ABOUT DESTINATION CORNWALL
Founded by Graham Hawkey and launched in 1998, Destination Cornwall is a website focused on daily weather, accommodation and recreation in Cornwall. This is a non-commercial site maintained in memory of Graham who passed away in July 2006. About Graham.
Graham at home in Wadebridge.
The telephone was always the most important tool, next to the computer of course.
How do you contact us?
We are easiest to contact by email: admin@destinationcornwall.co.uk.
Chatting with Graham
Graham’s sister, Lesley, moved to Australia in 1981 and regularly chatted with Graham over the ‘phone. Then fax and voice message came into play and finally email was an excellent medium for the siblings who loved to be in contact but were never organised with time differences between Sydney and Cornwall. The following notes about Destination-Cornwall are from Graham and Lesley’s conversation since Graham was diagnosed with cancer.
How did Graham find his way to website design and development?
Graham enrolled in a computer course in 1990. This lead him into being “totally hooked” and he’d spend many hours (obsessively) at the computer, blocking out everyone (except his daughter Jac). His world was the computer. He had no particular career plan in mind but a growing interest in the power of the internet.
How did he learn web skills?
Other than the computer course it was self-taught. Starting with free web page software from AOL and then finding something, back in the mid-90s, called Dreamweaver.
Where did the vision for the design and content come from?
Absolutely from a passion for Cornwall and everything genuine about the people, place and life in Cornwall. It was originally going to be called Cornish Friend but through discussion with a group of people, two of whom were to be co-founders, it became Destination-Cornwall. Graham didn’t intend to be a web designer but was to be the sales and marketing director, and content creator with his passion for writing and photography (a profession in an earlier time of his life). The two potential co-founders, with web design and database skills, didn’t stay the distance so it became a one-man band. Consequently, design is no great strength of his website to this day!
What was different about his website?
Graham’s strengths lay in his relationships and contacts who had a similar passion for the environment, countryside, people and places of Cornwall. Some examples are through Graham’s contact with the Cornwall National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) stations, British Helicopter International (BIH), Cornwall Flying Club (CFC), Lusty Glaze, Bridge Bike Hire, Ernie Biddle, surveyor and map maker, and many more. Over the years, Graham spent enormous hours talking to these wonderful people and organisations every single day of the year and updating his website with their input.
What were the highlights?
The most highly regarded aspect of Graham’s work was the weather report. Cornwall Early (the day’s weather and week’s forecast) drew on generally available information through the Meteorological Office but more importantly, especially for Cornwall, it relied on his experience, knowledge and relationships. His other report, Around Cornwall, was a result of gathering information from the volunteer watchkeepers at the NCI lookouts around Cornwall who reported what was happening through their window ‘right now’ and what the likely weather conditions would be for the day ahead in their particular location.
Graham maintained several pages of daily weather reports over the years, since his website was launched in 1998. The commitment was for reports to be live by 7.00am and they were there on the dot. To cover all areas of Cornwall Graham added reports from British International Helicopter for the Isles of Scilly, Lusty Glaze at Newquay, Cornwall Flying Club at Bodmin and his own view from Wadebridge. In all he would be in contact with nine locations and chat through wind direction and force, temperature, barometer readings, footpath conditions (where applicable!), visibility, cloud level, sea state, sea activity and generally comment including best idea of weather outlook for the day.
As Keith Hodge, Station Manager at NCI St Ives writes: At around 0700 you would phone Graham and give him the weather and local conditions. “What is happening in the Bay Keith”, “How full are the car parks” “Are the coastal paths wet, damp or dry” Funny, this question always started with wet! “How many fishing boats out?” Graham would put all this together and it would appear in time for the hotels around Cornwall to access his web, print it out and present to their guests at breakfast time. Every day Graham also emailed this report to his subscribers.
To see an example of his extensive Around Cornwall reports click here.
Walking and Cycling Maps
Surveyor, Ernie Biddle, creates his unique maps by walking Cornwall with a GPS in hand. Ernie has now created walking and cycling maps for The Camel Trail to Eden, Bugle to Eden, Par Beach to Eden, China Clay Country Park to Eden, China Clay Country Park to St. Austell and on to The Lost Gardens of Heligan and Mevagissey. Also the Great Flat Lode which is a 7.5 mile circuit steeped in history, plus Penzance to Land's End. Visit the Camel Trail section of the site to see Ernie's maps.
The Diary and Cinema
This section was a week's hard work to compile a huge database of events taking place around Cornwall. Graham called on his network of people in business, colleagues and generally available reports and provided the report as a free public service. Visit this old Sample November Diary as an example of the enormous work involved.
Graham and Nigel (Nige) Wiggett, proprietor of Bridge Bike Hire in Wadebridge, realised the value of the internet in the 'early' days but had little to no funds to publish their information with great fanfare - so decided to promote each other's website.
Nigel was cycling the Camel Trail every morning and thought a monthly story on life and conditions of the Camel Trail would interest visitors to the website. Graham received Nigel's photos and report and created the section 'A Ride with Nige' for the Destination Cornwall website with a link to www.bridgebikehire.co.uk. Together with the webcam which looks over the Camel River stretch of the Trail from Bridge Bike Hire the Camel Trail is one of the most visited sections of Destination-Cornwall.
Graham met Jennifer Green, writer and illustrator, many years ago and fell in love with her writing style and subject: hedgerows. Jenny had a beautiful insight into the plant life of hedgerows and woodland paths. She wrote about what plants are growing when and where, how they can be used for good health and how important it is to care for and preserve them. Many years ago Jenny gave Graham approval to use her work which was originally printed in the North Cornwall Advertiser. Over 1995/6 he tried to contact her without luck and the Hawkey family would be very grateful if anyone is able to help put them in contact with Jenny.
The Future
Since Graham passed away on 31st July 2006 his family keep the website live and hopefully relevant to those living and staying in Cornwall. They rely on visitors to the website to let them know about content that is now out of date. The daily weather report is basic compared with Graham’s work but it is updated and live every day, designed to print from the website and to hand out or pin to a notice board. In July 2007, the website had over 40,000 unique visitors and grows during the holiday season, declining again for the winter months.
