Cornwall

Despite its attachment to saffron buns, Cornwall is not a county immediately associated with the growing of saffron. Several people have tried to uncover the mystery of Cornwall’s saffron-growing past. Cookery writer Vida Heard, who retired to Cornwall in the late twentieth century after spending ‘half a lifetime’ in Southern Africa, concluded ‘the Cornish might call anything saffron that is bright yellow: fields of rape, mustard, buttercups, or whatever. And when you ask old farmers if they have seen or heard of anyone growing saffron, the reply can be ‘the climate baint no good – don’t ee know?’³⁴