Emily Marsh, studying Creative Writing at Falmouth University, relates her journey to and from Cornwall through the years and tries to underpin what makes this charming county so important to come back to.
The long drive down the A30 is all too familiar to me now. Some of my most vivid memories of childhood are those of being taken down to St Ives for short stays at caravan parks or nice hotels on offer in the lively seaside towns of Cornwall.
They’re my favourite, those memories, and I now get to call this lovely little county in the South West my home.
My obsession with Cornwall was inherited to me through my father. His obsession was born through working here. His working week was split in two towns. He’d work Mondays and Tuesdays in Smethwick, a small part of the Black Country and on a Wednesday he’d drive down to Hayle to work the rest of the week away.
He became a sort of resident in The Porthminster Hotel (now St Ives Harbour Hotel) in St Ives and I still remember the indoor swimming pool and ocean views; the walks through the lanes in the town and the time spent as a family whenever my father managed to take us along with us on his working trips.
It meant that, as a child, I spent a lot of time in Cornwall. With a severely ill mother, we could never afford nor risk going abroad on holiday, so the South West has always been the perfect escape route whenever the big city of Birmingham became too much.
The beaches became a necessity and too much time away made me anxious and all the more desperate to get back to slower pace of life the county offered to me.
I figured eighteen years in the only city and the only house I’d ever lived in was too much time to spend in one place.
It was time for a change.
When Falmouth came along, it was an opportunity I refused to pass up. Along with it came a complete lifestyle change. I no longer had to struggle through the crowds the city centre presented me with. It was more of a battle with small children on the beach and watching my back in Falmouth for the cars that are able to drive down the high street.
It’s not as different as you’d assume, though. Hailing from Longbridge, in Birmingham, I’ve grown up with the industrial site of Austin Rover on my doorstep. So, naturally I find comfort in seeing old tin mines and sailors who have been at sea for hours on end and finally docked for a while in Falmouth.
Working men were born and bred here and working men are what you are guaranteed to find in Longbridge. It feels as though every local here has a connection to the county’s old mining or sailing background and I can assure you that every man in Longbridge could tell you stories about working at the old Rover site.
So, when I decided to come along to Falmouth University to study, I wasn’t just embarking on the journey through university. I was committing to growing into my adult self in the place I found so much magic in when I was a child.
In the vital years of early adulthood when so many changes are inevitable the familiarity of the places I used to visit and the remains of towns that thrived on industrialism give me hope that wherever I go – no matter how far from home I may be – I will be able to find something that makes it feel like home.
I’m sure the journey along the A30 seems longer to me now than it ever did when I was a child.
However, I thrive on the excitement of Cornwall not just being my holiday destination. I’ll be left here, at home, to fend for myself and I’m sure to find joy in every minute of it.