The Weather Notebook: Cornwall Weather

Cornwall Weather
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Dave Thurlow, Host

Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow from the Mount Washington Observatory. Today on The Weather Notebook, the English county of Cornwall tries to shake the image of England as a grey and dreary place. Robin White paid a visit.

Palm trees amongst the foliage at the Little Crugsillick Cottage Roseland Peninsula, Cornwall, England.

RW: Out on the southwestern tip of England, Cornwall is bathed by the Gulf Stream, a warm ocean current that sloshes across the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico. It's warmer here than in the rest of England, and travel agents promote this area as the "Cornish Riviera." But at Trebah House, a Cornish garden open to the public, head gardener Rachel Martin admits, the Cornish image is partly just PR.

RM: We often use the term sub-tropical because it evokes this lush rainforest image, of a place people want to be - amongst all the foliage. It's not technically correct...

RW: In fact, it's a marketing ploy which goes back to colonial days when the English aristocracy tried to bring home little pieces of exotic places and plant them here in England. In the Victorian era the owner of Trebah planted Australian tree ferns and exotic looking palm trees which have become the Trebah logo - but Martin says the palm trees are not as tropical as they're cracked up to be.

Martin: Although we use three palm trees as the symbol of our garden and people associate them with tropical climate, the palms that represent us are Chusan palms from China from quite high up in the Himalayas, so we're cheating with people's image of palms as being solely desert island.

RW: It's a good ruse and it's repeated all across Cornwall. Combined with a slightly milder climate the image has led the county to become one of England's favorite tourist destinations.

Robin White is an independent producer from San Francisco. The Weather Notebook is underwritten by Subaru with major support provided by the National Science Foundation.