Did you ever read Daphne du Maurier as a young girl? I read Rebecca, was transported to Cornwall and the world was never the same. Ever since then a small seed has been patiently waiting in my travel garden. Waiting for its time. Waiting to grow. To bloom.
Many years ago I got one of these small handmade booklets in the mail, where alot of names and addresses were written, I was asked to add my own name and pass it on through the mail, and if I wanted I could choose a name or two, write a letter and hope that a new penpal would be born.
I already had enough penpals, but I added my name and sent the booklet back to the person who sent it to me, forgetting al labout it. Then, months later, I got a letter in the mail with a British stamp, unknown handwriting. It turned out to be a letter from Margaret in Cornwall who had found my name and address in the very same booklet.
This letter was the very first start of a friendship. Many a letter, many a packet, many a handmade gift has found its way from Cornwall to Norway, from Norway to Cornwall since then.
When I started to plan my "writing time off" a few months ago (I have been given five weeks this summer to start another book project), I came over information about Cornwall with a Celtic influence, and at once I knew that I wanted to go there. NOW might be the opportunity.
I wrote Margaret a letter asking her if she had any information for me about the sacred Cornwall, and not long ago, for my birthday, a packet with a stack of books came in the mail. "Sacred Cornwall - The Heritage", Sacred Cornwall - Timeless Tranquility", "Sacred Cornwall - Love Stories", and Daphne du Maurier's "Vanishing Cornwall. The Spirit and History of Cornwall"
I don't know if my travel to Cornwall will be a reality this summer, but I have written Margaret another letter, I am looking at flight tickets, I am reading about Cornwall, I am dreaming.
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Note: For Christmas 2007 I got "From Cornwall with Love" by a dear friend, for my birthday last year I got "Golden Harvest. The story of daffodil growing in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly" by Andrew Tompsett from Margaret.
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Photos: from British Museum
Copyright/text and photos: Britt-Arnhid Wigum Lindland
