Cornish Fairings truly are ‘A taste that’s out of Cornwall‘, and it is a great shame that they are not more widely available – considering that they have been a Cornish favourite for over 100 years. It was only a few years ago that they almost became an endangered species when the factory was forced to close due to lack of demand – which would have been a great tragedy for Fairings fans. Thankfully someone saw sense and they were rescued.

It all began in Truro in the 1880s, when John Cooper Furniss began producing Fairings, gingerbreads and other goods from a teashop in Truro. His original recipe is for a lightly spiced biscuit, perfect on its own or with tea. Others in the current range include orange & lemon, stem ginger & honey, and apple & cinnamon, and are all excellent additions to the range.

The original Fairings are similar to Gingernuts, but have a more delicate cinnamon and mixed spice flavour. They are quite hard and brittle, but are excellent dunkers – becoming deliciously soft and slightly chewy with the application of tea (probably due to the expert use of Golden Syrup in the recipe).

The name ‘Fairing’ comes form a present brought at the fairs which were held every year at Whitsuntide and Corpus Christie – a little gift consisting of gingerbread, sugared almonds, cinnamon sticks or macaroons.

I for one will be doing my best to ensure that demand remains high for the superb biscuit of Cornwall – the Cornish Fairing.

Minions is the highest village in Cornwall, high up on Bodmin moor, and was totally created for the needs of the local industries: mining, quarrying and railways. It was almost entirely constructed in the few years between1863 and 1880. The area though is thought to have been inhabited for around 6,000 years, and old field systems and settlement areas can still be seen amidst the moorland, though they can be more clearly seen in Google Maps.

To the north of the village is Stowe’s Pound is an early hillfort set on the top of Stowe’s Hill, while there is said to be no firm dating evidence it is considered to be Pre-Ironage and possibly Neolithic. Some of the hill has quarried away on the southern side, the stone being used for buildings including Tower Bridge and the Albert Memorial in London.

Next to the remains of the hillfort, and right on the edge of the quarry, is the Cheesewring is a natural formation of balancing rocks, along with several other stacks of similar rocks.

The name Cheesewring comes from the fact that the rocks resemble the bags of apple pulp used for making cider. These are locally known as cheeses and when piled on top of each other in a press form a similar shape.

To the south of the village there is even more evidence of the industrial past with spoil heaps and derelict pump houses, chimneys and railway lines – the latter made very good walking.

More photos from the walk, this trip and the trip to Cornwall last month can be found here.

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It was not until 1615 that tea was first mentioned in British literature, and it was the British who took it all over the world and cultivated it in large quantities in India and Africa.

At the forefront of novel plant introductions the Tregothnan Estate began the search for the perfect tea when it was recently shown that high quality tea could thrive in Cornwall.

Now I just have to find some Cornish Fairings biscuits…

Tregothnan garden is situated at the head of the Fal Estuary and has been the home of the Boscawen family since the 1300s. It has a wonderful collection of plants including original introductions brought back from by plant hunters including William and Robert Lobb, and plants from expeditions to China and South America.

More than 100 years ago the Boscawens introduced rhododendrons, rare trees and the earliest outdoor plantings of camellias in the country. A specimen of Trachycarpus fortunei is reputed to be the tallest in the country, and they have probably the best Cork Oak (Quercus suber) specimen I have seen in the UK.

The Tregothnan estate continues to be at the forefront of plant introductions, particularly with growing its own tea – though that was not accessible on this rare open day.

More photos from Tregothnan, this trip and the trip to Cornwall last month can be found here.

I had such a good time visiting last month, I was really pleased to be back again now. I had only ever spent time down ‘in the pit’ but I was curious about the wider estate. Having a look at Google Maps and Microsoft Live Search Map gave a real insight into the evolution of the site.

Having tried to find shelter from the strong northerly wind yesterday on The Lizard, the promise of better weather today coaxed me out onto Bodmin Moor…

I started from Churchtown, just north of the town of Bodmin, and headed off east across fields and then up onto the moor. The first objective was to find King Arthur’s Hall – a rectangular earthwork lined with stone slabs, surrounding featureless and marshy centre. The views were fantastic and I could see 3 peaks in the distance further east and to the north that would provide an interesting circular walk.

The weather was a bit mixed and I got rather wet – from both the top down, and from the bottom up! Walking across the marshy moorland did slow me up, and I had missed lunchtime when made it back to Churchtown – thankfully I was just in time for an afternoon cream tea, which was most welcome after just over 12 miles of moorland walking.

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More photos from the trip to Cornwall can be found here.

Cornwall is one of the few places in the UK where saffron is used to make cakes and buns, though similar delicacies can be found in a few places around the world.

Saffron cake is a rich yeast dough cake that is flavoured with saffron and contains currants. With the delicate saffron flavour also comes the rich and distinctive yellow colour to the cake.

Traditionally saffron cakes were only made at Easter time, though thankfully they are now available to enjoy all year round with a cup of tea!

Saint Piran was an early 6th century Cornish abbot, supposedly of Irish origin (the Irish were said to have tied him to a mill-stone, rolled it over the edge of a cliff into a stormy sea, which immediately became calm, and he floated over the water to land upon the sandy beach of Perranzabuloe in Cornwall).

St Piran became the patron saint of tin miners having ‘rediscovered’ tin-smelting when his black hearthstone had the tin smelt out of it and rise to the top in the form of a white cross (thus the image on the flag). The flag however also has similarities to the old Breton flag (white flag with a black cross) and also the Flag of Saint David (black flag with a yellow cross).

It is said that you never talk of a ‘Cornish pasty’ in Cornwall. It’s always referred to simply as a pasty…

The delicious savoury parcel is a meal in itself, and doesn’t need to be accompanied by anything – other than a nice cup of tea. The vegetables within, comprising onions, potatoes and swede (called turnip in Cornwall), must be sliced. The meat, usually skirt or chuck steak, should be chopped. The filling always goes into the pasty raw, and baking takes upwards of an hour during which time the filling steams and its flavours blend together – acting to form a gravy.

Even in Cornwall there is no consensus as to what type of pastry makes the best pasty. Some say short, others that rough puff pastry is better. Both schools agree that the texture has to be firm enough to hold the filling without cracking or splitting (to be strong enough to endure being dropped down a mine shaft). Traditionally the pasty would be held by the crimped edge, which would be discarded at the end of the meal having become dirty.

The earliest references to pasties date back to the 13th Century, and they have been exported around the world in various forms – wherever Cornish people go pasties soon follow.