Photographs taken 2004 to 2009
The area around Fowey and Bodinnick is very much "Daphne du Maurier" country, and opposite the Old Ferry Inn at Bodinnick, is Daphne du Maurier's old house "Ferryside". Ferryside used to be known to the locals as Swiss Cottage, and the property was once a boatyard, as old photographs show. Daphne du Maurier first saw the house at the age of 19, when down in Cornwall for a holiday, and immediately fell in love with it. Daphne's parents were looking for a place to live for a while in Cornwall, and they bought the property. It is where Daphne did much of her early writings, and her love for the place did not diminish... "I for this, and this for me!" The du Maurier family still live there, and this area is a mecca for lovers of her books - there is a Literary Centre in Fowey dedicated to her.
Bodinnick means Bos-dinek in Cornish, or "dwelling by a fort, or fortified dwelling". Which dwelling this refers to is not known, but may have been the older Hall farm nearer to the top of the hill above Bodinnick.
View over towards Bodinnick from the Fowey side of the river
"Ferryside" - the house in Bodinnick made famous by Daphne du
Maurier
(the figurehead from the old sailing ship, the Jane
Slade, has been removed for maintenance)
The Daphne du Maurier house "Ferryside" with the figurehead of the
Jane Slade in place
- the old wreck of the Jane Slade in Pont
Creek inspired Daphne's first novel "The
Loving Spirit"
(if you look very carefully, that's Rick Stein sitting on the balcony during filming for one of his excellent foodie series!)
Another view of Bodinnick from Fowey, showing the Bodinnick Ferry
taking on cars
The Boddinick Car Ferry
Another view of the Bodinnick Ferry, looking up towards the China
Clay berths
The
Peter Williams Boatyard at Bodinnick - only accessible by sea!
The great view down Fowey harbour from the balcony of the Old Ferry
Inn in Bodinnick (a great place to eat!)
The Old Ferry Inn at Bodinnick has arguably one of the best pub views in the world, when sat on the balcony with a pint of Doom Bar and a Fish Pie, this side of the Urals! ...(well, one of them anyway... the others are in Cornwall too!)
A fascinating old photograph of the old horse ferry at Bodinnick
when the ferry was rowed across!
(this image has been kindly
supplied from the
Malcolm
McCarthy Collection)
There has been a ferry at Bodinnick since time immemorial, or at least for hundreds of years, and the latest models will navigate you far more safely across the river than the older horse and cart ferries that were rowed and punted across by man-power alone. The image above was taken from the Fowey side, looking up river with the old boatyard building on the right (east) bank, and the china clay berths on the left (west) bank. The exact date of the image is unknown, but can be guessed at from the shipping - perhaps sometime around the early 1900s. Thanks to the Malcolm MacCarthy Collection.
Malcolm has also written a number of books about Padstow and life in the area - With a Pasty in my Pocket is excellent!
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