble! We wore masks when in the car together! Aside from the ‘interesting times’ we’re living in, it was a pretty perfect visit. We found coves and walks we’d never been to before, the weather was pretty perfect for exploring (not too hot, not blown into the sea by the wind 😂), and we avoided the busy tourist areas. In short, we had one of our best mini breaks down there, despite it being the bonkers year that is 2020!

It’s always a wrench leaving home. Not just leaving my family, but leaving the sea, the sand, the sea air, that freshness that only sea air can provide. That sense of history from a childhood growing up there, the memories that make me smile or give me a twang of pain. The friends that I rarely see, but still love dearly. The waves crashing on the shore etc etc.

But I’m so grateful that I got a few days at home at this time. And I do feel refreshed from it. Oh yeah, and I did find that “Paris pigeon” photo I talked about in my last blog post – and it’s a whole lot worse than my memory of it 😂

So where’s home for you and what do you love about it?

And let me know if you want to see the Paris pigeon, it’s not art, but it’s a wonderful memory.

Stay safe

Clare x