The lands end peninsula, almost as far south and west as you can go in the uk, a favorite of the second home owner, beautiful, rugged and for most of the year populated only by locals. Day to day life is generally not glamorous, money is tight, life is not easy, especially now and yet today was a day of a strange story unfolding.
The leisure center Penzance, only a few years old, pretty well equipped and possessing both a sauna and a steam room and it was in the sauna that the tale was told to me of a company contracted to provide security to a number of very wealthy families for whom the possibility of kidnap for ransom is very real.
The location of these families was not revealed to me nor was any explanation given for the divulgence of this information. The tale was told by a man of middle years, slack bellied but strong jawed, with an intriguing accent which, in my mind, had brought him from the pacific rim, via north america to our remote and sleepy town. A perfect place to hide?
With remote and isolated properties that do not appear on sat navs and are invisible to all but the most thorough search. Could west penwith become a hideout for the paranoid plutocrats?
I'll keep you posted...