‘Home is Where the Bug is’ by Nicola, North Cornwall

My experience of homemaking in Cornwall is deeply grounded in nature, wild spaces, and my garden, which perhaps explains why my brain hallucinated this extravagant beetle one day in response to medication I must take for my illness.

The sense of Cornwall for me is embedded in the landscape, from my favourite wild places, both moor and coastline, to the super popular tourist hotspots, which latterly due to illness, I have been unable to visit as I can no longer drive. I love this landscape in all its seasons, although I do have a soft spot for the deep suck the landscape takes in late Feb/early March, revealing the bare bones elements of its industrial past before the buds burst and hide its secret.

I have designed my garden as an extension of my living space, and it’s become incredibly important to me due to my illness. When I was planning the garden, I was pretty frustrated by the lack of sunshine in it, made worse by the fact that I’d planted so many trees in it and inherited a very high hedge. But actually, the shade is now what I need, so I’ve encouraged shade planting. I’ve also cleared a non-native hedge at the back in order to get a drystone wall (Cornish hedge) built, which I’ll plant with native hedging to encourage biodiversity. It’s become my womb and its microclimate permits all kinds of different planting. I’ve got wet planting on one side of the garden, where the hard surface of the neighbouring holiday rental property drains into my garden, and dry planting on the other side that takes full sun. I love it… the garden extension has very much become an extension of my home as especially in the holiday season, the lower village is too busy for me in my condition.

This community has been supportive of me during my illness, although it takes a lot of asking, which is hard.

Home for me is very much where the hearth is as I love to cook. One of the joys of living here is the access to fabulous local produce. I have deliveries of vegetables weekly, buy local baked bread and free range eggs. I was, until recently, a meat eater and always bought locally, but now I eat more locally caught fish. Home is always where I entertain. Home is also Cornwall, it’s the place that has afforded me nurture,

Although Cornwall has permitted nurture and healing, my community is under stress due to the pressures on housing supply. I have devoted the last few years to strengthening that by founding a Community Land Trust and ensuring we have policy to move forward to building affordable homes for local people. The Community Land Trust is a micro-community in our parish, where we’ll also improve commercial properties in the same land pocket we’ll purchase from the local authorities (we’re currently negotiating Heads of Terms for the land). This, and the support from fellow activists has embedded me forever in the community.