Historic hotel stands the test of time where rugged hills join wild seas

When you're a child, some places hit deep.

- Martin Hesp

The view into Boscastle from the sea

I don't know why this may be, but it does seem to be the case that some locations can have a profound effect so strong that you remember them many, many years later.Boscastle is one such place for me. I distinctly recall being stunned by its wild and rugged beauty as a boy. If we ever went to Cornwall on holiday, I was forever pestering my parents about a return visit to this strange, fjord-like indentation on the north coast.

Perhaps that word had something to do with it. I'd read about the drama of Norwegian fjords and rather liked the idea that there were places in this world where the ocean managed to creep deep inside a bold and rocky hinterland of mountains.

Okay, so the North Cornwall hills are big, but they ain’t mountains - however, they are pretty steep and, where they meet the sea, they are rugged in the extreme. And the steep winding valley that has been created by the Valency stream really does allow the ocean to come tiptoeing into this landmass.

The saltwater is like an ambassador from some different and distant land. It allows the onlooker to experience the feeling of being deep within the solid and unmoving security of a landmass while at the same time being confronted by the frenetic dance and movement that is the hallmark of a vast ocean. But unless you take one of the little paths either side of the harbour, you cannot see that ocean - it's wide and wild horizon is hidden from view and, somehow, far away.

Near, yet far. A secret place where saltwater and rock meet and play. And I mean play, at least when there's been a storm at sea and the blowhole below Penally Point at the mouth of the fjord is puffing great arcs of spray like a dragon. I loved it as a boy, and still feel profoundly attracted to it now all these decades later. Because not much has changed at Boscastle, and I doubt it ever will.