St Dominic, Tamar Valley, Cornwall: Ewes are inquisitive in the lowering sun, while glossy pennywort enlivens the shady lanesSuch was the quantity of rainfall last week that the meadow by the National Trust’s Cotehele Mill flooded, the brown swirling...

St Dominic, Tamar Valley, Cornwall: Ewes are inquisitive in the lowering sun, while glossy pennywort enlivens the shady lanes

Such was the quantity of rainfall last week that the meadow by the National Trust’s Cotehele Mill flooded, the brown swirling water incongruously strung across with Christmas fairy lights, marking the destination of the woodland path from the quay. Runoff from saturated ground converges now towards the racing streams that were once channelled to power grindstones at the Radland, Cotehele and Barrett’s mills.

Amid the prevailing dullness of midwinter, on a bright afternoon we walk west, towards the watershed – the parish’s highest ground separating it from the River Lynher’s catchment. Lowering sun casts tree shadows across sparkling streams, while the steep banks of north-facing fields remain in shadow. On this sunny slope opposite, a flock of inquisitive ewes tread lightly, soon to be moved to another enclosure to avoid soil compaction and overgrazing of the permanent grass.

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