In the 1970s, Poldark, a period piece showcasing Cornwall, was shown on Masterpiece Theater. Easily, the star of the show was the magnificent scenery and lovely manor houses. With this in mind, we planned a trip to England that included such towns as Truro and Penzance of Pinafore fame.

Poldark country was published around this time to take advantage of the craze for anything Poldark. The book in text and illustration identifies the places and houses that were used in the filming, and includes a short history of the series, a section on author Winston Graham and his Poldark books (up to seven by this time), and the cast of the show.

Author David Clarke does a good job of capturing the mystique of the program. However the photographs, except for the cover, are in black-and-white; these do not do justice to the Cornwall I visited so long ago. Now that Cornwall and the town of Portwenn (the village of Port Isaac being used for filming) is again the subject of a TV series, there is even more interest in this lovely land. If you want to revisit Poldark, this is the perfect book but, if you want to see photos of the landscape, there are other travel and souvenir books that would better suit the purpose. ( )