Author finds destiny in a Cornish field

The ashes of author Derek Tangye (right) were scattered in a Cornish meadow yesterday, near the cottage home The Minack Chronicles author shared with his late wife, Jeannie, a few miles from Land's End.

It was a memorial both to Mr Tangye, who died last October, aged 84, and to his wife, an author in her own right, who died 11 years ago. Her ashes were also scattered in Honeysuckle Meadow.

Mr Tangye's books about life in Cornwall, and their cats and donkeys, attracted an international readership and were translated into several languages.

Mr Tangye's sister-in-law, Mrs Moira Tangye, said the couple's home, which attracted hundreds of visitors when they were alive, had become "a bit of shrine" for fans since they died.

It was expected that their rented cottage would be re-let by the estate which owned it. But the 20 acres stretching down to the sea, bought by Mr Tangye and called Oliverland after one of their cats, would be cared for by the Minack Chronicles Trust he set up.

Two donkeys left at Dorminack after Mr Tangye's death, Merlin and Susie, are still living close to the sea, at the Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary in Devon. Many fans call at the sanctuary to see them.

An auction in Penzance next month of the couple's literary and photographic collection, as well as items of furniture, is likely to attract huge interest from fans.

"Derek had the tremendous gift for getting home to people, and he left extreme emotion in readers," said Mrs Tangye.

A commemorative anthology, to be called A World of Forever, is to be published by Michael Joseph.