I like the rhythm that the seasons bring. We’ve been hibernating a little and just doing the essentials, like making pancakes and building train tracks. I do find my energy and enthusiasm running a little low this time of year and so I’m always glad to see the snowdrops, the daffodils, the lengthening of the days, like a trail of breadcrumbs leading the way to spring.

And so it was that I was glad to have a weekend away in a cosy cottage with a special Auntie  to look forward to. J and J are always good company and we enjoyed the opportunity to relax with convivial company and a roaring fire.  A brief pause in what has felt like interminable rain gave us chance to get out for a walk. I’ll share a few pictures, but I’m a bit sketchy on the directions; we were happy to follow J’s lead. At one point the footpath dwindled and disappeared so we had to follow our instincts; ducking under and over fences and scrambling a bank!

What I do want to tell you about is the history of Trefanny Hill, originally called Hille. We didn’t know the story, but after wandering around the hamlet which had a swimming pool, tennis court and a tiny ‘Inn’, all fallen out of use, we had to know more.  We discovered the hamlet of houses was formerly part of the Lanhydrock Estate. In the 19th Century it was a small farming community with a chapel and a school, but after First World War, the the village was abandoned and forgotten until the 1960s. This article reports all the men went to fight, and none retuned. I found the idea of the deserted village both moving and fascinating. Life came back to Hille when it was bought by a couple who ran it as a holiday village and renamed it Trefanny Hill. We stayed in Hill House, the former house of the school mistress and her numerous children. Now the houses have been sold off and most are individually owned holiday homes.

Here are a few pics from our walk, and a few hopeful signs of spring.