Long before they became destination stops, farm shops were practical lifelines in Cornwall; places where farming families sold what they reared, grew or made, and where local communities stocked their pantries. In a county shaped by smallholdings, dairy herds and mixed farms, the connection between land and table has always been close - and still, today, hyper-local food is something Cornwall does exceptionally well.
Its origins lie in the county's mining past, where it was devised as a complete, portable meal. The crimp acted as a handle, and some pasties were even made with different fillings at each end, offering both savoury and sweet in a single bake. Debate over the perfect pasty remains lively, but the classic combination of beef, potato, onion and swede is still the benchmark, and for many, still the one to beat.
It looks more like the past than the future. A vast chasm scooped out of a scarred landscape, this is a Cornwall the summer holidaymakers don't see: a former china clay pit near St Austell called Trelavour. I'm standing at the edge of the pit looking down with the man who says his plans for it will help the UK's transition to renewable energy and bring back year-round jobs and prosperity to a part of the country that badly needs both.
Linda Williams, 86, has been without heating, lighting and a working phone for the best part of five days. She is trying to keep warm by layering up and she picks her way around her home in the remote Cornish village of New Mill with old battery lamps from her days of caravanning. I think it's safe to say that we're in a bit of a state, said Williams, a retired council accounts assistant. But it can't go on for ever can it?
We are supporting the next of kin of the people who have died in this very sad incident. Officers are carrying out enquiries to establish exactly what has happened, but we are not seeking anyone else in relation to this matter.
The property that homeowners Heather and Chris discovered was a mid-century detached house, on a steep slope overlooking the beach, damp and barely habitable.
