A Week in Cornwall - Part Two - Inspiration

Well, I had meant to write this post the middle of last week but I've been so busy I haven't had time - which is annoying because it means that instead of staying in a Cornwall state of mind I've returned to the usual muddle of my life.  However, the last week has been excellent, with great workshops, a brilliant time at Garstonbury (the bi-annual East Garston Music Festival), Sunday up to London to pick up our young French friend Coco, weaning my lambs, and all the usual stuff.

Anyway, as I gathered together the photos of all the things that inspired me in Cornwall, the 'Cornwall state of Mind' returned and I'm feeling very positive.

Obviously you can't help being inspired by the lovely, relaxed feel and the beauty of it all,

but the thing that inspired me most was our visit to Looe (or St George's Island), and the story of Eyelyn and Babs Atkins, two middle-aged ladies

who decided to leave their careers and comfortable lives behind in Surrey and buy the island in 1976!  They have since died but I am really enjoying reading their book

about the big adventure!  It hasn't inspired me to buy an island, but it does make you think about getting on and doing whatever you want!

I discovered, in Lostwithiel, a little shop called 2 Quay Street which was full of new and old sewing patterns, fabric, crochet, bits and bobs and the nice things we like to look at!

I loved it and the summery feel to it made me buy a lot of summery fat quarters and encouraged me to push on with my crochet blanket - actually, I didn't need much encouragement because I find crochet a pleasure to do and it grows so quickly, but it made me feel like I was doing the right thing!

Well - that picture makes the colours look really dark and dreary - it's much prettier in real life!

Then we discovered Cartwheels Craft Centre in Penhawger Farm, Merrymeet, Liskeard, Cornwall, PL14 3LW - a set up very much like ours at Lorne Hill Farm although the premises were much, much bigger.  I had a lovely look around and a long chat with the owners.  Very annoyingly I can't find the flyer they gave me but it's worth taking a look at the website.  They also have what looks like lovely accommodation on site so it would be a wonderful location for a crafty retreat!

Anyway, got to dash off now to watch the Sewing Bee but my final little Cornish lesson was not to sweat about weeds too much - beautiful walls in the West Country look so pretty and are pretty much left to themselves:

and are so beautiful!