mark rodgers
27th August 2008, 01:59 PM
hello folks,
Having rediscovered the Chronicles after maybe 20 yrs I nostalgically browsed the web for Minack and found you great group of like minded people. I began reading Dereks books over 30 yrs ago and when I got married aged 25 my lovely wife and I honeymooned at a St Buryan rented cottage...we took the opportunity to write ahead to Derek and Jeannie and let them know how much we enjoyed his writings and that we would be passing Minack on the coastal path one fine day in April 1978...he wrote back and invited us to call by. On the day , a sunny day, we approached Minack but had decidednt invade their privacy unless we spotted one of them outside, Derek spotted us first and said they were expecting us !...they were wonderfully hospitable and we chatted with Derek on seats by the cottage, Jeannie made tea and produced a tray of cakes...bless her. We had actually brought them a piece of the wedding cake. Jeannie was mostly quiet and smiling but Derek was chatty and took us on little tour, its a long time ago now but I especially recall finding the donkeys in thier cool atmospheric stable where Derek related a story of psychic donkey happenings ...I guess he told the same story many times to visitors..lol. Derek took several photos with our new camera but he noticed the focus blurred after every shot..I told him not to worry and it was probably some feature I had not yet worked out,but alas it was a fault and I do not have a good record of the day. Of course it sadly transpired that Jeannie had but eight summers left with Derek from that April day and I lost my own wife in 2004 at 49 so I can partly imagine Dereks emptyness in his final decade. I live busily here in Lincoln and travel a lot but have not been back to Cornwall since 78...but maybe next March I will !
Look forward to reading everyones posts...Mark.
Having rediscovered the Chronicles after maybe 20 yrs I nostalgically browsed the web for Minack and found you great group of like minded people. I began reading Dereks books over 30 yrs ago and when I got married aged 25 my lovely wife and I honeymooned at a St Buryan rented cottage...we took the opportunity to write ahead to Derek and Jeannie and let them know how much we enjoyed his writings and that we would be passing Minack on the coastal path one fine day in April 1978...he wrote back and invited us to call by. On the day , a sunny day, we approached Minack but had decidednt invade their privacy unless we spotted one of them outside, Derek spotted us first and said they were expecting us !...they were wonderfully hospitable and we chatted with Derek on seats by the cottage, Jeannie made tea and produced a tray of cakes...bless her. We had actually brought them a piece of the wedding cake. Jeannie was mostly quiet and smiling but Derek was chatty and took us on little tour, its a long time ago now but I especially recall finding the donkeys in thier cool atmospheric stable where Derek related a story of psychic donkey happenings ...I guess he told the same story many times to visitors..lol. Derek took several photos with our new camera but he noticed the focus blurred after every shot..I told him not to worry and it was probably some feature I had not yet worked out,but alas it was a fault and I do not have a good record of the day. Of course it sadly transpired that Jeannie had but eight summers left with Derek from that April day and I lost my own wife in 2004 at 49 so I can partly imagine Dereks emptyness in his final decade. I live busily here in Lincoln and travel a lot but have not been back to Cornwall since 78...but maybe next March I will !
Look forward to reading everyones posts...Mark.