No one seriously claims mobile phone aerials enhance the environment, and their peculiar squat steel shapes poking out of forests and the tops of hills do show that we no longer live within the landscape, but impose upon it. I often visit the very far south-western tip of England and stay in an area called Penwith in the shadow of a beautiful long low hill called Carn Galver. This area of ancient rock jutting out into the Atlantic ocean is owned by the National Trust of England. Due to the collapse of tin mining and farming over the last two centuries, money drained out of the area which remained untouched for many years. Due to this freak of history and the intervention of the National Trust at a crucial time mid-twentieth century when tourism and second homes would have changed the area, it's now possible to see exactly how man lived and farmed within the landscape for several thousand years.

And thanks to the National Trust there are no mobile phone aerials in Penwith. But there are those who want them built. The top of Carn Galver's striking escarpment summit would be the best place for aerials from a technical point of view. But don't worry, the National Trust won't let anyone build mobile phone aerials on their land. And why should they? Aerials work against the landscape. By their absence, it's possible to see what we have come to. We've lost touch, literally, because it also means that there is no mobile phone signal in Penwith. The nearest aerial is in Penzance over the other side of Carn Galver, and yet I have never met anyone in Penwith who bemoans the lack of a mobile phone signal when they see what the cost would be. Here, the landscape wins, and deep down we know it wins.

If you are reckless enough to walk along the dangerous cliff top coastal path holding your cell phone, it's possible to find the magic place where the signal reaches over the lowest part of the saddle-back on Carn Galver. Often, while walking I have heard my phone reach this hot spot and burble into life delivering some message stored during its long dormant hours. Such a clever thing. But I admit I've smiled and ignored it and carried on back into the serene shadow of Carn Galver where no phone can spoil anything, and where the oldest example in the world of man existing within the landscape is perfectly preserved for those who want to look for it.

Learn more about this author, Ian Smith.
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