If you were to ask anyone to describe the perfect Cornish fishing village it would probably be Mousehole (pronounced Mowzal) in Mounts Bay, but there is much more to it than just glorious scenery.
We have taken a number of clients to Mousehole this season and are back there on Monday as part of a tour of the Penwith Peninsula. Did you know that it was razed to the ground by a Spanish raiding party in 1595 all except the Keigwin Arms, which survives as a private house? Also, that Dylan Thomas spent his honeymoon here in 1937 and described it as "the loveliest village in England"? It is also the home of Stargazy Pie - made on 23rd December each year to celebrate Thomas Bawcock's eve.
More soberly, Mousehole is also remembered for the Penlee lifeboat disaster of 19th December 1981, when the RNLI lifeboat Solomon Browne went out in treacherous conditions to the aid of the Union Star and was lost with all 8 hands. The crew are remembered every year when the Mousehole Christmas lights are turned off for an hour on the anniversary of the tragedy. The lifeboat is part of the DNA of small communities like this and by the next day sufficient locals had volunteered to make up a new lifeboat crew - they are a special breed!
An hour spent walking around Mousehole with our guests is always a joy and forms a wonderful part of a tour of the far west of Cornwall. There is always something new to be discovered.
