About Us
I love my home, here in Cornwall and know that you and many others around the world love Cornwall too.
More than a location, more, much more than a county, it is an ancient kingdom, a repository of tales and myths still sensed or glimpsed from the corner of your eye; a beloved holiday destination and a modern, vibrant, exciting place to live and work.
St Just in the far west of Cornwall is where I live with my three children and our dog Bertie. Here we live, work, study and play (surfing, walking, cycling) in some of the places you see in the Evocative Cornwall calendars and diaries. Many of our friends farm and fish as generations have, some are artists, many work in the newer trades; tourism, the wired worlds - all of us share a love for this special place. My family's roots in Cornwall go back to the early 1900's when my great uncle and aunt, Charles and Ella Naper, came to Lamorna near Penzance, to join its famous artistic colony with Laura and Harold Knight, Lamorna Birch, Alfred Munnings and many more. Aunt Ella made jewellery and pottery, Uncle Charlie was a landscape painter. Consequently from an early age I had an awareness of the particular beauty of this place.
I produced the first Evocative Cornwall calendar for 2004 - I wanted to show the unfolding of the seasons throughout this wonderful place; not just the usual views, but the working lives, the secret places, the small and special moments, as well as the dramatic, that evoke the magic of Cornwall. Initially I selected the photographs from the work of a number of Cornish based photographers - Bob Berry, Mike Newman, Simon Cook, Vince Bevan and Ander Gunn to name but a few - but I soon began to take my own as well, as I wanted to show my Cornwall, and that of all of us who love it. Many a mystery tour in my camper van has allowed me to discover beaches, cliffs, lanes, villages, moors, views and walks in every bit of Cornwall, that were previously unknown to me. I find I am compelled, when the conditions and light are beckoning, to leave whatever I am doing and take myself to the right place for that special shot. I have learnt that as I go about my daily life - shopping, lifts for the children etc - to have my camera with me at all times, just in case I come across a passing moment that I would like to photograph to share with you - and I often do!
When thinking about what else might make the calendar special, I decided to include a listing of some of the main annual festivals, events and celebrations taking place each year throughout Cornwall, as well as a little of the Cornish language, so extending it beyond the purely visual into a very useful publication for both locals and visitors alike.
Cornwall, whilst rich in beauty, is not a wealthy place. It has always been important to me to play my part in supporting livelihoods within the Duchy by ensuring that everyone involved in the Evocative Cornwall enterprise and the manufacture of its products, lives and works in Cornwall. Through the sale of the Christmas Cards a donation is made each year to Cornish Hospice Care and to St Petroc's Society for Single Homeless, which works throughout Cornwall. Thanks to all of you who buy these cards - over £10,000 has now been given.
As the range of Evocative Cornwall products has grown, my original desire to share this wonderful place with those who know it and love it, remains as important to me as ever - to remember and remind us and those we care for, whether they be here or away, of our beloved Cornwall.
Thank you for sharing my delight and making Evocative Cornwall such a success.
Sarah Lay
St Just
September 2009