I was born in West Cornwall, just a few
miles from the pretty little cove of Lamorna which forms the centrepiece of the
story told in the film Summer In February, based on a true story about a colony
of artists known as the Lamorna Group and the love triangle which develops
between one of the artists, Sir Alfred Munnings (Dominic Cooper) and his friend
Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens, who met an untimely end in Downton Abbey) who both
fall for the visiting beauty Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning). I was therefore looking forward to settling
down to watch the film, hoping to catch a glimpse of some of my favourite
childhood haunts. In fact, Lamorna
itself features surprisingly little in the film, although there are a number of
beautiful Cornish locations for location-spotters to feast their eyes on.
The film's most gorgeous beach scenes were
filmed at Holywell
Bay, a short distance from
Newquay on the north coast - perfect for horseriding as demonstrated by the
film's characters - and at Porthcurno, famed for its unique Minack Theatre,
which is actually quite close to Lamorna. Prussia
Cove, further round Mounts
Bay beyond St Michael's
Mount, was used for most of the Lamorna scenes in the film, as the crew deemed
it more practical for filming purposes.
Prussia Cove, which actually includes four tiny coves set among an Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is a private estate which includes holiday and
event accommodation. The notorious
smuggler John Carter operated out of this stretch of coast in the late 1700s,
hence his nickname, the King of Prussia. Trereife House in my home town, Penzance, was another filming location; this elegant
country house used to offer holiday accommodation, but is no longer open to visitors. The woods featured in the film looked suspiciously
un-Cornish to me, and I was right: it turns out the woodland walk scene was
filmed in Hertfordshire.
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| Holywell Bay. Photo by Nilfanion, via Wikimedia Commons. |
As for Lamorna itself, the village and its cove lie at the end of a lush green valley. There is a tiny harbour, which has sadly fallen victim to the violent storms which are still battering Britain as I type: the harbour wall was literally broken in two by the force of the waves. Art fans who want to immerse themselves
fully in the Cornish landscape so beloved of Munnings and his friends can rent
holiday accommodation adjoining the converted barn used as a studio by the
artist. Alternatively, The Cove Hotel
was once home to Gilbert, and later to Florence
and Alfred after they were married. While
in Lamorna a drink in the village pub, The Lamorna Wink, is a must - one of the film's
early scenes features a boozy evening in The Wink. There are lovely cliff-top walks from
Lamorna, towards Porthcurno in one direction and towards Mousehole in the other
- one of the film's scenes features a short clip of the latter. Near Lamorna is a stone circle called the
Merry Maidens, where Florence
and Gilbert used to meet. Legend has it
that a group of maidens were turned to stone for dancing on a Sunday; I vividly
remember being told this as a small child, to my utter terror. Finally, Lamorna is only a few miles away
from some of Cornwall's
most artistic towns and villages, including Newlyn, Mousehole and last, but by
no means least, St Ives.
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| Lamorna Cove - geograph.org.uk - 847500. Photo by Tony Atkin, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Map of Lamorna.
