Spriggan Art Studio

Spriggan Art Studio We are a family run Art Studio passionate about providing you with quality Cornish prints, Art and G

The Vanishing Mirrors of North Cornwall: Remembering the Village PondLong before they became picturesque backdrops for f...
10/08/2026

The Vanishing Mirrors of North Cornwall: Remembering the Village Pond

Long before they became picturesque backdrops for family photographs and a place to feed the ducks, the communal ponds of North Cornwall were the unsung workhorses of our rural infrastructure. For generations of farming families working the rugged landscapes around Padstow and the Camel Estuary, these hand-dug basins were absolute lifelines—serving as vital livestock watering holes, crucial reservoirs for village blacksmiths and wheelwrights, and an immediate defense against fire in an era of thatched cottages. Yet, as modern mains water and mechanized farming pushed these old traditions aside, our local ponds began to fade from the landscape. Today, many have been filled in for road widening, choked by decades of neglected silt, or pushed to the brink by increasingly severe, parching summer droughts. In documenting these quiet spaces through the lens, we are capturing more than just water and wildlife; we are looking at the vanishing footprint of a bygone Cornish way of life.

Sunrise over a seaside spyglass
02/06/2026

Sunrise over a seaside spyglass

27/05/2026

PS Waverley sailing into Padstow

The NAO SANTA MARÍA on a misty morning at Padstow Harbour
24/05/2026

The NAO SANTA MARÍA on a misty morning at Padstow Harbour

view of Pentire steps beach and Diggory's Island
23/05/2026

view of Pentire steps beach and Diggory's Island

The Plantation - The Landscape Of My Childhood
23/05/2026

The Plantation - The Landscape Of My Childhood

Diggory's island The Giant's Stepping Stones: Cornish mythology attributes the creation of these massive rock stacks to ...
22/05/2026

Diggory's island

The Giant's Stepping Stones: Cornish mythology attributes the creation of these massive rock stacks to a giant named Bedruthan. Legend claims he used Diggory's Island and the neighbouring stacks as stepping stones to cross the dangerous bay.

Mist and Stone at Booby’s BayThere are afternoons on the South West Coast Path that feel less like a walk and more like ...
18/05/2026

Mist and Stone at Booby’s Bay
There are afternoons on the South West Coast Path that feel less like a walk and more like stepping into another world. Booby’s Bay, near Trevose Head, offered exactly that on this particular grey, mist-heavy afternoon.
The light had flattened everything into shades of slate and silver. Sea and sky seemed to merge into one shifting mass of grey cloud, with the horizon almost disappearing altogether. It was the sort of weather that strips the coast back to its bare mood — quiet, wild, and slightly mysterious.
Then there was this rock.
Resting low against the sand, it looked strangely alive in the dim light, its dark, layered stone softened by long strands of seaweed draped over the edges like tangled hair. The seaweed hung heavy from the rock face, damp from the tide, giving it an oddly theatrical appearance — as though the cliff itself had shrugged on an old, weather-beaten cloak.
In brighter weather, it might have looked unremarkable. But under the low mist and heavy sky, the rock seemed transformed into something ancient and peculiar. The dark striations in the stone stood out sharply, almost sculptural, while the trailing seaweed added movement to an otherwise still scene. It had the look of something that had surfaced briefly before disappearing again with the next tide.
Booby’s Bay has a habit of changing character with the weather. On sunnier days it can feel open and expansive, but in conditions like this it becomes quieter, more introspective — a place where the details catch your attention. The textures of wet stone, the muted colours of sand and sea, and strange formations like this seem to emerge from the gloom.
Walking this stretch of the South West Coast Path, moments like these are often the ones that linger longest. Not the postcard-blue skies or dramatic sunsets, but the quieter scenes — the mist rolling in, the silence of an empty beach, and an oddly shaped rock dressed in seaweed that somehow manages to stop you in your tracks.

Gunwalloe Cove and The Church of the Storms
09/05/2026

Gunwalloe Cove and The Church of the Storms

Above Polperro Harbour stands the old net loft, a simple granite building once used by fishermen to store and repair the...
07/05/2026

Above Polperro Harbour stands the old net loft, a simple granite building once used by fishermen to store and repair their heavy pilchard and mackerel nets. In the nineteenth century, when fishing was the centre of village life, the loft would have been busy from dawn until evening. Nets were hung from beams to dry after long days at sea, and the smell of salt, tar, and wet rope drifted through the harbour. Men sat on wooden benches repairing torn mesh by hand while boats rocked below against the quay walls. During storms, the loft became a shelter where fishermen watched the tide and waited for safer weather before returning to the water.
Today, the harbour is quieter, with fishing boats sharing the water with visitors and pleasure craft, but the net loft remains a reminder of Polperro’s working past. Its weathered stone walls and narrow windows still overlook the crowded harbour entrance, where generations of local families earned their living from the sea. On calm evenings, when the tide is low and the gulls circle overhead, it is easy to imagine the sound of voices and the steady rhythm of needles pulling twine through the nets, carrying on a tradition that shaped the village for centuries.

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Padstow
PL288DY

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