PARADISE LOST ?..

This is a photo I took a few years ago on one of our regular visits to Cadgwith on the Lizard peninsula of Cornwall.   It`s the classic Cadgwith view, looking down from the Todden - the small promontory that separates  Cadgwith`s two tiny beaches - to the fishing beach, onto which the small fleet of inshore boats is drawn up.

I honestly can`t remember the first time we went there - it`s just too long ago - but I do remember how enchanted we were with the tiny cove, the handful of cottages, the one pub, the one shop, the peace and away-from-it-all quiet simplicity and the ease by which we could park the car and wander down a sheltered footpath to the heart of the village.  In our eyes, all those years ago, we had found paradise.   And so we`ve been back again and again and all being well we`ll be there yet again in a few weeks time when we return once more to Cornwall.

Now, over the past few weeks, a series has been on television all about the plight of the inshore fishermen of Cadgwith, their battle with the elements, the vagaries of inshore fishing and the EU quota system which demands that more fish are thrown back in the sea, quite dead, thanks to the crazy EU Common Fisheries Policy.   It`s just possible that, as the television series went out at the same time as the endless soap operas or the equally endless football matches, then maybe its audience has been confined to the more discerning.

But it has been a gripping and informative series, presented by a personable and knowledgeable marine biologist, beautifully filmed and edited and with a serious conclusion that hopefully will not go unnoticed in the halls of Brussels.   There`s a book coming out accompanying the series which deserves to be shown again on BBC One rather than buried away on BBC Two.

Trouble is, all this exposure of Cadgwith, its fishermen and its charms is likely, as with most television and film productions, to result in an increase in the visitors to the location.   It`s true, of course, that like the number of people who can use a  swimming pool is limited by the number of changing lockers or the audience at a theatre is limited by the number of seats, then the number of people who can visit Cadgwith is limited to the size of its car park.   And Cadgwith`s is not very big.   And there`s nowhere else to park.

So we might have a problem making what has become a pilgrimage for us when we go there next month.   I hope not, or our paradise might be finally lost in the welter of attention it might now receive.