Hard to describe the emotions really.  The loss of David Cornwell, aka John le Carre, was sad enough but looking at this photo of him enjoying the grandeur of his Cornish home makes me long for that particular part of the magical kingdom of Kernow.

There`s no point in me trying to write any sort of obituary for the great man - that has already been done and in any case his books will forever speak for themselves.  But I wonder whether I might share a sense of loss too for his part of Cornwall that I have grown to love over the years.   It`s almost a secret - tucked away down very minor roads and down beaten tracks - a world of its own, one which consists of almost secret places such as St. Buryan, St. Levan, Treen and St. Loy, where David had this spectacular home, high on the cliff overlooking the sea.

I`ve walked most of that stretch of the south west coast path and have a longing to go back there. To enjoy Porthgwarra, to see the Logan Rock, hear the song of the sea at Nanjizal, admire Tater-du lighthouse, walk the path to Lamorna and feel the ocean on Gwennap Head.  Trouble is, at 81 it`s a long drive but as I read again the volumes that John le Carre has bequeathed us my mind will always return there, along with my heart.

I often wonder why it is that the romance of Cornwall never fades.  Maybe because it provides the ultimate escape from the mayhem of the south-east and from the trials and tribulations of life.   I remember years and years ago we had a holiday in far west Cornwall at a time when I was feeling the pressure of a demanding job.  We only went for a week and I spent the first three days unwinding and the last two days revving up again before re-entry.  And in the brief time in between , one day we went to Sennen Cove.  I sat on a rock on a quiet sandy beach with the sun beating down and the breeze wafting in from the sea and I knew in those moments that I was finally on holiday - away from it all - and I cherished every second, knowing what it was like to be free and at one with the world.

It didn`t last long, of course, and before I knew it I was back on the treadmill of life:  but I was always grateful to Cornwall for providing that glimpse as to what real life might be like which is probably the reason why we have been back so many times..  I imagine David Cornwell knew that real life only too well and who wouldn`t, living on the clifftop at St. Loy for more than 40 years and never growing tired of it?