Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Going places




Detail of the exterior of the church of St Mary Magdalen in Launceston, Cornwall. This is the town where the police headquarters are, where my young detective, Megan Pencarrow, works. She's the niece of the main protagonist of my Cornish mystery series.

Having at long last succeeded in signing in to the blog, I'm still figuring out how to format, so excuse the confusion please! These pics were supposed to come at the end of my post...

A shop in Port Isaac. Eleanor Trewynn, the main character of my Cornish mysteries, has a charity shop on the ground floor of her cottage, though I haven't given her bow windows.

The tor on top of Rough Tor, second highest spot on Bodmin Moor, with the highest, Brown Willy, in the background. These landmarks make frequent appearances in the books.

Last Saturday, I was invited to give a talk to the Pacific Northwest Cornish Society. To be frank, I'd never heard of them. They're a group of people who have traced their ancestry to Cornwall, and they get together three times a year to talk genealogy and celebrate their heritage. Their president had read my Cornish mysteries, Manna from Hades and A Colourful Death, and decided the members would be interested in hearing about my Cornish roots.
Alas, as far as ancestry is concerned, I have none. My familiarity with and love of Cornwall come from annual summer holidays on the North Coast in my childhood, and visits to my sister on the other side of the duchy in the decades since she went to live there.
So, unable to interest them in my family tree, I resorted to showing pictures from both my childhood and my research. I'd like to share some of them with you, too.
Port Isaac
Boscastle
Port Isaac harbour
Boscastle Harbour

Boscastle and Port Isaac are the two small fishing ports I combined to create my fictional village, Port Mabyn.
Well, that's that for now, so now we'll see if it actually posts when I tell it!
Cheers,
Carola Dunn

5 comments:

Jean Henry Mead said...

Thanks for sharing, Carola. Lovely photos of a place I'd like to visit.

Patg said...

Hi Carola,
I LOVE CORNWALL! Not that I have any English roots at all, but I married into a family that can trace their American line to early 18th century Delaware and an indentured servant from England.
As a fellow Oregonian, I never heard of this group either, but I bet they were interesting.
Great pictures.
Patg

Sheila Deeth said...

Boscastle! Cool! I love these pictures. Lovely memories of family vacations.

Unknown said...

Carola, welcome aboard. I enjoyed your post. As suggestion, however... Would you mind adding "by Carola Dunn" before a post? The reason is each blog is posted on my Facebook page automatically, and I'd hate to steal credit for someone else's work. Thanks, and I look forward to your posts.

Jaden Terrell said...

Carola, I have wanted to visit Cornwall ever since I read Mary Stewart's Arthur and Merlin books when I was in high school. Thank you for sharing your experiences there--and for the beautiful photos.