BLOGS

My Favourite Blogs: The Salty Sea Blog

On 24th April 2016
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I aspire to be like The Salty Sea Blog. Sarah’s eye for photographs is unbelievable and her writing matches their beauty perfectly. She’s got a wonderfully imaginative and whimsical voice, making each and every one of her posts a joy to read.

Of all the blogs I follow, her photography stands incredibly high up in the list of those I am envious of, capturing spectacular scenes and quaint little details that we all wish we’d been aware enough to notice. I can imagine this is partly due to the eclectic mix of life in beautiful Bath and her home county in Cornwall.

Reading The Salty Sea Blog reminds me of every single aspect of Cornwall that I love, and will always draw me back. Her love of the sea, and the entire landscape that surrounds it is tangible in every post, documenting adventures and rambles along unknown paths, accompanied by age-old folk tales. I am so grateful to Sarah for agreeing to take part in a Q&A, especially as she’s in the midst of finishing her degree, wedding planning and moving back beside the sea, so I hope you fall in love with her blog as much as I have.

1. How would you sum up your blog?

An homage to my obsessions; nature, lore, the ocean, whimsy, creative writing and photography.

I’d like to think it reads like a book, perhaps a collection of short stories like Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Books. There’s country lore, poetry, education and an abundance of silliness. It all links back to nature and life however, and our place within it.

2. Describe your ultimate meal (starter, main and pud)?

Oooh I love food! This is very difficult. I really love pate on toast with chutney and that’s a pretty popular starter. I really love seafood and freshly caught lobster with garlic butter and chorizo is just so om nom nom, so I’ll have some of that with samphire and frites plesase. Add some steamed broccoli on the side because I’m obsessed with broccoli and other green vegetables, especially the tenderstem kind.

For desert, I’m rubbish because I don’t like puddings. I don’t really like sweet stuff full stop (unpopular opinion I know). I might be able to stretch to some inoffensive raspberry sorbet if I’m feeling wild. Or then again, I might just be fine with a porkpie and some cheese J Can a pasty count as desert?

3. If you were a vegetable what would you be and why?

A green one for sure. Maybe a broccoli because they have fabulous hairdos (not that I rate my hairdo), but I feel that they have a certain pizazz to their styling that I could aspire to. Also they look like miniature trees.

Am I a tree?

Am I a vegetable?

Who knows!

4. Name the book/s that has had most impact on your life?

Probably Peter Pan by J.M Barrie. It gave me a love for reflective thinking, taught me the value of beautiful language and instilled a respect for philosophy. It filled my dreams with visits to Never ever land (sadly not so frequent these days) and was one of those stories that I always held dear to my heart. It’s the book I can still read today and it makes my heart skip a few beats as I linger on a particularly moving sentence. I think Never ever land is to blame for my Peter Pan complex too (which largely affects my behavior and mentality). I have a real fear of letting go of my childhood and growing up, so much so that I spend a lot of time dwelling on aging. Not because I fear death, but because I fear the loss of play, spirit and wildness – the freedom of being young and infinitely creative. I resent grown up problems and losing sight of a time when all that really mattered was building a really cool den in the woods.

5. Describe one of the best adventures you’ve ever been on?

I really couldn’t say. My life has been one infinite quest for adventure. I live in a delusional bubble where I am a character in a story. I love playfulness and pretending I am on a quest of some kind (See above) so I make it my business to have at least one adventure of some sort a week. My favourite kinds include wild swimming, camping, shooting stars and singing folk songs in the country with my friends.
One memory that immediately comes to mind was when a friend and I walked through fields, woodlands and meadows to find a particular part of the river where you could wild swim. We found a secret part of the canal, where river folk had set up permanent home and turned the woods next to it into their gardens. They had swings in the trees, pot plants scattered about and hung their washing and shoes up to dry on the branches – it was so beautiful and romantic. We eventually found the river and it was beautiful – waterfalls, big blue dragon flies everywhere and lots of nooks and crannies to play in and explore. We jumped in, climbed the falls and swam about in this little river nestled in a valley. It was glorious.

6. In a film about your life, what would three of the tracks on the soundtrack be and why?

I think something folky and instrumental like the Derry Tune by Kila – It’s so tingling and evocative – It’s one of my favourite songs. I play it when I’m travelling or writing. It also has a few sounds of the sea!

Shape of my heart (Ukulele version) by Noah and the Whale because it’s cheerful and optimistic and very playful, then Laura Marling’s Blackberry stone because her incredible song writing in the album I speak because I can is deeply poetic, moving and reserved. It’s gentle, profound and references ones place within nature quite a lot. My life revolves largely around three things: nature, wisdom and storytelling so Laura’s poetic songs suit my personality pretty well.

7. What’s your go-to interesting fact about yourself?

I have ADD (Attention deficit disorder) and dyspraxia. I feel very floaty a lot of the time, I zone out very easily and sometimes I have real difficulty feeling things because my senses feel anaesthetised. This is always at its worst when I’m indoors. If I’m in the ocean or in water in general, I feel the most alive, euphoric and grounded. It stops me from feeling spaced out (Which sometimes is really scary because I panic that I’m in a dream and not really awake) so I think that’s partly why I’m so obsessed with the sea. My ADD is always at its worst when I’m in the city or a really busy place with nothing to focus on and blinker me (like a job or creative project).

8. If you could have a superpower what would it be and why?

Shape shifting – it’s a combination of invisibility and the capacity to fly. If I want to be invisible, I quite simply become a butterfly or bumblebee or cat and get access to all sorts of restricted places! I could become a seabird and soar in the sky too. It would be really cool to shape shift, I could also masquerade as other people and cause quite a bit of mischief. I think it would be the most fun super power.

9. Name three countries you haven’t been to yet on your travel bucket list?

I am desperate to visit Norway, I’ve always wanted to go ever since Nan got back from there a few years ago. I’d love to see the Atlantic highway, go on a seabird watching expedition and see the Aurora and camp at North Cape. I’d also really love to visit Canada (Where George’s family are from) and Nepal.

10. What would your patronus memory be? (If you haven’t read Harry Potter – it’s the moment in your life when you’ve felt happiest)

-Ha! I’m the vice president of the Harry Potter society! I most definitely have read the books. Harry Potter is life.
Like Luna, my patronus would be a hare. My patronus memory would simply be the times when I’m swimming in the ocean, home in Cornwall. I’m underwater, floating on my back, looking up at the twinkles of sunlight on the surface of the water. I put my fingers up to touch it and I can feel the air on them. I feel like a sea creature, I feel alive, filled with joy, like there is nothing else that I could possibly want from life.

11. It’s not long until you graduate, what’s been your favourite thing about your degree and living in Bath?

Everything is my favourite thing about my degree. I am one hundred percent in love with my degree and I’ve enjoyed almost every moment of it. I love the community of creatives that are my classmates and I love my quirky lecturers. I love the knowledge and sharing of wonderful ideas and the constructive criticism that we receive. I am a true Ravenclaw, down to my core; I have a deep love for learning and wisdom and believe me, if I could spend my entire life studying, I really would! I love my campus and the fact that we can have lessons in a castle. I love the canal ways of Bath and the beautiful riverboats. I love the beautiful coffee shops and the hot air balloons and most of all; I love the history about the place. Bath is quite simply beautiful.

12. As you’ve recently mentioned in a post, you and George are returning back to beautiful Cornwall once you’ve left, what would you do on your ultimate Cornish day out?

Same thing we always do, go exploring! I love going to new places I’m not familiar with and rambling. One really great memory in particular was when we explored St. Nectarns glen near Tintagel. We rambled along rocky valley and climbed down waterfalls into a basin of caves by the sea with our family. I really love exploring new parts of my home county and I dread the day when I’ve done it all and there’s no surprises left. My ultimate day out would involve a really long hike, an outdoor picnic somewhere with an amazing view, discovering some Celtic remnants, waterfalls or amazing sea cave and secret beach, a really thorough swim in the salty sea followed by a homemade campfire, watching the stars come out, spotting the constellations and the milky way.