Tranquillity found

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33425, 5 January 1974, Page 8

Tranquillity found

Cottage on a Cliff. By Derek Tangye. Michael Joseph. 185 pp. The wish to live an uncomplicated life with no part in the busy, fractious outside world led the author and his wife to search for a peaceful haven, and they find’the perfect place for them on a flower farm near Land’s End. Many visitors find their way to their cottage on the cliff and one gathers that the animals and birds are more welcome and less demanding than some of the human visitors. The author’s attempt at daffodil growing is a disaster through lack of experience. He is undismayed however, finding real satisfaction in rediscovering simple pleasures — the sound of a singing seal, gulls in a gathering storm, a friendly pigeon, the mischievous donkeys, and even the antics of the family cat. We are given two recipes,

one for homemade wine, the other for bread, and the author does his best

to convince the reader that the simple life is the most rewarding. He muses over the price of progress whenever the Concorde shatters the peaceful atmosphere and confesses to moments of guilt at feeling so content in an age where it is more fashionable to protest. The quiet Cornish cliffs have healing qualities and nothing here appears to have changed very much over the centuries. One can draw a parallel

between the Tangyes and their wild cat Daisy who valued her independence more than her life. This book is about two people who have given up a hectic and sophisticated life to gain peace and happiness and it has the same homely appeal as Derek Tangye’s previous books, “A,. Gull on the Roof” and “A Donkev in the Meadow.”