Full of western promise...

On Sunday the family Brown set off west for a lunch out, a bit of fresh air and a sea view. 

All three of these things are very much needed at the moment as 1. my oven is broken so cooking is less varied than usual, 2. the weather has kept us all very much indoors recently (snowed under with marking, revision and general blergh) and 3. why move to Cornwall if you're not going to look at the sea!

We decided to make our way down to Newlyn, heart of the Cornish fishing industry and home to a good pub that does amazing food.

The weather was... well as it is at the moment! It didn't pour down, but that's about as much as you can say! However the muted light reflected beautiful subtle blues and greens on the sea

Looking west towards the Lizard

The fleet with St Michaels Mount in the background.

Now so far this isn't much of a garden post I here you cry - but here's why it is!

Tucked away in one of the side streets we found a glorious doorstep garden, not looking quite it's best at the moment I'll grant you but full of promise for spring.

In a tiny space were crammed all sorts of tender, but still quite lush looking plants.

Mismatched pots spilled out onto the roadside.

Left is shrubby Echium I think -  they have spires of flowers that the bees love.

Right, is an Echium pininana which could get up to 4m tall, I have 2 in my garden at the moment and this is my second attempt, they are biennials that do well in Cornwall if you can get them through the winter - so far I haven't managed that! I also spotted hardy Geraniums, Agapanthus, a Camellia, a climbing Rose, a Clematis and countless other things. I can feel a re-visit coming on later in the year.

Another reason for a re-visit was that our lunch venue was fully booked and the nearest we got to seafood was...

...evidently road sense is lacking in the average squid - where was the Green Cross Code Man when you needed him? So sad!

(there is a joke there somewhere - why did the squid cross the road?... I just hope he doesn't get a ticket!)

As we wandered around the harbour we spotted an amazing green roof - very lush and eco-friendly, but completely unintentional!

The wild garlic was lush and fragrant growing beside the slipway - the perfect spring accompaniment to fish!

So the sea view was achieved and lunch out was achieved (we called in at the Salt Bar on the way home through Hayle), even a bit of garden shenanigans was achieved.

And the fresh air ? Well as long as you like your fresh air decidedly fishy we got that too!