Clotted Cream and Much More...
Written: Sep 30 '04 (Updated Feb 13 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Tons of things to do, fantastic scenery, relatively inexpensive
Cons: Poor road signing means getting lost is a constant danger!
The Bottom Line: You want variety?
You got variety!
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| captaind's Full Review: Cornwall (England) |
Despite having lived in England all my life, I’d never been to Cornwall before. Having just got back from a week holidaying there, I am pleased to report that I was very pleasantly surprised with what the county had to offer.
We stayed in a holiday cottage just outside the small village of Hayle. In fact the whole county is made up of countryside and small villages, with very few actual cities. The scenery inland is beautiful and there are hundreds of walks you can take – beware though, a good map is a must as signposts telling you where you’re going are very few and far between in places!
Along with the scenery inland, there are some nice beaches and stunning coastlines in Cornwall. Nearly everywhere you go along the coast your jaw will drop at the rugged natural beauty of the place. But that’s not all.
The real beauty of Cornwall is that there is such a huge variety of places to go and see. There are a plethora of exhibitions, museums, historic sites, zoos, animal sanctuaries, theatres, wreck fishing, mines, steam railways, ports, sailing trips, farms open to the public, karting tracks, mazes, gardens (including the famous Eden Project), and more – and on the whole the prices aren’t that high either. Eating out isn’t as expensive an occupation as in many places I’ve been either – including another of my favourite places in England, the Peak District, which is great but tends to be very expensive. There really is something for everyone here.
For the adventurous (and those with a bit of cash) there’s a flight / cruise to the subtropical Scilly isles, though we didn’t have enough money for that! The Poldark Mines (tin mines) are very interesting and there’s a lot to do there – though it might cost a bit, you could well get more than your money’s worth (panning for gold could bring you real gems, for instance). The mines themselves are some of the most untouched (and back-breaking if you’re tall!!) mines I’ve ever been down, so mind your head! It’s also the home of Britain’s lowest post box, so remember to bring a postcard!
The Eden Project is known as the 8th Wonder of the World. It consists of two biospheres (a third is currently under construction), dedicated to preserving as diverse a range of plant life from all over the world as possible. It’s fairly impressive, though over-priced at £12 to enter. (Though for an extra £5 you can go back any time for 12 months – sadly this is not very useful unless you live close by.) If you’re particularly interest in botany you will enjoy it, but I wish we’d gone to the Lost Gardens of Heligan instead. (Massive Victorian gardens that lay hidden for decades until recently rediscovered and replanted according to the original fashion.) As someone once said about the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland, the Eden Project is “worth seeing, yes… but not worth going to see…” We had it on good local authority that the Lost Gardens were more impressive (and at £7.50 a lot cheaper too!!). Oh well, there’s always another time…
Another place you must visit is the amazing Minack Theatre. The visitor centre isn’t much although it does tell the fascinating story of how it was built. The theatre itself was carved out of the rock face by a country lady, her gardener, and his assistant – and much of the work was done when they were over 70! There’s also a wonderful story about the wood use to build the changing rooms – a ship crashed and the wood was washed ashore, including twelve huge timbers. She carried them ashore, and later customs officials searched the beach and asked her if she had taken any wood. She replied yes, did they want to come and have a look? The officials didn’t bother as it was of course inconceivable that such a frail old woman could possibly have carried the massive timber beams up the cliff by herself!!
The theatre itself is hugely impressive, and when you see the backdrop you can imagine how incredible the productions of “The Tempest” must look with the majestic sea swelling in the background. Another local favourite is, of course, Gilbet & Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” – which is not that many miles away from the Minack. I’d never heard of this theatre before but it’s an astonishing place, and an amazing accomplishment. Just expect some painful calf muscles when you climb back up all those steps… (Theatre productions run from the end of May till mid-September, but the visitor centre and theatre itself are open all year round.)
Newquay Zoo is one of the nicest, friendliest little zoos I’ve ever been to. The staff seem to genuinely have a passion for their work and the conditions the animals are kept in are much better than many I’ve seen. This was about the only place we went to twice, because the week we were there they had just started up a nocturnal tour (which they hope to make a regular feature), where you can see many animals active that usually hide in the daytime. Sadly there were lots of noisy kids in the group who just wouldn’t shut up (I suggested we use chloroform but there was none available), so many of the animals hid anyway. Seeing the bats (including the Ridrigues Fruit Bat, a marvellous creature) being fed was easily the highlight of the tour – it would have been a lot better without those damn children, but that’s not the zoo’s fault!
The Cyder Fram is another place worth going to – we didn’t actually do the tour, but we picked up some rather nice cider there (there are free tastings available too – yum) – even though I don’t usually like cider, this is very nice stuff! (In case you were wondering, they spell it Cyder to make it seem more old-worldly – that’s what I was told, anyway!) The kids could have a ride on the tractor trailer if they wanted, and there’s a chance to see the whole process of how the cider is made and bottled. (The nice thing about it is, you watch them actually doing it – it’s more of a fly on the wall thing than a museum).
There are so many other things to do and see around Cornwall that I can’t possibly go into detail here (partly because I haven’t seen all of them myself… oh by the way the scenery at Land’s End is stunning), but I will list a number of them at the end of the review.
Okay, I’ll mention one more. A visit to one of the little port villages (such as Fowey) is pretty much an essential part of your visit.
Accommodation
We stayed in a holiday cottage (3 bedrooms but it would have been a bit cramped if there’d been more than 4 of us – yes the in-laws came too… okay, it wasn’t actually too bad! :-P) The facilities were quite good though the place needed a good airing when we got there (I’m not sure I want to know what that smell was). It cost us £150 for the week for 4 of us (water, electric, etc included), which wasn’t bad at all. The company we used was John Fowler Homes, though there were plenty of other companies around offering similar accommodation at similar prices.
As far as hotels goes there were quite a few and the prices seemed reasonable, though I didn’t look too hard. (Sorry, but I can’t be in reviewer mode all of the time!)
Driving
If like us you drive to Cornwall, great news – there’s not usually much traffic around. Even in peak times it’s nothing like as bad as the big cities.
On the other hand there are a lot of very narrow, windy country lanes, so be careful. A good map is also essential as there is a distinct lack of helpful road signs in some places!
Also, you really want at least a 1.4l petrol / 1.8l Turbo Diesel (that’s a guess) engine car to negotiate the many hills in Cornwall. My sister-in-law’s little 1.1l Peugeot really struggled in places.
Weather
Face it… it’s ENGLAND. (Be prepared for anything…)
Culture
Don’t forget to sample some Cream Teas - basically, a scone with clotted cream and jam whit your brew. And of course Cornish Pasties (which can be preposterously large!), you mustn’t forget to have one of those. A present for your folks back home is traditionally made up of clotted cream fudge and toffee. (Yep, they sure do like their clotted cream in Cornwall…)
Overall
This was the first time I’d been to Cornwall – but I’ll be back
Places of Interest:
MARITIME ATTRACTIONS
Charlestown Shipwreck & Heritage Centre -
www.shipwreckcharlestown.com
National Maritime Museum Cornwall - www.nmmc.co.uk
The Pilchard Works Museum & Salt Fish Factory - www.pilchards.co.uk
WILDLIFE
National Seal Sanctuary - www.sealsanctuary.co.uk
Paradise Park Wildlife Sanctuary - www.paradisepark.org.uk
Blue Reef - www.bluereefaquarium.co.uk
Newquay Zoo - www.newquayzoo.co.uk
ATTRACTIONS & THEME PARKS
Goonhilly Satelite Earth Station Experience - www.goonhilly.bt.com
The Cornish Cyder Farm - www.thecornishcyderfarm.co.uk
Lappa Valley Steam Railway - www.lappavalley.co.uk
Eden Project - www.edenproject.com
The Minack Theatre & Visitor Centre - www.minack.com/
Shires Family Adventure Park - www.crealy.co.uk
Flambards Experience - www.flambards.co.uk
Dobwalls Family Adventure Park - www.dobwallsadventurepark.co.uk
Dairyland Farm World - www.dairylandfarmworld.com
Brocklands Adventure Park
Kilarney Springs
Jamaica Inn - www.jamaicainn.co.uk
Land’s End - www.landsend-landmark.co.uk
World of Model Railways - www.model-railway.co.uk
GARDENS AND COUNTRY HOUSES
The Lost Gardens of Heligan: www.heligan.com/
Pencarrow - www.pencarrow.co.uk
Trevarno
St Michael’s Mount - www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk
Lanhydrock
Cotehele
Trelissick
Glendurgan
Trenice
Trengwaiton
Trebah
HERITAGE
Royal Cornwall Museum - www.royalcornwallmuseum.org.uk
Poldark Mine - www.poldark-mine.co.uk
Bodmin & Wenford Railway - www.bodminandwendfordrailway.co.uk
Pendennis Castle - www.English-heritage.org.uk/pendennis
Tintagel Castle - www.English-heritage.org.uk/tintagel
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum - www.prthcurno.org.uk
INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE
Greevor Tin Mine- www.geevor.com
Other Websites
Cornwall Tourist Board: www.cornwalltouristboard.co.uk/
Related Links
If you’re looking for a city break in England, London is a must see. Birmingham and York are worth a visit if they contain anything that particularly interests you.
If you’re flying into England you may want to know about Heathrow or Gatwick airport.
Oops, nearly forgot - thanks Di for adding this to the database for me! :-D
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Jun - Aug
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