A Performance at the Minack Theatre, Cornwall

You might remember my long walk from Land's End, the very bottom corner of England, along the coast to the Minack Theatre. It was a long day of photogenic scenery, chatting with my walking companion, stopping to catch our breath and admire the landscape, and finally, turning up at the Minack Theatre just in time to get tickets for a performance that evening.

We were lucky, really. The Minack Theatre, an amphitheatre created in the side of a Cornwall cliff, usually only holds performances over the summer season from June to September. But this time round, a local theatre group had scheduled a performance of the musical "Fame!" to run over the Easter holidays. We had to queue to buy tickets for the evening, and so my friend and I alternated waiting in line with doing a bit more sightseeing and walking around this amazing amphitheatre, as well as looking at the exhibitions accompanying it.

The Minack Theatre is really the brainchild of one woman, Rowena Cade, who decided to turn her garden into a theatre in the 1930s. She and her gardener did much of the hard work themselves, carrying stone up from the beach or down from the house to create a stage area and the amphitheatre-style seating. The result (and its subsequent renovations) is really an amazing place, with one big disadvantage for actors and performers: until it's completely dark, the backdrop of cliffs and sea is a very distracting one.

That night, after successfully getting a couple of tickets and stocking up on some warm snacks, my friend and I huddled together on the cold stone steps of the amphitheatre, soon realising why they usually only perform in summer. Rain threatened but it was mostly wind that kept us shivering. The performance was an amateur one, but fun, with good use made of the stage and setting. To be honest, I felt quite privileged to be able to see any kind of show performed at such an incredible venue.

If you're in Cornwall over summer, try your best to get tickets for a performance at the Minack Theatre. Just be smarter than us and take some warm clothes, even if the daily temperatures seem high. I can imagine that even some days of an English summer would produce some chilly evenings sitting on the stone next to the cliff. If you don't make it during a performance time, you can also explore the Minack Theatre as a day-time visitor, which is also worthwhile, and a nice ending to a walk up from Land's End, if you're feeling energetic.