'Cornwall is the most important part of me'

BBC Radio 1 presenter Danni Diston, from Bude, Cornwall, has had an emotional return to her roots to learn the language of her home county.

She has hosted a Learn Cornish podcast in which she begins to speak Kernewek (Cornish) while exploring the stories and traditions that define Cornwall.

Diston, who is currently living in London, said she had "felt closer to Cornwall doing this podcast" and the county "will always be in me, it's the most important part of me".

She said: "There's this beautiful word called 'hireth' in Cornish and it means a sense of longing for home... sometimes you do have to leave the place that you love and identify with, but it doesn't mean it ever leaves you."

Diston's family has lived in north Cornwall for hundreds of years but in her lifetime none have known much of the language.

She said: "We've been in Cornwall for the majority of our ancestry and I was quite shocked that, when you think of that, no-one in my family could speak it fluently, but we did have little words, like 'proper job', but the actual Cornish, Kernewek, none at all.

"I knew things I'd Googled, things like 'myttin da [good morning]' and maybe 'dydh da [good day]', but nothing nothing really over that, to be totally honest, so this has been such a beautiful experience."

The Learn Cornish podcast features Diston meeting Bafta-winning film director Mark Jenkin, actor-comedian Edward Rowe - who speaks fluent Kernewek - and Bethany Sheppard, a satellite dish engineer from Goonhilly Earth Station.

The podcast was commissioned to celebrate the Cornish language's recent upgrade to top level protection by the government - alongside Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Welsh.

Diston said: "You don't have to be an expert and that's what this podcast is all about.

"The idea is to learn along with me and I think if you're interested in language or Cornish culture, it's just a really nice way to get involved and recognise that.

"I make some mistakes, but by the end of the podcast, we brought in the Grand Bard [Grand Bard of Cornwall Jenefer Lowe] and I had to talk a whole conversation in Kernewek with her, which was absolutely terrifying, but I felt like I did all right."

She said Sarah Buck, from Cornwall Council's Cornish language team, had been her translator during her podcast.

"Sarah says a really lovely thing, she says languages are carriers of culture and I think just having a little bit of an exposure to that is really, really special, especially if you are Cornish."

The presenter said she and her co-presenter Sam MacGregor use Cornish in their BBC Radio 1 radio shows.

"Every time we speak and say something we thought was funny we'll shout 'splann [brilliant]' at each other," she said.

"It's throwing a little 'meur ras [thank you]' in, little 'dydh da [good day]', every now and then, and it really does make you feel closer to your Cornish heritage."

Diston said: "Being Cornish is the most precious thing in my heart.

"I grew up there, it's home and I think when you grow up somewhere like Cornwall, you have that Celtic connection and culture and it's just so unique to being from anywhere else.

"You're so connected to the land, it's so special."

"It might even be, you don't even have to be from Cornwall, it might be that it holds a lovely place in your heart, but this podcast is so open to anyone," she said.

"We had a laugh, we were learning but we were also just having so much fun and I think that really comes across."

The Learn Cornish podcast is available on BBC Sounds, with new episodes available every week from 1 May.

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