I would like to talk to you about Gwithian Beach in Cornwall as a place that is one of my favourites, and somewhere that I really would love to be. This is a little bit of a story of how we came to find Gwithian and why I love it.

We had been married for maybe three or four years when we embarked on a road trip of Devon and Cornwall in an old burgundy metro that had been gifted to us. I remember that the windscreen wipers didn’t really do their job on that very rainy holiday and so our stops along the way were often dictated by how little we could actually see.

We arrived in Gwithian not knowing anything about it early one evening and set up our tent on a campsite. Later on, we headed out across the sand dunes with no idea of what awaited us on the other side.

I vividly recall our gasps of sheer delight when we saw the beach and the ocean. We had not expected you Gwithian and you were an unexpected gift of great proportions. The vast wildness was a reminder of Norduk Beach in South Africa where we were in love and engaged.

Twenty years on you hold so many of our precious memories Gwithian. Holidays for two walking the length of golden sands, then plus bump, then plus children. Wading through the water to sit by the rock pools with our toddlers, flying kites, jumping in waves.

Now eight years into another relapse of ME that has left me mostly housebound and often bed bound due to severely limited energy resources and a montage of unwelcome symptoms, my current experiences of Gwithian are always second hand.

I cannot navigate the steps, or the walking required, but my much more grown up children now have surfing lessons in the summer there and my husband walks from one beach to the next when the tide is out.

I’ve seen you from afar Gwithian, like a friend from the past that lives far away, but still holds my heart. My mind and heart still hold your magnificent beauty Gwithian. I smile when I often think of you.

I long to feel tiny and quiet in your greatness. I dream of being close to you, striding out, watching the glorious ocean, wind in hair, space to be away and yet fully, deeply within the world. Thank you for surprising us on that first trip.

Thank you for hugging us and holding us for all these years. I hope one day I can return to you and take in your generous, unassuming ways.