Well how time flies and thank you Richard for giving me a definite prod for failing to bring  you the latest news from Briar Cottage or the gossip from Penberth Cove.

We have had a brilliant summer so far...our visitors to date will endorse that,  but it poured on Saturday 11 July..we needed the rain and there have been several cliff/gorse fires, one at Cribamingy which burnt for 3 or 4 days but no damage done.  A good cliff fire is nature's way of clearing the scrub on the cliff and improves the flora and fauna as well as the access !  The early  mackerel was a bit dogged by East wind which makes landing at the cove dangerous, not bad in May month, but poor the last 6 weeks. Maybe the sea bass and pollack and squid will give the fishermen a better autumn season.  Shell Cottage is undergoing a major rebuild, bit noisy at times, and digging  new foundations for part has required miniblasting techniques to cut into the granite cliff face.

Everyone staying at Briar Cottage has been very complimentary on the improvements and we have some more minor jobs to carry out before next season. With hardly any free weeks from March to November there is not a lot of time to get things done.  We have a substantial shrub and bulb planting project in hand but if you are not there at flowering time you may not notice the changes !

Here are a few summer 2009 pictures to remind you of Penberth. These include low tide at Pedny and even with a 16 foot tide in calmish seas this year you can walk from Porthcurno to the Eastern end of Pedny and to Prae, and if the tide is a bit bigger right through to Barn castle under the Logan Rock. A couple of early morning on the mackerel, and the Sennen Cove Lifeboat the Norman Salvesen in Penberth on life boat day in early July. If you are not already familiar with it do check out the Sennen cove website www.sennen-cove.com