My Christmas holiday was spent exploring Cornwall with a friend, so I thought I’d share a few of the natural delights I saw along the way. On our first day we visited a charming old church at St Just-in-Roseland, an ancient place where St Just the Martyr has been honoured since around 550AD.

The present church, dating from the 1260s, is surrounded by a large graveyard set in a semi-tropical garden. I was particularly taken with the quantity and colours of the magnificent mosses and luxuriant lichens, and with this lovely verse about aging gracefully.