BS: Suggest great places to visit Devon/Cornwall

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.