It’s rare for me to really appreciate art. I am, as I have said many times before, a bit of a philistine. There is an odd occasion when I fall in love with something and this is one of those things. It’s a Celtic Cross – they are common in Cornwall as any visitor here knows. Most are made from granite and a great deal smaller than this one which is 20 metres tall. It stands on a small plot of land on the Cornish side of the Tamar bridges although the road bridge is a lot closer than the rail bridge and hence the view from the road is better.

This thing of great beauty took fifteen years from conception to erection – its plans won a design award in 1998. I had believed it to be made from resin coated copper panels but now know that it is, in fact, made from glass fibre and made to look like copper. The fact that it’s not what it looks like doesn’t make it any less beautiful. Copper was hugely important to Cornwall for generations although now there are no copper mines in operation here. We live right in the heart of a copper mining district which has World Heritage status.

We’ve been to Plymouth today to get urgently needed supplies and a combination of sunshine and blue sky made this beautiful thing look stunning so here it is – a thing of great beauty.