Cornwall Accommodation

Visit the Daphne du Maurier Museum in Fowey - Du Maurier Lived here

The Minack Open Air Theatre, West Cornwall - regular Shakespeare

Charles Causley, Launceston Poet. See his Portrait in Lawrence House

Eden Project Sculpture

Art by the Newlyn School and More Visit Penlee House Gallery, Penzance

St Ives Tate Gallery - Contemporary Art at it's Best!

Royal Cornwall Museum & Gallery, Truro

John Betjeman Centre, Wadebridge

Cornwall Art Barbara Hepworth John Betjeman Charles Causley Daphne du Maurier

Cornwall offers an amazing selection of both art and literature including the best of contemporary and modernist art at the St Ives Tate Gallery and the Barbara Hepworth Museum & Sculpture Gallery, also in St Ives. Move to Penzance and nearby fishing village Newlyn to discover the delights of the Newlyn School of artists at the Penlee House Gallery in Penzance.

On the literary side, Cornwall lays claim to a few famous names including most renowned Daphne du Maurier to lived most of her life in Fowey. Discover the area around Wadebridge which so influenced the poetry of John Betjamen - Wadebridge has it's own little John Betjamen centre which is well worth a visit. Lesser known poets such as Charles Causley, born in Launceston, East Cornwall. Discover a painting of Causley and more at the Lawrence House Museum in Launceston.

Daphne du Maurier & Fowey Cornwall

Fowey certainly won't disappoint Du Maurier fans, with it's Du Maurier Literary Centre and annual May Du Maurier Festival. Exploring the coast here at Fowey offers fans a real flavour of the area that so features, and inspired her novels. Guided Du Maurier walks are also offered frequently. Check with the Du Maurier Literary Centre for details.

Daphne du Maurier and Fowey's associations date back to the war period, when as with the heroine in her novel 'Frenchman's Creek', she brought her children to a live in rented accommodation in Readymoney in 1942. Later in 1945 she moved to mammoth Menabilly on the Rashleigh Estate which is again near Fowey. This creaking old house was the inspiration for Manderley, ""That's not the Northern lights. That's Manderley!"" in her most successful novel, made film by Hitchcock - Rebecca. Once quoted as saying writers should be 'read rather than seen', Du Maurier shunned the public spotlot believing, says Richard Kelly for an interview with her, that success was a very personal thing.

Visiting the Fowey area and coastline is to take in the flavour of Du Maurier novels indeed, and a must for fans. Visit in mid-May to co-incide with the superb Daphne du Maurier festival, and make your starting point the little Du Maurier Literary Centre in Fowey. ""Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"".

The Ticket Shop & du Maurier Literary Centre, 5 South Street, Fowey PL23 1AR. 01726 833616.

John Betjamen & Wadebridge Cornwall

John Betjeman's connection with this area of the North Cornwall coast began in childhood holidays taken in the area at Trebertherick, where his manufacturer father owned a number of properties. A poet with a focus on topography, Betjeman was born of prosperous middle class parents. His father began as a cabinet maker, but built up a prosperous business which he expected Betjemann (he dropped the extra 'n' during the First World War to make his name seem less German) to continue in. The business was not however to his taste, and the rejection of it was to cause a rift in the family, and a guilt that the poet carried with him. ""Trying to teach me how to carpenter, 'Not that way, boy! When will you ever learn?' I dug the chisel deep into my hand. (Summoned by Bells).

The 'cosy' John Betjeman Centre in Wadebridge is well worth a look. The centre is a charity run by Wadebridge Concern for the Aged (Betjeman would have been pleased no doubt) and has a selection of books, gifts and postcards on show. All welcome, open from 10am to 4pm Mondays to Fridays. Closed Bank Holidays. Free admission.

The John Betjeman Centre, Southern Way, Wadebridge, Cornwall, PL27 7BX. Tel: 01208 812392.

Charles Causley & Launceston Cornwall

All poetry is magic. It is a spell against insensitivity, failure of imagination, ignorance and barbarism"". Charles Causley

The poet Charles Causley (see his painting in the Lawrence House Museum) was born, brought up and lived most of his life here in Launceston. Admired by both Larkin and Betjeman, Causley's poetry has a communal feel to it (much like the town) and is marked by the loss of his father when he was just 7 years old due to wounds from the First World War - his father died of tuberculosis in 1924. Causley himself saw service in the Navy during the Second World War, and influenced by Sassoon and others he began to write poetry.

The horrors of war are evident in many of his poems. Renowned for his mastering of traditional poetic forms, he has been compared much to William Blake - particularly with his focus, like Blake, on the loss of innocence. He wrote extensively for children and after the war became a primary school teacher. His background, unlike Betjeman's, was working class - his mother was a domestic servant. Causley's poetry was also influenced by old ballads and folk music, and indeed is best heard read by himself on various audio recordings he's done.

Lawrence House Museum, 9 Castle Street, Launceston, Cornwall PL15 8BA. Tel: 01566 773277. It's free to enter this marvellous museum, which is run by very friendly volunteers happy to tell you as much as they know (which is a wealth of knowledge) about Launceston history and indeed the poet Charles Causley for whom there is much affection in the town.

Barbara Hepworth & St Ives Cornwall

If you're a fan of Modernism - both painting and sculpture - then the St Ives branch of the St Ives Tate is probably one of the best galleries to head for. Great things can indeed happen when artists congregate together, and St Ives' history as an artists colony (it's the light you see) dates back to the late 1800s. Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson arrived here at St Ives in 1939 with the outbreak of the Second World War. Other notables here in St Ives at the time included Piet Mondrian, an abstract artist, and Naum Gabo a purist geometric sculpture artist. On the journey of exploring abstraction, other artists gravitated towards St Ives including Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron and Bryan Wynter. All emphasised experience in their art as opposed to a topographical view of the West Cornish landscape. The Tate St Ives holds many works by these ground breaking Modernists who were influenced by Gabo particularly and American Expressionism.

Move on to Barbara Hepworth's studio in St Ives, now a museum and sculpture gallery. Many of Hepworth's great works are here, so it's a must for Barbara Hepworth fans, and indeed lovers of modernism and contemporary art.

Tate St Ives, Porthmeor Beach, St Ives, Cornwall, TR26 1TG. Telephone: 01736 796226.

Barbara Hepworth Museum & Sculpture Garden, Barnoon Hill, St Ives, Cornwall, TR26 1AD. Telephone: 01736 796226.

Penzance, the Newlyn School & the Royal Cornwall Museum Truro

The best of Cornish Art is to be found in the West, and both the St Ives Tate and Penlee House Gallery are two of the best art galleries in Cornwall. Penlee House Gallery is set within an attractive Victorian building surrounded by Penlee Memorial Park and Gardens. The Gardens were planted by J.R. Branwell and are well worth a look alongside a visit to the Gallery, to view many rare species of plants. The on-site cafe also has seating outside on the patio, and make a most pleasant spot for relaxing and enjoying views of the gardens.

Inside, expect to see some real gems from the Newlyn School of artists and the Lamorna Artists. Most of these works are situated in Gallery 5 upstairs. A range of workshops and educational activities for both adults and children are also offered year round. Check the Penlee weblink right for details. The gallery continues to build it's collection of Newlyn and Lamorna School works, and some of the most renowned held here include superb works by Walter Langley (1852-1922) such as 'Among the Missing' - a moving depiction of grief for fisherman lost at sea. Langley, originally from Birmingham, had a particular sensitivity towards the hardships of local people in the Newlyn and Penzance area. He is buried in Penzance Cemetery. Other notables include Norman Garstin's (1847-1926) depiction of a drenched Penzance Promenade - 'The Rain it Raineth Every Day' (1889), and there's an excellent collection of work by Elizabeth Forbes (1859-1912) which includes her famous 'School Is Out' painted in 1889.

On a parallel with the superb Newlyn School Art Gallery in Penzance, the Royal Cornwall Museum has amassed a superb collection of work by both the Newlyn School of artists and the St Ives school. Stanhope Forbes, Elizabeth Forbes, Julius Olsson, Norman Garstin, Annie Walke, Charles Napier Hemy and Sherwood Hunter are all here, plus other notable works are here by the Cornish painter John Opie, the sculptor Neville Northy Burnard and the Truro-born miniaturist Henry Bone. Unmissible for fine art, the Royal Cornwall Museum also has work on show by George Romney, John Constable, John Sell Cotman, Thomas Gainsborough, Samuel Prout, JMW Turner, Van Dyck, Sargent, Rossetti, and Rubens. A real treat!

Penlee House Gallery and Museum, Morrab Road, Penzance, Cornwall TR18 4HE. Tel: +44 (0)1736 363625. Royal Cornwall Museum, River Street, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 2SJ. Tel 01872 272205.

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