It was overcast with a threat of rain in the air. Not a good omen when we were booked for a 3 hour matinee of Shakespeare's A mid Summer Nights Dream.....done as an opera in an open air theatre on a clifftop.
But first we decided to stop off for a quick visit to St Michaels Mount.
http://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/
St Michael's Mount in Cornish is "Karrek Loos yn Koos", meaning "hoar rock in woodland", also known colloquially by locals as simply the Mount is a small tidal island in Mount's Bay, Cornwall, United Kingdom. The island is a civil parish and is linked to the town of Marazion by a man-made causeway of granite cobbles, passable between mid-tide and low water - a great feat of engineering at the time. The population of this parish in 2011 was 35. It is managed by the National Trust, and the castle and chapel have been the home of the St Aubyn family since approximately 1650. The earliest buildings, on the summit, date to the 12th century, the harbour is 15th century and the village and summit buildings were rebuilt from 1860 to 1900, to give the island its current form.
We arrived early, just after 9.30am and since the causeway was not due to emerge from the sea until 10.30am at the earliest, we took a small ferry across to St Michaels for a 2 GB Pound fee. Being a Yorkshireman, I hate to pay for a ferry when I can walk over for free, BUT in forking out 2 pounds each we managed to evade the hoards of tourists who were too miserly to pay for a ferry.
We virtually had the island to ourselves for an hour - left to explore the lanes and alleys and sample the delights of the island café. Tea for Lizzie, coffee for me accompanied by a generous sized slice of Victoria Sponge cake and scones with jam and clotted cream. Delicious!
The young ladies who staffed the café were very easy on the eyes too, I might add.
Barely able to move after our cream teas we wobbled back over to the mainland, via the now exposed causeway, against the tide of the 'zombie hoard'.
Full of scones and cream we drove the rest of the way to the Minack Theatre.
https://www.minack.com/
Rowena Cade lived in Minack House on a Cornish cliff top. It was her vision, her idea to turn her cliff top garden into an amazing outdoor theatre. During the winter of 1931 and into 1932 she and her gardener Billy Rawlings moved granite boulders and earth to create what now forms the lower terraces of the Minack Theatre.
The first ever performance there was on 16th August 1932. Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Always a supporter of the arts, Rowena lived to the ripe old age of 90.
Lizzies favourite Shakespeare play is a midsummer nights dream, so when I saw it advertised at the Minack I bought tickets on line immediately. It was only later that I realised that it was an opera 'based on the play'. I must say my heart sank a little.
However I needn't have worried. It was a great performance and highly enjoyable to watch. The venue high on the cliff top enhanced the experience. Needless to say it earned me a stack of brownie points from Lizzie.
As it turned out, the poor weather cleared as the performance started and we both ended up more than a little sun burnt.
We bought our lunch from a stall in the Minack carpark - Katies Hotpots offer a choice of Goat Curry, a veggie based dish, or Chicken and Chorizo. Lizzie had the goat curry and I had the chicken. Both were very tasty and tender.
The seating at the Minack is on a first come, first served basis so the national sport of Britain (queuing) started about 90 minutes before the gates opened. We were there early so were within the first 50 or so through the gates and were seated on the third row from the front. The seats in the first few rows are on concrete and there after on grass. After the earlier showers we were glad to have the hard concrete seats. We hired cushioned seats for 1 GB Pound to save us having completely numb bums!
The carpark was completely full and since we were one of the first cars in we were dreading getting out again. The Minack is along one of Cornwall's very narrow country lanes and we envisioned traffic jams for miles and a return to Tregut cottage in the dark.
Amazingly, even though we were down near the front of the theatre and had about a hundred steps to climb back up to the carpark we 'hoofed it' and were one of the first cars out of the carpark. No traffic jams and home again in daylight. Hurrah for us!
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