Cornwall capers
I’ve been down in Cornwall for almost a week now, and it’s been non-stop excitement all the way. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard and had so much fun at the same time!
In February I was working with Imogen, and her mother is chairwoman of the International Musicians Seminar, a bi-annual get together of students from countries throughout the world, where they have lessons, listen to world-famous teachers playing concerts and all in an unspoilt beautiful part of the country. In the Friends of IMS pamphlet it says it “was founded in 1972 and musicians recognise it as a centre of excellence with Maestri such as Andras Schiff, Lorand Fenvyes, Steven Isserlis and more. The idyllic haven is an answer to the obsessive search for technical perfection which can destroy the spontaneity and joy of music making.” They also hold public concerts by both Maestri and young musicians which are an integral part of the seminars.
I caught the train down on Friday from Paddington Station. I had an early shift at Lancaster Gate, early meaning 7.15am start, and Paddington was just a five minute walk away so I was still there an hour early. The lure of the shops was too much so I stocked up on stuff at Boots, and got a fresh, out-of-the-oven pain au raisin from Sainsburys and a coffee from Neros. There is a gorgeous bronze statue of Paddington Bear at the station, with a plaque that commemorates the well-known British book character. With the national rail trains you have to wait up to ten minutes before the train leaves to get the platform that it’s on. Naturally five minutes before I’m due to leave it flashes up with a delayed sign, which luckily only lasted another five minutes until 9.10.
Before long I was on the train from Paddington to Plymouth, plugged in and connected to the internet on my laptop. The city turned into the suburbs, and eventually the suburbs turned into the countryside. It was beautiful, despite the horrid rain bucketing down. We didn’t get in to Plymouth until 12.20, so there was a lot of time to chill out, relax, take in the changing scenery and be totally plugged into my mp3 player because of the two little shits of kids several rows up. I brought my own snack supplies, which is cheaper than buying from the on-board buffet, and train toilets are just as gross as plane toilets so I skipped that till I got to the station. The rain eventually cleared up and the train ran along the coast, skipping though tunnels, around cliffs and over some amazing bridges.
The train I was on had about ten carriages, it was so long it even had its own first class section, however what I was to find at Plymouth was quite different. I had a twenty minute wait for the next train, so got a sandwich from the Spar, and then went back inside to platform 3, which was a quarter of the length of platform 4, so I was intrigued to see what would turn up. It was a two carriage diesel train that took two hours to reach Penzance, when Plymouth to Penzance is a quarter of the distance of London to Plymouth. It literally felt like a rickety old train that the tourist hoards would catch to the beach in the summertime of the seventies all squished on with their picnic baskets and beach umbrellas. It also stopped at every single stop along the way. But the scenery in between was just beautiful to watch.
When I got to the station Miles was waiting for me, and on the fifteen minute drive back he told me a bit about what to expect – it was his first time as well, but he’s been there for several days already. There is one main house, where a few people stay, and then another three houses around the area. Luckily I’m staying at Coastguards, which is the closest and only a three minute walk from the main house. I dumped my bags and met Annie, who was putting the linen on my bed, and then Miles took me down to the main house where I said hi to Rosie, and a big surprise was waiting for me in the dining room. All the Gaisman’s were down at the cove until Sunday, and Imogen said hi to Miles and then turned around and had a look at me, and when she recognised me she screamed a hello and jumped out of her seat for the biggest hug! It was lovely to see Tessa again too, and Clem and Nicko were taking a break before exam time at Oxford, although they both had to bring study to do. Nick’s in charge of the bar, so he is actually staying until the end.
Miles also introduced me to Arlex (from Columbia) and Andrew (Greek but very English!) our chefs for the week who alternate between lunch and diner shifts; and the helpers are all constantly coming and going. I did my first shift in the kitchen at 6pm, with Tom (English), Cadie (he’s a friend of Nick’s from Oxford), Lena, Julia and Sarah (all German). Dinner isn’t until 8.15pm, so we were preparing food and clearing up dishes from tea time (5pm – tea and cake). I sort of felt safer staying in the kitchen because it just seemed crazy out in the dining hall, so dishes had to be washed and put in the dish washer. The food all had to be dished out and then served and topped up again, and the same with pudding. We cracked open the wine, which all the helpers get at dinnertime, which made for a giggly pleasant clean up. We didn’t finish our shift until 11.30, and we sort of breaked to have our tea while everyone else was eating.
We had a meeting before dinner had started to discuss the special events of the weekend. The Duke of Kent was coming to Saturday’s concert and then coming to dine with us for lunch on Sunday, so it was a big deal! I put my hand up to do Saturday’s dinner, which meant going into the kitchen from 5pm until 6.30pm, going to enjoy the concert and then making a quick getaway to finish things off in the kitchen before the others got back at 10pm. I also met Jessica, who is my roommate for the next few days, luckily we walked back together and Jess had her phone because it was pitch black outside. When we got back we had a good chat – she’s originally from Halifax, Canada, but has been living in London for nine years now, and she works in the Cabinet Room in Downing Street.
The musicians are all nice and everyone says hello to each other, they play cello, violin, viola or piano. They have lessons and sometimes just find spare rooms to practice in. To the inconvenience of others, some start practicing as early as 8am and jam well into the night. It’s nice though, you walk through the corridors and there’s all this lovely classical music coming from the different rooms. Some of the girls come up and practice in the lounge room of our place. Coastguards is about eight separate two-storey apartments all joined together, with two bedrooms on the top floor, and a lounge and kitchen on the bottom floor. The toilet is out back and the bath is in the kitchen! The whole estate hasn’t been updated or renovated since the 1950s.
On Saturday I had a good sleep in and woke up to a rough and wild ocean pouring down with rain all day. Funnily enough Jessica and I both had our alarms on with a difference of five minutes even though we hadn’t told each other when we were getting up. We both had to run down to catch the end of breakfast, before being driven to the concert hall by Miles, with Cadie and Lena and a whole host of us to put out all the chairs and move the piano into place – basically anyone who wasn’t on the breakfast or lunch shift. We had to unstack chairs, place them in organised rows and number them. Lunch was soup and a nice pasta dish, and I had a nanna nap in the afternoon just because I could. Jessica was on dinner shift as well, so we both walked down and got started, cleaning and laying the tables and peeling and chopping – we were having big pieces of herby chicken with vegetables and potatoes, and apple crumble afterwards. Yulia and Laslo were helping us, they’re an older Hungarian couple, Laslo doesn’t speak a lot of English but we all managed to have a good laugh.
We went off to the concert with everyone else on the buses, Imo and I snagged the front seat, and she told me her mum said it would be better for her not to sit on the stage with everyone else in case she had a fit. Of course, once the suave sophisticated Frenchman asked if we were going up there, Imo latched onto his arm and I didn’t see her for the rest of the night. We all had to sit and wait for the Duke to arrive and take his seat before they could begin with Beethoven’s sonata for violin and piano, then we heard a cello soloist, viola solo and finished with a piano quartet. These were all the Maestri playing, and they were beautiful. Apart from the Duke’s party, and us helpers and musicians, the rest of the hall was filled with locals, out to enjoy the night.
Us four though had to make a quick getaway with Miles, back to the kitchen. That wasn’t very easy to do, because the Duke’s men had blocked the exits and were basically like, no, we’re not moving until the Duke’s come and gone, and we’re like, well we have to get back to feed the masses. Miles just got the car and I moved a witch’s hat and we drove around the four wheel drive. It was more important we got back with time to spare. Basically they stayed in the kitchen and Jess and I did all the serving. It seemed to run smoothly enough, although there is a table upstairs, which sort of looks like a barn loft, and it tends to be forgotten until last. The concert didn’t finish till late so dinner wasn’t until 10pm. When everyone else had theirs we all stood in the kitchen tearing into the chickens and new potatoes with our bare hands. By the time we dished out, then did dessert, then cleaned up afterwards, we were in the kitchen till half past twelve. So I decided to make a night of it and join the others with a bottle of wine until 4am. Well, why not?
I didn’t have to get up on Sunday until the lunch shift at 10, as did Jess, so we ran down to catch the last of breakfast and begin our most important lunch shift, where everyone was on edge because the Duke was coming. Andrew is a freelance chef in London, so he is more used to cooking for a 14 person dinner party rather than 100 mouths to feed. We had to make sure the whole dining room was perfect, and the helpers ate first so the top table could be covered with a table cloth and laid out with flowers for the Duke. We were having baked potatoes with lamb korma and vegetables, although the top table got new potatoes and had theirs plated up. Lena and Jess were serving the top table, food from the left and drinks from the right. There was a delicious apple crumble for dessert, which we had to also dish out for the top table, but things were so busy that I had to take the desserts out to the top table, and serve the Duke himself. How excitement!
The whole shift was fast, furious, and totally on the go. Jess and I were so glad when we finished, we grabbed Miles and he drove us down to Marazion and we left the car there to walk back to Prussia Cove. It took us three hours to get back, across the beaches, through fields, over rocks that were more like boulders, through seaweed; the whole pathway was marked every so often by the National Trust, but there were a few iffy moments, like when we walked out along this jutting bit of cliff, surrounded three quarters of the way by ocean. That was kinda scary and I had a few heart palpitations from the height and long drop down. We watched these huge black clouds rolling in towards us, and made it back to Prussia Cove just as it began pouring down. Perfect timing actually. We got back at 6pm, so had a bit of time to chill before dinner and ended up going down to the pub for a few. Miles had to take the car to pick someone up at half seven, but the rest of us went in the mini-van with John – Nick, Lena, Julia, Andrew and I. There were a few musos down there as well, who obviously didn’t want dinner as the hike back is a fair way. The boys played pool, and us girls had a very exciting game of Jenga, one of which I lost and the whole stack of blocks fell onto Lena and about three went into her beer! We went back for dinner but Jess and I were in bed early because we were on breakfast the next morning.
Obviously everyone else had a big night because on Monday morning the dining room was so disgusting I wish I had taken a photo to show everyone. It took me 45 minutes to clean all the tables, sweep and mop, while Jess made the porridge and began getting the breakie stuff out. And yet we had it all done and perfectly clean by the time the lunch staff came in at 10am, and the tables outside didn’t run out of jams or anything. What pros! After we finished our shift and had a bit of lunch, Jess and I went for a quick walk towards the other side of Prussia Cove – there’s a nice sandy beach you can just see from the house, which is only a 25 minute walk. Nick said one of England’s cricketers has a fish and chip shop there, but we just stood and watched the surfers a bit. They were all in their wetsuits and some of them caught a few good waves, surfing through the tubes. We only had five minutes though because Miles said we had to be back by 3.30 to get to the station in time, so we half ran, half walked back.
It was sad to leave Jess at the station because we got on really well and it got quite lonely after she left. Miles left me to wander around town for a bit, while he went to run some errands and we had a pick up from the station in an hour. I only brought Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock to read, and was up for a bit of chick-lit, something I didn’t have to think about to read. Penzance has absolutely heaps of op-shops, although they just call them charity shops here. I found a Carol Matthews With or without you in the Oxfam shop, and got stuck talking to the shop lady for half an hour. By the time I got away, I just made it back down to the station in time to see three people jumping in the back of the car. Arlex had been in town shopping, and two of the muso girls, so all four of us had to squish in the back while Miles swung round to pick up Tim. One of the girls wanted to drop her shopping off at the house where they were staying, and then continue to drive back down to the main house, so I just jumped out and ran down the hill. It’s great to stretch the legs and just fly like a bat out of hell sometimes.
Because I had already done my work for the day, I chilled out for a bit and was going to look after little Amelia, who has just started almost walking. Her parents were both going to play tonight. Papa is from Germany, Mum Rebecca is English and they live in France, so this kid is going to grow up trilingual – how great that would be. But because they live in the country Amelia hasn’t spent a lot of time away from mum and dad, so she started screaming when they left. I fed her and played with her while mum was close by, but in the end others had gone overtime so Amelia was asleep by the time they were to play their piece. I had dinner on the top table with all the helpers who weren’t working. It was quite nice, and you get to see both sides of serving and being served. Although I was on my own in my room tonight, we had two new girls, I say new, but they’ve actually been about 11 times over the years. Sabine and Doro are both German girls, and they’re lovely.
Doro and Annie enjoy a good swim in the ocean at least once a day no matter what, which they did on Tuesday. I put my hand up for dinner shift, and didn’t bother going down for breakfast because I’m eating more than enough at lunchtime, tea time and dinnertime. So I opened my window in my room, because the sun had already come up by 10am, and lay in bed listening to one of the girls practicing her violin. I lay there for two hours, just listening and drifting in and out of sleep. I went down for some lunch, where Andrew came out of the kitchen and announced to everyone that ‘due to unforeseen circumstances the kitchen will be closed tonight – there’s a fish and chip shop 45 minutes up the road, or the pub just a bit further…APRIL FOOLS!’ Oh, the looks on everyone’s faces was just hilarious, some of the musos were in utter shock with their mouths hanging open. He could have threaded it out a little more but he said he was nervous enough and the heart was palpitating as it was! It was such a classic moment.
I was keen to go for a swim with the girls, but ended up chickening out. I spent the afternoon sunbaking on the grass outside Coastguards, watching the beach, basking in the sun, reading, listening to music, and just doing not much at all. I was so boring I even put a load of washing on and waited for it. I was on dinner in the evening with Sabine, Doro and the two Sarah’s, and we were in and done by 10pm. It just went so quick, we even had some idle time before serving. We cracked open the wine way before we began serving and opened another bottle not long after. When we were all done in the kitchen I went out and joined Miles, Lena and Andrew listening to a quartet in the great room, where Miles had another bottle of wine with him. Eventually a whole bunch of us, musos and helpers, ended up back in the dining hall playing some weird rhythm game that involved patting hands and animal noises, I couldn’t take them seriously at dinner tonight!
I got woken this morning, Wednesday, by a different violinist, dare I say a bit hard on the ears so I got up quickly and dashed out. Breakfast was long gone, so I sat in the kitchen talking to Julia and eating her flapjack mixture she was making. It was oats and raisins, all good fibre. Well, this morning I was keen to jump in the Atlantic, and Doro wanted to take a dip before lunch, so we went down to the rocks and jumped in and I screamed so loud! It was bloody freezing! We only stayed in for a couple of minutes, I couldn’t even move. It was enough not to hyperventilate and I had to talk myself into slowing my breathing down to a normal rate. But damn it was really refreshing. I felt so energised.
After lunch I was playing with Ben, Rosie’s little boy. Her partner Noam had gone into town and they got a few toys and things from the op-shop for him, a garage and a few cars. Ben is only about four (although you know I’m hopeless at ages) but just so cute, a little curly red head with freckles and the sweetest smile. So we played cars and tried to see who could jump the best, and all those fun kiddy games. Lena had left half way through lunch, to which Ben said ‘But don’t you live here?’
I have to say, the food in this place has been great, such a change and such a luxury. We’ve had Thai, Mexican tacos, chicken curry, tapas, braised beef, fish pie, roasted peppers, olives, dip, all with heaps of vegetables. And then sometimes the chefs do special things for us in the kitchen while we’re working, like Andrew made sashimi the other day. The breakfast shift always makes cake for tea, and there are bits of leftovers from dessert kept in the fridges. Basically, all the helpers have free access to the kitchen so we’re always walking in and finding things to eat. I made cheese platters with Brie and grapes tonight, and had to try my hardest not to eat it while I cut it. Jess and I were doing cheese platters a couple of days ago, and we both ate so much we felt sick! I think I’ve been quite good the last two days, even though Andrew has little nicknames for us according to what we pick on – he called me the cake girl because I always have cake in my hands when he sees me, but they’re just too good. I have to get the recipe for the chocolate one, it’s made with crushed digestives (biscuits).
This afternoon we went for another swim, with Annie too. It was actually easier to jump into the water when outside was a bit cloudy and yucky because the change in temperatures wasn’t so extreme. Afterwards I went up to the Lighthouse bathroom, the top level of the main house, and had a bath in this massive old bath. It was so relaxing and hot and nice that I just lay in there forever. Unfortunately forever could only last half an hour because I had to be in the kitchen by 6pm. It was such boring work tonight because everything was done; we had quite a bit of down time. I ran back up to Coastguards to put my washing in the dryer.
And that’s basically caught you up to where I am now, Thursday morning, in town on my laptop.
Tags: Travel
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