After thirty years abroad, Jonathan Cox, a Cornishman and former journalist, returns to Cornwall to study at Falmouth University, accompanied by his Swiss wife, Marlis.


The Cornwall Sabbatical is a humorous chronicle of their experience as they explore picture-perfect fishing villages and coastal coves and crisscross a granite landscape of rugby posts, old mine stacks and the barely discernible ruins of an ancient Celtic nation. The gritty Cornwall of his childhood has gentrified into one of the most desirable locations in the UK and become a magnet for Michelin restaurants even as sharp inequalities remain.


A touching story about a lost way of life, The Cornwall Sabbatical reveals how Cornwall’s unique geology, climate, natural history and position as the end of the known world for much of antiquity has created a pioneering libertarian spirit and distinctive culture that is timeless.