The 2 week residency is in an incredible location – the most westerly house in England. It faces over the sea to Lands End. The South West Coast path heads upward behind the cottage to the summit of Cape Cornwall.
I forget that it takes time to settle into a place, a practice, a relaxed openness of mind. I have been here before, or near here, a year ago. I arrived by bus in the dark a couple of days early for the Cot Valley Residency in November 2023. The next day I walked without a destination in mind and arrived at Cape Cornwall and revisited again as part of the residency a few days later. The 4 day Residency had me thirsting for more time with the rocks, the sea, the seaweed and the raw elements that cut through the inertia I brought with me from the calm flat lands of Cambridgeshire. Today when I had walked from the cottage to St. Just, I retraced that first walk to Cape Cornwall, watching memories being triggered by recognition and a gentle familiarity and at the same time battling with too much head stuff; a raft of self-imposed expectations and doubts.
Then, close to the cottage. Giant rounded pebbles, a piled carpet of seaweed, the mirror water and the sound of the waves. I began.
