The last oystermen on the Fal

Oystermen have long toiled for their keep on these ancient waters and this living craft, passed down through generations, endures to this day

- Neil Cross

HE UPPER reaches of the River Fal as it is joined by the Truro River beneath the Gothic splendour of Tregothnan are magical and ancient. Since time immemorial the deep, tidal waterway has brought trade and comparative prosperity to the communities along its banks. Linking Truro with the great port of Falmouth, these waterways have been plied by traders, tinners and smugglers over the centuries and some of these became very prosperous indeed. In 1603 Richard Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, recorded that 'Descending from Truro to the haven's mouth by water you are overlooked by sundry gentlemen's commodious seats.' The grandest of them all is Tregothnan: seat of the Viscounts Falmouth and producer of fine Cornish tea from its riverside plantations.

On a blustery March morning, we wound our way from the King Harry Ferry, through the Tregothnan woods to the impossibly picturesque Tolverne (or Smuggler's) Cottage. It was from here that Eisenhower personally oversaw the departure of his troops before D-Day and where he stayed in the ancient thatched cottage, which melts into the sylvan landscape with its feet in the water. The concrete roadway and hardstanding still exist from this time but all else feels timeless as the salty wind carries nothing but the sound of wading birds and lapping water across the broad expanse of the channel.