Jamaica Inn was used by smugglers on their way to London from the Cornish coast
the modern side of the Inn where we enjoyed our coffee
and the original smugglers bar known as
Joss's bar
Mary Yellan and Joss Merlyn
Squire Bassett
Alan fooling around
The beginning of the bleak moorland
There is a very interesting and historical museum but we are wanting to be on our way as we are homeward bound today. We did not know at this point that it was going to take us 7 hours to travel 175 miles to our overnight stop. Motorway closures, congested traffic and accidents!!!
The book was made into a film and below is a brief outline of the story
Her Mother's dying request takes Mary Yellan on a sad journey across the bleak moorland of Cornwall to Reach Jamaica Inn, the home of her Aunt Patience. With the coachman's warning echoing in her memory, Mary arrives at a dismal place to find Patience a changed woman, cowering from her overbearing husband, Joss Merlyn.
Affected by the Inn's brooding power, Mary is thwarted in her attention to reform her aunt, and unwillingly drawn into the dark deeds of Joss and his accomplices. As she struggles with events beyond her control she is further thrown by her feelings for a man she dare not trust...
and how Daphne came to write the book
On a cold and eerie night in 1930, writer Daphne Du Maurier arrived at Jamaica Inn, high on the windswept Bodmin Moor.
The following day she went riding with a friend but the mist suddenly came down. They got lost and it started to get dark. In the end they saved themselves by dismounting and seeing if the horses would lead them back, which thankfully they did. Daphne stayed a few moor nights to recover from the ordeal and learned about the legendary history of Jamaica Inn including the smuggling that had gone on there. This, the atmosphere of the hostelry and the wild moor, inspired her to write her most famous and inspiring novel, Jamaica Inn.
It's many decades since I read the book so it's on my Christmas list to read again.
