Many of you will know the name of Petroc Trelawny, a BBC radio presenter still heading up the BBC Radio Three breakfast show. I have met Petroc a number of times, all in Budapest, when visiting the noted biographer Michael O’Sullivan who has written a number of books about Paddy and his noble Hungarian friends (view here)

Just in time for summer holidays to Cornwall, Petroc has published a delightful book – Trelawny’s Cornwall: A Journey through Western Lands. Part history, part memoir, this is a deeply felt exploration of Cornwall – past, present and future. Petroc embarks on a slow journey that sees him visit old mine workings, ancient churches, sites where new technology was forged, and places where poets, musicians, architects and film makers have worked to shape Cornwall’s cultural identity. He explores the Tamar, the river that marks out the Cornish frontier, and holds a finger up to winds of change, exploring the collapse of Methodism, the decline of the Cornish language, and the complex , sometimes lucrative, sometimes destructive, relationship with tourism. As he travels by road, rail and foot, he conjures marvellously vivid figures and scenes from memory, telling the stories of a loving family full of mysteries and a landscape still redolent of ‘Cornish otherness’.

It’s been a while since I have been able to highlight a new book by a friend of the site, so it gives me great pleasure to showcase Petroc’s work, and I hope that you might enjoy reading this as you laze on the beach in Polzeath or elsewhere, holding a cup of hot chocolate whilst trying to stop sand getting into your pasty, and looking out for the children in the Surf’s Up surf school in the glorious British sunshine!

You can buy Trelawny’s Cornwall: A Journey through Western Lands here.