Say Hello To Adele's Sombre Shade
The St Kew Inn is one of just a handful of buildings that make up the tiny village of St Kew. It was first licensed in the 18th century, although the building is much older and dates from the 1600s.
It boasts a huge open kitchen range and a slate floor, one section of which (now covered by concrete) presents visitors with a tantalizing enigma.
The Skeleton Under The Floor
In the 1970s a new water pipe was being laid in the bar, and in the course of excavations workmen uncovered the skeleton of a teenage girl.
According to forensic experts, rumour has it that she had been there for the best part of 100 years, yet no one could discover her identity or find any reason for her decidedly unconventional resting place.
She was reburied in consecrated ground, and the spot where she had lain was covered with a concrete slab.
But her spirit has chosen to remain at the place of her original interment, and staff and regulars have come to know her as Adele.
She Won't Go
Given that it was building work that led to her re-emergence, it is perhaps fitting that she only appears when alterations are being carried out at the inn.
On these occasions people have been known to feel a cold sensation as her invisible form brushes past them.
Occasionally witnesses have been treated to a full-fledged spectral apparition of the one and only Adele, as her sombre shade glides silently by, her unblinking eyes fixed on some distant goal.
She tends to evoke affection rather than fear and is now more or less accepted as the inn's oldest resident.
