I’ve a confession to make, which is that even though I’ve read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and her horror anthology Echoes From the Macabre about 500 times each, I’ve never read Du Maurier’s classic novel, Jamaica Inn. That did not stop me from shrieking to the heavens with excitement when I realized that you can in fact visit the actual Jamaica Inn in Cornwall.
There are GHOSTS.
There is a SMUGGLER’S MUSEUM.
SEND ME THERE NOW.
Here I give my standard disclaimer: Romance Wanderlust is a column in which I daydream with the help of Google. I’m neither endorsing nor reviewing Jamaica Inn, because I haven’t been there. YET.
The real Jamaica Inn was built in Cornwall in 1750. Smugglers used the inn as a stopping point on the way to Devon and as a hiding place for contraband, including brandy and tea. Daphne Du Maurier stayed at the Inn in 1930 and was thrilled by its history. Her book, Jamaica Inn, tells a harrowing tale of domestic violence, smuggling, and murder, all thwarted by a young woman who comes to visit.
Here’s the first appearance of the Jamaica Inn in the novel:
She lifted the sash and looked out. She was met with a blast of wind and rain that blinded her for the moment, and then, shaking clear her hair and pushing it from her eyes, she saw that the coach was topping the breast of a hill at a furious gallop, while on either side of the road was rough moorland, looming ink-black in the mist and rain.
Ahead of her, on the crest, and to the left, was some sort of a building, standing back from the road. She could see tall chimneys, murky dim in the darkness. There was no other house, no other cottage. If this was Jamaica, it stood alone in glory, foursquare to the winds. Mary gathered her cloak around her and fastened the clasp.
Today the inn is in business for tourists in search of the romantic atmosphere of combining distant crime, literary genius, and potential ghost sightings. I cannot begin to tell you how sad I am that “Mr. Potter’s Museum of Curiosities” is no longer at the Inn. Nothing says “romance” like what Wikipedia describes as “a large collection of stuffed animals in complex dioramas, such as an animal courthouse or school classroom populated by baby squirrels.”
Dear Readers, I beg you not to click on, say, this link for pictures. I did, and now I’ll never sleep again. Mr. Potter must have been hitting the laudanum pretty hard, and presumably Jamaica Inn is haunted, among other things, by 100 ghosts of dead animals. (There is such a thing as too much taxidermy, I have discovered.)
However, while we are robbed (or rescued, depending on your point of view) of the chance to see the curiosities, one may still visit the Smuggler’s Museum and the Daphne Du Maurier Room. The Smuggler’s Museum contains smuggling items of interest from the 1700’s through today, while the Du Maurier Room features her writing desk, copies of her books, and her favorite candy.
I’ve never been to the Jamaica Inn and I have little to go on save their website, but frankly the actual bedrooms don’t look romantic at all. They do have four-poster beds, but when it comes to linens someone got a little overexcited about the floral, and many of the views are of the parking lot. The food isn’t much of a draw either. It appears to be standard English pub food – think items with chips and savory pies. Basically, the place appears to be touristy as hell.
But who cares about these petty inconveniences when one has a Smuggler’s Museum and also ghosts?
The inn hosts regular Ghost Nights and rumors abound of ghosts in the older parts of the Inn.
Basically, this inn would be devastatingly romantic for a very specific type of person – a fan of the Gothic, a fan of foggy weather and ghost stories, a fan of Du Maurier, and probably fans of Poldark due to the smuggling connection.
Bring a white nighty, a candle, some sensible shoes, and a snarky sense of humor, and see what happens!
I went a few years ago and it was awesome! I ate at the bar there and as I did, I couldn’t stop thinking, this building is 300 years old and I’m drinking in it and eating chips. And it looks that old! The ceilings are low, the rooms are dark, the wood is scoured…as an American from the Midwest, it blew my mind.
It is touristy but goodness, the ambience is worth it.
I was also last there many years ago. So touristy as to be a travesty. Maybe stick to the book. 🙂
Yes it is touristy, but I think you still get the sense of it being in the middle of nowhere, all elemental and wild. My friend and I could hear what we were saying to each other luckily, unlike in the BBC series from a few years ago.
It’s great novel, and there is a serialization of it (maybe from PBS?).
Hitchcock did an adaptation of Jamaica Inn. It’s not what I would call flawless, but Charles Laughton is so amazing in it. I kind of like to imagine him haunting the inn, but I feel strongly that he has gone somewhere fancier.
One of you talented people should do a piece on du Maurier. There’s Rebecca, of course, and Frenchman’s Creek and Jamaica Inn. All have been memorably adapted.
Oh, and My Cousin Rachel. At one point, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine were doing all du Maurier’s leading ladies.
How could I forget The Birds. Brilliant short story.
For anyone who clicked on the link of laudanum induced taxidermy projects and thought, “I wonder if there is somewhere in central Wisconsin where I could view similarly festive taxidermy projects” I have a suggestion for you. Stop by the Moccasin Bar in Hayward,Wisconsin for a delightful display of chipmunks singing and drinking beer in lederhosen, raccoons playing poker, and wolves involved in a Jury Trial. Well worth a trip…http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/moccasin-bar
Jamaica Inn is touristy but there’s so much more to Cornwall – of course I’m prejudiced because I grew up there. PS. If we’re talking old the Cornish church we got married in is over 760 years old 🙂
I love Jamaica Inn the book and, I admit, I actually loved Jamaica Inn the recent adaption with Jessica Brown Findlay and Matthew McNulty (swoon). Yes, you can’t understand a word that Joss Merlyn is saying, but if you crank up the volume and/or turn on subtitles then you get rewarded with an amazingly feminist retelling of an already feminist novel. And the music is spooky and beautiful.
I think I’d be among the people who enjoy the real life Jamaica Inn!
There’s a new version of My Cousin Rachel coming out June 9th, with the perfectly cast Rachel Weisz in the title role. it’s directed by Roger Michell, who is a bit erratic, but did do my favorite Austen adaptation, the 1995 Persuasion with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds.
I adored the Jamaica Inn adaptation from around 1980 with Jane Seymour and Trevor Eve. He is a a suitably disreputable Jem Merlin and I remember being a bit scandalized when I first saw it because he is talking good girl Jane S. into spending an illicit night in town with him and she actually is going along with it (until circumstances mess it all up). It was nothing like the usual neat, mannerly and polite costume dramas I was used to. It’s not fancy, everyone has appropriate (I think) accents and it’s all a bit dank, wet and messy and slightly sexy.
If we’re talking romantic places with Du Maurier links to stay this cottage https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/frenchmans-creek-7584 at Frenchman’s Creek takes some beating. No phone signal or wifi, right down in a wooded valley with a couple of great pubs you can walk to. We’ve had a couple of fantastic holidays there, though I nearly lost Mr Jazz and the spaniel when she got stuck in tidal mud and he almost got stuck rescuing her! And they have Jamaica Inn on the bookshelf along with a selection of other local writers, histories of the area etc.
JAZZLET! Thank you! I had no idea there was a real Frenchman’s Creek. I just bookmarked the heck out of that – I will get there. I will. That is my favorite Du Maurier, and I love the movie, and now I have a new destination on my list. (Those kids better get out of school soon so we can sell the house and basically air b n b the rest of our lives).