I’m Melinda, the designer and storyteller behind ‘From the Swallow’, writing and creating from aboard Gwennel— my hand-built gaff-rigged sailing boat whose Cornish name means swallow. I live on her with my husband Mike…a salty seadog if there ever was one.
Living upon the water was never simply about travel for me. It came from a lifelong pull toward old stories, sea legends, weathered churches, forgotten places, and the strange beauty of things left behind by time. Some of my earliest memories are of wandering graveyards beside my grandad, reading worn inscriptions beneath rain-darkened angels, tracing Victorian mourning symbols in stone, and wondering about the lives hidden beneath them. I think part of me has always been searching for echoes.
That same feeling still shapes everything I create now.
Life aboard Gwennel keeps me close to tides, storms, seabirds, salt air, and the old folklore that clings to the British coastline. Crows gather often where we anchor, bold and watchful creatures I’ve grown strangely fond of over the years. Swallows return with the seasons. Old sailor superstitions drift endlessly through harbour towns. Everywhere feels threaded with stories if you pay close enough attention.
The artwork and objects you’ll find here are born from those things — sea-worn letters, forgotten folklore, black feathers, mourning lockets, stormlight upon the tide, antique etchings, wandering souls, and the quiet romance of the old world. Each piece is intended to feel like a relic from some half-remembered tale.
This shop helps support our life afloat and the continuation of that journey, allowing us to keep creating from the places and stories that inspire us most.
Thank you for being here, and for finding your way to this strange little corner of the tide.