BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall

Subject: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Nick
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 07:09 AM

My wife and I are off travelling round Devon an Cornwall over the next week or two.

Can anyone suggest some interesting or pretty or 'must visit' special places that we might otherwise not find?

To give an idea of places we will go and/or know we like:

Eden Project
Minack Theatre
The coast aroound St Agnes
Tintagel

Also if anyone knows anything about Dittisham I'd be interested in knowing. My wife has traced her family tree to that part of the world because of trawling and fishing and it would be interesting if anyone knows anywhere nice to go round there

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Corn
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 07:19 AM

The Lost Gardens of Heligan

---

Don't forget to log in. Thanks. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Corn
From: Little Robyn
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 07:47 AM

Go to Padstow, hire a bike and cycle across the iron bridge on the old railway line into Wadebridge.
Then go to the Padstow folk club at night.
Take a walk to Crugmeer, past Prideaux Place, and visit Tregudda Gorge on the coast.
Take a ferry across the estuary to Rock and walk over the sandhills to find the church that was buried in sand - St Enodoc.
Robyn

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Corn
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 07:55 AM

Witchcraft Museum, Bothscastle.

St. Ives for the artist community

Tintagel is spectacular, hope you like lots of stairs...

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Corn
From: alanabit
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 08:13 AM

Cothele House, which is near St. Dominick, if I recall rightly. Cross the Tamar Bridge from England into Cornwall, follow the road through Saltash towards Callington/Launceston ("Lanson" to locals)and turn right and follow the signs off the main road. It is a former stately home and packed full of history and memorabilia, with very polite and knowledgeable staff. The same can be said for Antony House, nearer to Torpoint, which was recently used for the filming of the Tim Burton version of "Alice in Wonderland". If you did not like the film, do not let that put you off. There are many treasures to be seen and a tangible closeness to history.
Take a rainproof jacket and a compass and park your car up on Caradon Hill. You can walk over Bodmin Moor and see the stone circles (The Hurlers) on your way past mining ruins on your walk up to the Cheesewring. From Caradon on a clear day, you can see miles into the distance. Within ten minutes driving distance there is Trethevy Quoit, a neolithic dolman, and King Doniert's Stone. If you drive out to Tintagel, on the North Coast, up close to the English border, you may well pass Slaughter Bridge. There you can see King Athur's Stone, at the place where he supposedly fought his last battle. In some accounts, he struggled from there over Bodmin Moor to return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake at Dozmary Pool. Unfortunately, the dramatic effect of the moorland lake is now somewhat abated by the fact that it is next to a bloody great reservoir, which effectively dwarfs it! On the main road on the north side, about two or three miles from that, you will find the Jamaica Inn. It is still a lovely building, nicely preserved. Well worth stopping off in for a pub lunch and a pint. If you do go to Tintagel on the North Coast, try to get there when the tide is in. The short drive up to Boscastle is well worth the trouble and this lovely little village, built around a tiny harbour, is so much more impressive when the tide is in. You should also stop at the Witches' House there. It is a wonderful preservation of the original folk beliefs and customs of our island.
Other people, who still live there, can tell you far more. I particularly love the coast road past sandy beaches from Torpoint to Looe, which is still a lovely little fishing village. I am biased, but I reckon that if you can't find something to love in Cornwall, you hardly need to be alive!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Corn
From: kendall
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 08:24 AM

Land's end
Do not try to drive in St. Ives.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Corn
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 08:27 AM

Clovelly....not to be ignored.

Could try Hartland Point/quay etc.. see pics.

Then of course there is Croyde Bay

Wonderful Lynton and Lynmouth

All those are in the North of the area.

And in the South of Devon:- Totnes

Burgh Island
Dartmouth
Torquay
There's a start for you! Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Corn
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 11:25 AM

Newton Ferres and Noss Mayo/ Lovely area east of Plymouth on the coast.

Stoke Gabriel - half hours drive west of Paignton Delightfull village with lovely walks

Cockington Village - 1 mile from Torquay beautiful olde wordie village with some lovely walks.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Corn
From: Paul Burke
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 11:46 AM

Liskeard to Looe - by train.
Perranporth, take Q's stories about St. Piran with you.
The Cheesewring on Bodmin Moor.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Corn
From: Nick
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 04:16 PM

Thanks to all for the suggestions - any more also welcome

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Leadfingers
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 05:24 PM

If you are an animal lover

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 08:45 PM

If it's great walks you want: Little Robyn is certainly in the right ballpark, but rather than start from Rock I'd park at Trebetherick, at the Daymer Bay car park. Walk back up the road for a short while and turn right (past some very posh houses!) to get on to St Enodoc golf course. Carefully follow the white markers across the golf course (which is idyllically situated) and visit St Enodoc's church, where you'll find the grave of Sir John Betjeman. From there you have a super view over the Camel estuary and, if the tide's low enough, you may just glimpse the Doom Bar, the nemesis of many a sailor but the origin of the name of Britain's finest pint (I'm on the flavour panel at Sharp's brewery in Rock so I should know!). Continue on to Rock, turn right and go past the place where the Padstow ferry runs from and then drop down on to the beach. Walk towards the sea along the wonderful sandy stretch of Daymer Bay to get back to your car. It's a gentle yet glorious stroll.

Or you could do my very favourite walk. Park at the leadmines car park at Pentireglaze, or at Pentireglaze farm. Walk to the coast path and walk round the Rumps hillfort for some of the very best views in Cornwall. Rejoin the main coast path and carry on round Pentire Point until you bear left down the long, gentle path towards Polzeath. Just before you get to the town turn left and walk half a mile back to your car. You won't regret the hour and a half this walk will take you.

We had a walk around Trebarwith Strand and Tintagel this afternoon, taking in the coast path by Tintagel youth hostel and the old Lanterdan slate quarry. The air was crystal clear and the clouds were beautiful.

Croyde was mentioned. If you're in that area you could do much worse than park in Mortehoe village and walk to Morte Point, and beyond towards Woolacombe if you have the energy.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 08:57 PM

Just north of Bude there's Duckpool, a dramatic little bay with tall cliffs either side and big waves if you're lucky, or Morwenstow, where you can visit the church of which the Reverend Hawker was the vicar. From there it's a stroll to the coast path where you'll find Hawker's Hut, made of driftwood, where the aforementioned man of the cloth would go and smoke his opium pipe whilst contemplating the wild Atlantic far below. If you time it right you could have a cream tea at the Rectory tea-rooms just across from the church - highly recommended!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Tangledwood
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 04:14 AM

Don't expect to get anywhere in a hurry. After I visited Tintagel a few years ago I was driving along one of those wonderful country roads which are just wide enough for a single vehicle. There was plenty of time to view the scenery as I was stuck behind a tractor towing a cartload of hay for at least half an hour. Eventually it turned off into a farm. Only five minutes later another tractor towing a cart pulled out in front of me and I spent another half an hour behind that.
I can just imagine the first farmer racing to his phone and ringing the neighbour "Quick, hop on your tractor, there's another tourist coming."

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 04:45 AM

A little known treasure is the church of St. Andrews in the picturesque village of Sampford Courtenay which has some of the finest medieval wooden roof boss carvings anywhere in England - including Green Men (and a Green Christ!) and a near perfect Three Hare / Tinner's Rabbits motif. There's a great folk club in Bideford too as I recall...

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 06:21 AM

We stayed a week in Mevagissey Cornwall

Stopped at loads of little coves and harbours down to and up the other side of the Lizard. Favourie was Mullion Cove.

Did the Eden Project, Boscastle, Gardens of Helligan.

But especially good when it is overcast and about to storm was walking amongst The Hurlers Stone Circle on Bodmin Moor

What was said about St Ives and driving is absolutely true. We went in and out again in an about hour because there was no parking. Several times we were waiting for people to get in their cars and leave and some oik would zip around us or come from the other direction and take the space and laugh about it to boot. It was awful.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 06:50 AM

Walking anywhere around Kynance Cove, Mullion, The Lizard or Church Cove is wonderful. You could visit the Marconi Centre at Poldhu (check ahead for opening times though) and see his monument. Up nearer Land's End you could immerse yourself in prehistory by strolling to places such as Men-an-Tol and Chun hillfort/Chun Quoit. Lanyon Quoit is right by the roadside but is slightly disappointing in that it's been comprehensively and clumsily "restored." You could see a bit more recent history by visiting Ding Dong mine and you could take in the Nine Maidens stone circle while you're at it.

I've sent you a PM, Nick.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 07:18 AM

Trebarwith Strand, near Tintagel, but check that the tide is out so that you can see the wonderful rock pools and cliffs.

Altarnun church: it has beautiful carvings from 1510-1530 of musicians, dancers, and other strange beasts.

Valmai

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Jack Campin
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 07:27 AM

The Seal Sanctuary in Gweek: http://www.sealsanctuary.co.uk/

And I'd second Men-an-Tol.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 07:29 AM

Video A walk from Boscastle to Tintagel with folk music as background.

Lovely walk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKMpw8dWo9A&feature=related

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Cats
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 10:21 AM

And if that isn't enough you can always pop in and have tea with me! I'm on Bodmin Moor about 5 minutes from the Hurlers / Cheesewring / Minions, 10 mins from Launceston. If you are unsure about any of these suggestions pm me

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: ollaimh
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 01:44 PM

we spent a week in cornwall last spring. tintageal is better than even the advance billings, but the walk along the shore there is even better. there is a creek between tintagael village and boscastle called rocky valley. there are ruins of several former mills going right back to a brinze age labyrinth carved on the wall of the canyon almost at the ocean. a great walk, but taxing forthe infirm.

i also enjoyed the hurlers, a double ring of standing stones near the other coast and on all maps. we were there when it was misty. very eerrie and fun. there were ponies and sheep looking statue like. then one ram came running at me. i didn't realize it was a ram and just stood there looking at him. i guess my intrangience made him think better off it.

however cornwall has the worst roads i have ever driven? never trust a gps, the shortest route will take you down lanes that are about wide enough for a straw. locals drive them at break neck speed. and they casn be ruse about slow driving tourists, the only rude driver i found in the uk. that wasn't expected at all.

however there is a strong local folj tradition. many clubs and the cabin we rented on rocky creek was one of the most beautifull spots i've ever stayed in. its at the most recent but derilict mill. the hollow is lovely there.

i also went to the arthur stone and noted that there is oghan inscribed on it. they have several translations , none of which seem to be complete enough to tell what it says. however no one seems to have thought where there is ogham there is gaelic. a gaelic translation makes more sense to me. the word ri(king) is clear. and a name. perhaps the artorious' given name latini. the posted translations are assuming latin or cornish which make little sense.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 02:14 PM

if you stay in an old cottage always put out a dish of fresh water for the piskies... i learned that the hard way.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: kendall
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 02:32 PM

The farmers in that area brag about how many tourists they irritated today. They call them "Emmits" (Ants)

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: DougR
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 07:56 PM

I'll bite, Virginia, what are piskies? And what did you learn?

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 07:58 PM

"And if that isn't enough you can always pop in and have tea with me! I'm on Bodmin Moor about 5 minutes from the Hurlers / Cheesewring / Minions, 10 mins from Launceston."

Kettle's always on this end too! We're about 4 miles south of Bude, just off (well off!) the good ol' A39. It rains a lot more where Cats is, but they do have Cornish Blue cheese her end, with which I simply cannot compete! On August 11 1999 we all piled up to Sharp Tor, which must be near Cats, to see the total eclipse, and the clouds miraculously parted just at the right time. The Hurlers are the stones that are uncountable if I remember correctly...

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 02:31 AM

Arthur itis: thanks for the video, which brings back memories. What is the music?

Valmai

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 02:41 AM

Piskies are Cornish pixies and cause minor to major household accidents. Our first day in a fisherman's cottage (over 100 years old) I had 3 accidents inside of an half hour. A burn to my forearm from frying pan that I was rinsing. I still can't work out how my arm got that close to it. A knife I was using to chop apples jumped out of my hand and landed point down in my thigh. Actually only nicked me as it glanced off. It was the weird way it twisted in the air that struck me. It was like watching some comedy slow motion thing. And finally the worst injury a fall trip on the last but one bottom step that resulted in a very bad bash to the knee on the radiator. Felt like something grabbed the toe of my shoe. Resulted in a large painful multicoloured goose egg on my knee.

While we were out that day we stopped at a little museum somewhere and that is how I learned about piskies and immediately attributed my accidents to one or more in the cottage.

I put out bowl of water on the hearth and to be on the safe side a biscuit every night. No more accidents.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 03:16 AM

Not sure Valmai, sorry.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 05:39 AM

Thanks to all hopefully I'll have an internet connection and some time tonight to plan things out. Some of the suggestions I know and will go to and some are new.

Brilliant

Also may see some people if we find some singnig places

nick

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 10:00 AM

Check out the stunted oaks at Wistman;s woods, near two bridges, the church celing ties in Widdecombe church....lots of traditional iconography, and lunch at the unspoiled Rugglestome Inn hust outside Widdecombe.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 01:29 PM

Croye Bay is a must, and when approaching from Saunton Sands there is a large house on the right called Downend which used to belong to Mrs Killard-Levy until she died aged 95 or so. We stayed there during the first week in June for 12 years up to 2004 - it could sleep 18 people - £250 per week!!

It was bought up by a property geek and sold for £2.5m!!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 03:30 PM

Croyde, eh, Bonzo? It's a grand area and you could always take in a walk round Baggy Point or botanise on Braunton Burrows dune system, the best for wild flowers in Britain I reckon. Well, maybe not in late September!

Wistman's Wood is sheer magic. There's another ancient woodland on Dartmoor worth rambling to at Black Tor Copse.

Not going to help Nick much, but if anyone's around at the end of April/start of May the bluebell wood at Brownsham, between Hartland and Clovelly on the coast, is wonderful.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Nick
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 08:06 PM

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions and I have a hit list of 'musts' and thanks for the offers of tea and more.

Now just got to link it in with a bit of music... I reckon I'm always a day or two wrong :( but have one or two that we should make

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: LadyJean
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 12:19 AM

If the Abbey Hotel in Penzance is still there, it is a lovely little hotel. The food is good, and the people who run it are nice. There isn't a lot to be said for Penzance, as I remember it. Mostly tourist traps. Lands End wasn't quite as bad.

A friend gave me a recipe for pixie removal spray. You combine spring water, sea salt and an iron nail in a spray bottle. She reccomended it for my frequent car troubles. I suppose I could put a bowl of water and a cooky in the car and keep them happy.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: alanabit
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 02:40 AM

As a last resort you can always go to one of our local mechanics if you have car troubles...

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 04:57 AM

Id rather go to Spain these days, guaranteed sun and food available all day!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 08:27 AM

Where ever you go you will find a nice place even the Dartmoor/Exmoor ponies are worth stopping for. They are very friendly and gentle and seem to be aware that people would like to take a picture or two.

I still like hotter climates for main holidays but I enjoy riding through Devon and Cornwall on the back of a motorbike calling in to each town and taking pot luck finding somewhere new to stay. Good fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Cats
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 07:00 PM

Steve, you are right, I look out onto Sharp Tor and , in fact, it is only sharp from where i live.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: GUEST,Jane Bird (without cookie)
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 04:24 PM

Dartmoor! There's the lush woodlands and pretty cottages around Bovey Tracey and Manaton to the east of the Moor. Or dramatic views of and from Haytor Rocks (an interesting and quick walk, if you've not got lots of time, as it's got a good sized car park near by). Or the more rugged High Moor area around Princetown. Tug the Cox suggested Wistman's Wood, which is about 1 and bit miles walk north of Two Bridges, along the West Dart.

Here are some other good walks on the Moor:
http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/index/visiting/vi-audiowalk.htm

Have a lovely time, where ever you go!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 04:55 PM

Bude, Cornwall, is great for coastal walkabouts and viewing (feathered) birds along the way; or, if you prefer it in verse, Bird Watchers' Bude

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 07:21 PM

Well, as a denizen of Bude (or, more accurately just outside), I can heartily endorse the above post. The coastal walking is somewhat gentler (and less muddy in wet weather) than the sterner cliffs to the north and south, though no less wonderful on the eye, and we also have Bude Canal, replete with history and as picturesque as a canal can be (and with wonderful paths these days). Bude caters well for visitors though, thankfully, it is nowhere near as developed as the fleshpots of Newquay and its ilk. I will take issue with one point in your poem: there is no limestone anywhere near Bude. Lime-rich shell-sand we have in abundance, but you will search in vain for the rock.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 02:34 AM

There is a free swimming pool on the beach at Bude, filled with sea-water. I was in it a couple of weeks ago without a wet-suit and found the water pleasant.

Something else found it less pleasant, however.

Valmai

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 04:08 AM

The cow wasn't in the sea pool! Don't want to put off potential users....

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 05:15 AM

Anywhere selling genuine Cornish pasties, they are absolutely delicious, you can't go without trying one.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 06:32 AM

Steve: if it's not "limestone down" do you know what rock it is, please?

Patsy: I agree - Tin-Miners' Lunch (I was actually staying in Kilkhampton with my late uncle and auntie.)

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 07:33 AM

For the best cream tea in the west country, try Polly's Cafe in Croyde, for the most hideous pub with the most arrogant landlord - Billy Buds, also in Croyde!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 07:41 AM

Thanks for the link, I would love to know the secret of making good pasty pastry. I try to make my version of the pasty but it just doesn't come out the same somehow. Talking of Cornish Miners pasties I've heard that some had them divided to hold the savoury bit at one end and the dessert or pudding bit at the other. Brilliant.

>There is a free swimming pool on the beach at Bude, filled with sea-water. I was in it a couple of weeks ago without a wet-suit and found the water pleasant.

Something else found it less pleasant, however.

Valmai<

It does look like a polar bear rather than a cow at first glance I can understand how it could have been mistaken for one. But whatever it is 'poor little sausage!'

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 08:33 AM

Bude is situated on upper Carboniferous strata. There are massive sandstones alternating with (usually) much thinner shales. The strata are (famously) much-contorted into folds. This probably happened deep inside the crust during the Armorican mountain-building phase (Variscan orogeny) to the south of what is now Cornwall. A great place to see the folding is from the descending coast road from Crackington to Millook (make sure your brakes are working). These rocks are not calcareous and would generally lead to fairly acid, poorly-drained soils, and the culm grasslands round here are on this formation or on alluvium adjacent to it. The sands around Bude and Widemouth are high in shell content, and any area subject to blown sand may have less acid soils as a result. Shell-rich sand from the coast near Bude was the reason Bude Canal was built. The shell-sand was transported inland to sweeten the acid, clay soils in the hinterland.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: cobra
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 08:49 AM

Rame peninsula is well worth a vists - specifically Rame Point via the SW Coastal Path. The views over Plymouth Sound are spectacular and the old villages of Cawsand and Kingsand have a wealth of (smuggling) history, not to mention five pubs two of which have weekly sessions. Oh, and the wet fish man calls to the village square a couple of times a week with fresh, locally caught delicacies. Would strongly recommend parking up in Cawsand and following the coastal path, coming back down through the country lanes. Rame Peninsula is truly an overlooked gem - most people simply cross over the Tamar bridge and head straight on. Don't tell them!

There is also, in season, a small ferry which crosses the Sound to Plymouth.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 09:07 AM

The steak pasties made by Barnecutt's are the best I've come across. Their HQ is in Rock, just round the corner from Sharp's brewery which makes easily the best beers in the Westcountry (and which has an excellent brewery shop), though they have shops in Wadebridge, Boscastle and other places and also sell them thorough other outlets. The best way to enjoy a pasty is buy it hot and eat it immediately, even if you're not hungry. If you're near The Lizard, you should probably try Ann's Pasties, a shop in Lizard village. Her pasties are legendary but I've yet to try one.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 05:02 PM

Thanks Steve: I shall replace "limestone" with "sandstone". And I also heard about that division, Patsy.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 07:47 PM

Oddly, on some beaches near Bude (just south of Crooklets beach, for example), you can find flint pebbles and even the occasional chalk one. Cretaceous deposits such as the ones you get in south-east England today certainly overlaid the carboniferous, and have been long been eroded away, but I still find it odd that pebbles of this sort have survived. I'd love to have an explanation!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Sep 10 - 01:27 PM

Just one more poem in my collection on this part of the world - http://walkaboutsverse.webs.com/#189

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Paul Burke
Date: 24 Sep 10 - 02:19 PM

you can find flint pebbles and even the occasional chalk one... I'd love to have an explanation!

The remains of overlying deposits, moved west by glaciation? There seems to be some disagreement about the exact limits, but Bude may have been about the edge of the ice sheet.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 25 Sep 10 - 03:36 AM

Circle the South Hams.
From Exeter take the A38 towards Plymough and exit at the sign for Totnes. Stop off at Dartington Hall Cider Mill for crafts and then go on to Totnes which has a castle, a good Irish session at the London Inn and has its own currency "The Totnes Pound". You can also get a steam train on the Dart Valley Railway.

Head out towards Kingsbridge and at halwell take the turning towards Dartmouth. At Dartmouth there is theRoyal Naval College and also the Harbour Bookshop that used to be run by Christopher Robin Milne (of Winnie the Pooh books fame).

From Dartmouth head off towards Stoke Fleming and Strete. You go along Slapton Sands where they did the ill fated practice for D Day. It is very spectacular with the sea on one side and a lake on the other. About half way along turn off to Slapton Village and the very unusual Tower Inn.

Back from Slapton go through Stokenham and then turn left in the village towards Ford, Chivelstone and Prawle. This road takes you towards the Start Point Lighthouse and then follow the signs to Prawle and the atmospheric Pigs Nose Inn. Here you can see Cern Buntings if you are into birds.

Now take the narrow lanes towards East Portlemouth and a spectacular view over the Salcombe estuary. You can go down the lower road from east portlemouth and take a small passenger ferry over to Salcombe but if not continue on the tidal road (check the tide times) and through Goodshelter and then Southpool (The Millbrook Inn is worth a stop) then Frogmore and up to Kingsbridge.

From Kingsbridge take the road towards Salcombe and then branch off towards Plymouth. Go down a steep hill into Aveton Gifford and just after the bridge take a left onto the tidal road where you get fantastic birds eg egrets etc at low tide on the mud flats. Head towards Bigbury.

Park down by the beach for a stroll or a sea tractor ride over to Burgh Island where many Agatha Christie novels were set and filmed. You can get a nice drink in the Pilchard Inn and stay there too. Lots of kite surfing and land sailing to watch here.

From Bigbury get back on the Plymouth road and at Fleet (opposite Kitley) take a right through the lanes and up to the A38 again. Go towards Plymouth and take the turning to Lee Mill and then go past the big Tesco supermarket through Cornwood towards Yelverton up to Lee Moor. From here follow the signs to Princetown (where Dartmoor Prison is) over the moor where the Hound of the Baskervilles was set and through Dartmeet where you will see one of the oldest bridges in England.

Finally turn off this road towards Widdecombe in the Moor (of Uncle Tom Cobbley and all fame) for a drink at the Rugglestone and end up through Moretonhampstead back in Exeter.

You would probably need more than a day to see everything but it is possible to do it in a day - tides permitting!

Have fun

Sarah (who grew up in this area)

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Sep 10 - 06:38 AM

For the best pub lunch in a lovely old pub and the best selection of real ales there's the Tom Cobley Inn in Spreyton, near Okehampton. It's deservedly popular so ring in advance I reckon. Stroll down to the churchyard from the pub and see Uncle Tom Cobley's grave - he really existed!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Richie Black (misused acct, bad email)
Date: 25 Sep 10 - 07:37 AM

Bygones is a must.It's a private family-run museum,lot's of Victorian relics in exhibitions which will take you back.

Authentic looking shops and models. You can relive the heroism and horror of World War I in the multi-sensory Trench or experience the interior of an Anderson shelter.

Don't forget to enter the Victorian Pub. This place is always on my list when I visit.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: DougR
Date: 25 Sep 10 - 06:50 PM

My wife and I spent a week in the village of Laugharne in Wales(population just shy of 3,000)a few years ago, and enjoyed that whole area very much. Of interest there is the Boathouse where Dylan Thomas and his wife, Caitlan and their three children spent part of the last four years of his life. While living at the Boat House, he wrote "Under Milkwood". We took a side trip to Dartington Hall in south Devon. I was especially interested in visiting there because it belonged at one time to the family of a good friend of mine who was Deputy Director of the National Endowment for the Arts when I worked there in the early 1970's. If you are anywhere near Totnes, Dartington Hall is worth visiting.

Doug

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Sep 10 - 10:00 AM

The Turf Locks in Devon, ferry from Topsham

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Nick
Date: 26 Sep 10 - 06:47 PM

Having a great time and visited a lot of the suggestions so far.

In Mevagissey tonight and off to the Eden Project tomorrow and then off along the south coast and hopefully get to play in a couple of places on the way back

Thanks for all the suggestions

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Sep 10 - 07:12 PM

Nice to meet you, Nick! I'm sorry we couldn't maintain a steady 20 degrees for your holiday! If you're back this end at all before you go home call in for a cup o' char!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Nick
Date: 28 Sep 10 - 08:14 AM

Steve

We are gradually wending our way back so probably won't get to the north again. Did the Eden Project yesterday which was amazing (and also excellent value thanks to your help :)! )

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 14 Oct 14 - 04:36 PM

Just read that Polly's Tea Rooms near Baggy Point closed down several years ago. They served the best cream tea ever - no small catering portions there, one could overdose on clotted cream and strawberry jam with ease!!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 Oct 14 - 05:02 PM

the best advice i could give is to visit devon and and cornwall in your imagination first. read rebecca, jamaica inn and hidden cornwall by daphne du maurier, the devils foot in the sherlock holmes stories, watch the poldark tv series, peril at end house by agatha christie.

then you will see these places with heightened awareness.

thereis also a nice insight into the artists colony of st ives in the 1920's in christopher isherwood's lions and shadows.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Oct 14 - 07:35 PM

Apropos of pasties, though I mentioned Barnecutts several years ago, I feel I need to mention the Chough Bakery right in the middle of Padstow. Fabulous pasties, and you can get a takeaway cup of tea a few yards up the road from the bloke at the serving hatch (£1.50 for a good-size paper mug) and sit on the wall by the harbour. If the thought of crowded Padstow doesn't appeal (it's very nice, actually, in spite of the ravening hordes), do what we do: enjoy the walk I mentioned that starts at Trebetherick/Daymer Bay car park, going by St Enodoc's and the grave of Betjeman, then when you reach Rock take the ferry across to Padstow (very frequent, three quid return), have your pasty, back to Rock on the ferry and stroll back on the beach to Daymer Bay. Make sure the beach section doesn't coincide with high tide unless you fancy a bit of a hike up the hill next to the beach, though the views from the top are great. If you like cyclng, Padstow is at the end of the Camel Trail. A gentle, level ride is to start at Wadebridge and do the return trip to Padstow, an easy 11 miles with lovely views, plenty of places at each end to hire bikes and plenty of places to fasten your bike to while you toddle off for that pasty. If you park at either Wadebridge or Padstow or Daymer Bay it'll cost at least three or four quid. Grrr.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Oct 14 - 07:48 PM

Speaking of cycle trails, I can highly recommend the stretch of the Tarka Trail between Bideford (East-the-Water) and Braunton via Barnstaple. The only on-road bit is the new bridge at Barnstaple, which is very safe. Basically you're circumnavigating a big estuary, but the vistas are varied and the whole ride is unfailingly pleasant. A great place to stop for a bite is the cafe at Fremington Quay - smashing food, not expensive and with lots of outside tables with a view across the estuary. There's a car park at East-the-Water that's a couple of quid only, and a free one at Fremington Quay, though there's a somewhat nerve-racking mile-long single-track lane to get to it, and plenty of competition for parking if it's a nice day!

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 15 Oct 14 - 07:58 AM

We love the Lizard peninsula and also the area around St Just and that opinion is in view if the fact that some years ago we walked from Perranporth to Looe around the coast path (took 3 weeks).
The two locations named above have provided us with sightings of choughs for the last four years when we have had short breaks in Cornwall, along with plenty of views of gannets, guillemots, kestrels, merlins etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: GUEST,pete from seven stars link
Date: 15 Oct 14 - 12:58 PM

salcombe and its close by beaches, beautiful, as is hope cave nearby, accessed through pretty Marlborough and narrow lanes.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: bubblyrat
Date: 16 Oct 14 - 06:57 AM

Nice to see this thread still going ! Of course,being ex-Fleet Air Arm I am somewhat biased towards RNAS Culdrose (HMS Seahawk ) ; we are both the same age ! So Helston must get a mention. As for Dittisham , home of a famous weather forecaster ,I was kayaking just upstream of it one day and a seal popped its head out of the water right alongside ; marvellous ! And the village pub has a ferry ;people on the opposite bank ring a bell and the ferry brings them across !And another nearby village has the late TV chef Keith Floyd's pub, whilst Agatha Christie's old house looms majestically over everything.You can always visit Totnes, home to eccentric (but VERY accomplished ) guitarist Dave "Stan " Stanley , an old musical colleague from Singapore ; he is , or was,resident musician in a restaurant in Paignton.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 17 Oct 14 - 03:30 AM

And if it rains don't forget the Maritime Museum at Falmouth, I believe that the tickets remain valid for a year for repeat visits.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: bubblyrat
Date: 17 Oct 14 - 04:49 AM

I went to Falmouth three or four weeks ago aboard MV "Discovery", and I DIDN'T ,to my shame,visit the new Maritime Museum !! Rick Stein's fish-and-chips were sublime,though.But passengers who DID visit the MM said it wasn't up to much , to be honest; I was more interested in RFA "Mounts Bay " ,which I hadn't seen before (modern replacement for RFAs Sir Galahad, Sir Tristram "et al" ).

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Oct 14 - 08:14 PM

description of mounts bay from the sherlock holmes story the devils foot

It was a singular spot, and one peculiarly well suited to the grim humour of my patient. From the windows of our little whitewashed house, which stood high upon a grassy headland, we looked down upon the whole sinister semicircle of Mounts Bay, that old death trap of sailing vessels, with its fringe of black cliffs and surge-swept reefs on which innumerable seamen have met their end. With a northerly breeze it lies placid and sheltered, inviting the storm-tossed craft to tack into it for rest and protection.

Then come the sudden swirl round of the wind, the blistering gale from the south-west, the dragging anchor, the lee shore, and the last battle in the creaming breakers. The wise mariner stands far out from that evil place.

On the land side our surroundings were as sombre as on the sea. It was a country of rolling moors, lonely and dun-colored, with an occasional church tower to mark the site of some old-world village. In every direction upon these moors there were traces of some vanished race which had passed utterly away, and left as its sole record strange monuments of stone, irregular mounds which contained the burned ashes of the dead, and curious earthworks which hinted at prehistoric strife. The glamour and mystery of the place, with its sinister atmosphere of forgotten nations, appealed to the imagination of my friend, and he spent much of his time in long walks and solitary meditations upon the moor.

Subject: RE: BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall
From: bubblyrat
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 07:46 AM

He had a way with words, did old Arthur . I particularly enjoyed "The Lion's Mane" also.As for RFA Mounts Bay; I can never think of Naval vessels in quite the same way ever again ! That reminds me ; it is good to see Falklands veteran RFA Argus still going strong ; I don't have much experience of Hospital Ships,although I DID go onboard of " USS Sanctuary" in Singapore during the Vietnam War.