Saturday 14 March 2015

Poldark and what Ross is missing

We were as excited , even more so than many perhaps, about Poldark appearing on our television screens once more. It is all based in this area of Cornwall and for anyone that has not visited Rayle Farm Cottages as yet, you will be relieved to hear that it is just as beautiful today as it was 250 years ago. Indeed we hear that clouds needed to be added digitally after filming the series because it was just too darned sunny for the more brooding moments in the series. Well there is no pleasing some people!

A beautifully filmed opening to the series and let us hope that this will continue. However, one slight issue that I did have with it was that the people of Illogan came across as, shall we say, a bit rough and in desperate need of a visit to the dentist, although Demelza scrubbed up pretty well without too much trouble. Illogan is our local village and although to my knowledge it does not have an orthodontist in residence, it has many fine attributes which Ross Poldark would probably have taken full advantage of. For example, the delicious pasties that we provide for welcoming supper for those guests staying for a week or longer – well they come from, you guessed it, Illogan.

If Ross didn’t have his hands full, sprucing up his rather run down residence, he might well have taken the opportunity to enjoy eighteen holes at Tehidy Golf Course, which again is to be found in Illogan. It is an attractive and indeed friendly club which welcomes visitors throughout the year. This is incidentally right next door to Tehidy Country Park, quelle surprise, which is very popular with dog walkers. However to my mind it really comes into its own in the spring when larges tracts are carpeted in bluebells.

Illogan Woods (guess where they are!) provides a lovely route to walk your dog, away from the roads all the way down to the sea at Portreath. In its day, this would have been a busy route for workers heading to the harbour as this was the principal port in the area for shipping out the tin and copper ore to the smelters in Wales. It is hard to imagine today how important this now, sleepy little cove would have been. Similarly though, if you head east out of Portreath and walk along the coastal path, you will walk towards St Agnes where the now derelict mine engine houses that featured Poldark are located. Perched on the cliff top, and striking in appearance, it is hard to grasp how important these buildings were in creating immense prosperity in the region, not that long ago. Ross Poldark seems none too impressed at this stage with the ones that he owns. With a bit of hard work though, I am sure that he will be able to do something with them although it might prove to be difficult given that they now have UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

For your information, Poldark Mine, does actually exist and is a tourist attraction but it is located over yonder at Wendron which is near to Helston, a good day’s journey in the saddle I would imagine. Certainly worth a visit I think but alarmingly I don’t believe that there is a dentist in Wendron either.

I am looking forward to the next episode, needless to say, if for no other reason but to get to the bottom of just where everyone in Cornwall went for their dental hygiene, back in the day.