There’s one thing I noticed about Cornwall is that the light is brighter. I thought it was my imagination until I was enlightened by a wonderful German fella called Chris who happens to be a photographer.

Chris said it’s because Cornwall is surrounded by sea, the water reflects light back at all angles in a way that you get such vivid light on the Greek islands, so whites are really white and blues radiate vibrancy. It also lifts the spirits but without you really knowing why, it’s just brighter.

It’s with this in mind that I took a few pictures of the jubilee pool in Penzance.

The Jubilee Pool was designed in the early 1930’s by Captain F Latham who happened to be the borough architect. It opened in 1935 to a wonderful fanfare and was much used and loved for over 50 years until it almost fell apart. It was saved by another local character who championed what must be one of the more lovely examples of lido era architecture. I am quite a fan of lidos living down the road from the behemoth Tooting Bec lido – at 100 yards long one of the biggest pools in Europe.

I managed to get into the pool in the early morning when nobody was in the water. The surface was as crisp and clear as it could be giving me the chance to take pictures of the wonderful geometric forms that serve to highlight the genius of it’s architect.

I went over to Sennan to do some surfing to see the lifeboat station getting a makeover, the strange shape of the platform that carried the plant used for the job looked like some creature from War of the Worlds as it teetered on it’s spindly legs.

I love Cornwall for the way it feels like it is another country, more so for me than Scotland or Wales, Cornwall is set adrift in the Atlantic like a jewel full of pirates and soft sheeted sails.