EX5 continued - Bentley Media

CONTINENTAL GT
Above The combination
of beautifully tailored
soft-touch leather,
crisply defined planes
and wood veneer of
glowing colour and
lustre makes the
cockpit of the new
Continental GT a deeply
satisfying place to
spend a long journey.
Chasing the sunset continued
Celtic and largely untouched by the Roman occupation, the Cornish have
worked the tin and copper deposits as well as china clay over hundreds of
years. Mournful disused mine engine houses dot the landscape, which, like the
clay-spoil mountains at St Austell, bear witness to harsh economic realities.
Local man and St Ives-school artist, Peter Lanyon, has just been the subject of
a retrospective at Tate St Ives. The power of his 1953 painting St Just bears
witness to the sufferings of the tin miners whom he described as ‘napalmed
out’ by mine owners and hazardous working conditions, which claimed many
souls. Lanyon’s painting commemorates the 1919 Levant tin mine disaster
when 31 men were killed and many injured after the main rod on a beam
engine broke.
Fishing, too, used to be a big employer and as a former long-line
fisherman, I’ve nothing but respect for the men who work the nets and lines
far from shore in one of the most dangerous industries there is. Lifeboat crews
who selflessly venture out in all weathers to rescue seafarers are held in
special regard in Cornwall and rightly so.
Life in Cornwall can be hard. The county’s population of just over half a
million suffers low wages and high unemployment as well as the vicissitudes
of the tourist industry, government and armed forces cutbacks and the
weather, which they seem to get more of than anyone else. One poignant car
sticker reads: ‘Mining’s crap. Fishing’s crap. Farming’s crap. Best be back to
wrecking me hearties.’ It’s been a while since the Cornish drove their cattle
along the cliff tops with lanterns hanging from their necks to lure
unsuspecting sailors onto the ragged rocks, but you never know…
Given all that, you might expect a simmering resentment against the ethos
of gadabouting leisure and careless privilege that a Bentley might conjure,
but the natives turn out to be friendly.
“What a beautiful car,” says one man when we stop to take photographs.
“Just two for me please, boys,” says another.
“What colour would you like?” we joke back.
“Oh, as they come, as they come,” he grins as he disappears into the gloom.
While the traditional bucket-and-spade tourist market has kept the wolf from
the door, there’s something of a renaissance in a different style of tourism these
days. With Rick Stein’s Padstow Seafood Restaurant in the van, the new breed
of foodie tourism attracts well-heeled sybarites to stylish eateries. Surfing, once
a specialist sport, is now a minor industry, with surf schools in every north
coast bay. The Eden Project, Tate St Ives and various luxury developments have
extended the season and become go-to destinations for visitors when the
weather isn’t clement.
At this time of year, the off-season, the hotels are being refurbished,
primped and preened. In some parts of the county the local language could be
Polish and we struggle to park the Bentley amongst the battered Transits and
Travis Perkins wagons laden with sand and cement. Typical of the new class of
hotels are the Bedruthan Steps and its newer sister, the Scarlet.
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