Tales from the Sea Garden

Tales from The Sea Garden

Email me: theseagarden@btinternet.com

Monday 23 December 2019

A very Merry Christmas to you one and all!
Handmade Christmas tree decorations made out of driftwood and recycled books...

The seagulls in the Sea Garden window have their winter scarves on!


Here's to a holiday full of good cheer dear friends xxx

Saturday 7 December 2019

Men-an-Tol

Every so often a day comes along that feels like it has been given as a special gift, and Friday 29th November was one such day. 
I had made a return visit to The Egyptian House in Penzance (see blog post 16th Feb 2019), and this time I took Mum along too. Earlier in the week the weather had been rather dull and a little wet, but Friday dawned warm, golden and still, Autumn at its best. After sitting outside(!) eating fish and chips at The Tinner's Arms in Zennor (where the day before we had been huddled around a very welcome log fire to take away the damp chill), we decided to head up onto the moors above Madron to see the Men-an-Tol.
From the lay-by at the side of the road a small farm track meanders uphill alongside a tiny stream.



An abandoned farm came into view, and we wondered who had once eked out a living here from the moorland.


Then over a stile and looking towards the ruined engine house of Ding Dong Mine on the horizon, we catch our first glimpse of the ancient stones of Men-an-Tol.

Believed to date from the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age (3500 years ago) there is mystery as to whether this enigmatic stone with the hole was originally at the centre of a stone circle with the other upright stones around it, or whether these stones once formed part of a burial tomb. (Incidentally there is only one other holed stone in existence in Britain and that is also in Cornwall). What is known is that the stones as you see them today are not in their original positions, seemingly aligned to pinpoint the rising sun in the east and the setting sun in the west. It is believed they were moved sometime in the early 19th Century.
 For centuries people believed that the Men-an-Tol held special healing properties; by crawling through the hole three times, or seven times, or nine times, one could be cured of back pain, or children of rickets, or a woman wishing to become pregnant would gain fertility. 


It must be 30 years since Mum and I did this walk up to Men-an-Tol, and to experience it together again on such a beautiful afternoon as the sun was slowly sinking in the west, with the stones casting long shadows on the grass and all around was stillness and silence: not a breath of wind, so rare up on the moors, was simply magical.


Friday 11 October 2019

Still here!

 Gosh it's been a long time, but I'm still here! Sorry for my very long absence......
The shop takes up all of my time; this Summer especially has just been exhausting, I think partly because I was still coping emotionally  with the death of my Dad, and seeing Mum struggling with her grief and doing my best to support her.
But I'm finding my groove once more now that things have quietened down. Autumn colours are creeping into the displays and  antique dyed linens are neatly stacked ready to find a new lease of life on someone's dinner table, dressing table or bed.

A shelf of Patsy's beautiful Liberty fabric covered notebooks
and these 19th C 'hexies' would make a lovely feature on the front of a small cushion or lavender pillow.
See you again soon, I promise......

Friday 19 April 2019

 Happy Easter weekend everyone!
 The Spring flowers are out in all their glory now in Cornwall. Last week I visited Godolphin.....
Beneath the ancient apple trees and all amongst the grass were snakeshead fritillaries and primroses

Inside the potting shed......
 cobwebs and nests
New buds emerging......
 verdant mossy banks
I climbed up Godolphin Hill and walked barefoot right round the perimeter, sensing the cool grass and the warm granite of the rocks as I trod. I lay under an oak tree, so stunted in its growth by the wind that I could rest my feet on its lowest branch and gaze up though the latticework of branches to the bluest of blue skies above.
My dear Dad passed away a month ago. These last few weeks have been a time of great sadness, and  reflection; of memories and gratitude for all that he gave to us, and the wonderful life that we shared together. x

Tuesday 12 March 2019

Small and cute...





 The weather was a bit wild today so I stayed in and made cards this morning. Most of the pieces I collect on the beach end up in my shell collages, but I also have lots of tiny shells and pieces of sea-glass and pebbles that are just too small for that. So I decided to do a series of little arrangements on cards, which people can frame up, if they want to.
So many different shades of blue and green and clear glass!

 On a larger scale I have just completed my first noticeboard; an idea that I've had brewing for a couple of years now (sometimes it takes that long for an idea to come to fruition!)
A sea navigation chart is stuck onto a piece of foam board so that cards and photos and notes can be pinned onto it, as desired. I found the frame in a second-hand shop, almost exactly the same size as the chart; how lucky was that! I've embellished it with a swag of vintage fabric bunting stitched on and a few pictures from magazines. Simple!
 My collection of succulents and ferns grows ever larger. I love it when I find a new variety that I like the look of; it's all in the shape of the leaves. And I'm having fun finding nice pottery containers to put them in. So nice to have something living in the house, and they don't require much care and attention.
The days are getting longer now; hurrah, Spring is here!