cfc

We have about 4 days to ourselves after a business trip to London and think we'd love to see Cornwall, esp. Exeter and Penzance/St. Ives, but there's a lot in between we can't choose among. However, for reasons I don't want to go into, we will not be renting/driving a car.

So what would you recommend? Specifically: Should we stick to one place as base, or perhaps two (Exeter 1-2 nights, travel to Penzance or nearby for 2 nights) and then back to London to go home? Recommendations for lodging? -- obviously need to be handy to transport, however we do it. Are bus coach tours readily available and reasonably good way to do this - if you don't have the money for a private driver, which we don't?

Favorite/don't miss sights? We are ambulatory but hardly hikers - like scenic natural beauty, art, history, and science, so it's sort of all good.

Cathinjoetown

Minor correction, Exeter is in Devon. You could see both Exeter and St Ives in 4 days, both are easily reached by rail from London. Exeter is 3 hours from London and St. Ives is another 3 hours from Exeter on the same line.

I prefer St Ives but difficult to compare, Exeter is a large city with impressive cathedral, university and more. St. Ives remains a small coastal town with lovely beaches, the Tate St. Ives, Barbara Hepworth's studio, galleries, easy to get to Penzance by rail or bus.

If I had to split 4 days, I'd do three in Cornwall and one in Exeter but depends entirely on your interests and to some extent the weather.

cfc

Thanks. I actually knew that Exeter is in Devon, just didn't get the word into the title. Have a cathedral hobby, hence Exeter; but otherwise have figured out that St. Ives (irrespective of the guy with 7 wives, etc.) was going to offer a lot to us/me.

So, for the 3 days in Cornwall, what would you recommend as base location? Penzance or ....? Have a favorite inn or B&B?

Other perspectives? Re: Devon - know that Exmoor National Park is a designated ecological area of low/no light pollution at night but haven't quite figured out how one observes the absence of something. Anyone care to enlighten me (oops)?

janisj

>>designated ecological area of low/no light pollution at night but haven't quite figured out how one observes the absence of something.<<

What you are observing are the stars/moon etc w/ no light pollution. Not that common on such a densely populated Island.

http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.u...o-do/?a=164534

cfc

I was imprecise. I was trying to get at the "how" in terms of where one could go -- get to and then view -- to escape artificial light at night, and still find one's way back to home and bed. Or, most precisely, where in the "park" does one stay to best enjoy the natural night sky?

cfc

And thank you for the link. It is helpful.

flanneruk

" where one could go -- get to and then view -- to escape artificial light at night, and still find one's way back to home and bed. "

The short answer I think is you can't, really, without a car.

Policies to minimise light pollution don't need journeys to remote places to appreciate: stargazing these days is possible from back gardens in modest-sized towns if its planners have adopted a programme of redesigned street lighting.

But it's very hard to imagine how it would work in conventional hotels - and I've not heard of country house hotels putting stargazing ahead of what you might call excessive security lighting: I doubt their public liability insurance would allow it.

So most visitors would drive out to the unlit core zone.

But without a car, you'd need to rent a house with a big rear garden, near a bus stop, in an area with an anti-light pollution policy. Lots of such houses exist (indeed they're becoming the norm in villages and microtowns in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty): but I suspect few are rented out.

Remember too that cloud cover isn't just unpredictable weeks in advance: in Britain it's unpredictable hours in advance. It's very common to be told in a local news programme that the night sky is going to be exceptionally worthwhile, go out and find it's covered in cloud, then meet someone the following morning who saw it all an hour later.

So it's highly unlikely anyone's organising night sky tours for the carless.

The honest truth is that light pollution reduction policies are designed for local residents, for wildlife and for virtue signalling: no-one really cares about tourists when the programmes are being developed. .

anicecupoftea

You could substitute Truro (which has a cathedral) for Exeter, and use that as a base.

Many local councils, such as here in Norwich, now have a policy of switching off street lights in the small hours to save money. Many villages don't have lights anyway. I don't know what the situation is in Cornwall or Exeter, but you may find going out at midnight will be pitch dark.

janisj

>>You could substitute Truro (which has a cathedral) for Exeter<<

I was thinking of suggesting the same thing -- though there is quite a difference between the maybe 120 yo Truro cathedral and the 600+ yo one in Exeter.

anicecupoftea

Only 600 years old? Forget modern architecture in Exeter and come to Norfolk instead - our cathedral has been there for 900 years.

carolyn

We spent five days in Penzance without a car. We went by bus one day to Marazion to see St. Michael's Mount and another day to St. Ives. Walked to Newlyn, explored PZ, and had a really good time. I especially liked St.MM, but do get info on the tide tables if you go.

cfc

Thanks all. Carolyn, I'm not that good a swimmer so will definitely find out about tides. Any recommendations re: where to stay in Penzance?

Cathinjoetown

We stayed here in St. Ives. From the website the hotel looks recently updated--that was needed but at the time we stayed there we loved the location, the bar and the great view of St. Ives harbor. Easy walk from train station.

http://pednolva.co.uk/stay

annhig

hi cmc,

Greetings from sunny Cornwall. Of Penzance and St Ives, PZ will definitely be the easier of the two places to get to on public transport as the train goes straight there, though the branch line from St Erth to St Ives makes that a good choice too , and the Pendolva is a very nice hotel [the public rooms have definitely been updated as we were there at christmas] with a lovely restaurant and super view, just a stone's throw from the station as Cathinjotown says. Buses are available from both towns to tour the area, or you might do what we saw quite a lot of people doing last week which was to get a bus somewhere, walk to somewhere else and then get a taxi back.

obviously I'm biased and with only 4 nights would spend my whole time in Cornwall, rather than stop off in Exeter, but if you can't resist a night there, I suggest getting the train all the way to Cornwall [one of the iconic train journeys of the world, especially the part between Exeter and Plymouth and the part that goes across the Tamar and slightly beyond] and then on the day you leave cornwall, get an early train back to Exeter, and spend the rest of the day [and the night] there. For seeing Exeter itself that should be quite enough.

I don't know what your price-point in Exeter is, but for about £100 a night you should be able to get a decent room in the Mercure [quite a long way from the station and slightly away from the very centre] or if you fancy something more boutique, the St Olave's [excellent breakfasts with eggs benedict etc.; they used to have a very good restaurant but seem to have stopped that now] and closest to the station [just a very short taxi ride] the Queen's Court which also has a very good restaurant and is a 10 mins walk from the Cathedral and the historic centre [of which there is sadly very little left].

I can't offer any recommendations for where to stay in PZ - there are quite a lot of B&Bs and Guest houses in and around Alexandra Road and there are some pretty good restaurants so I would definitely want to eat out.

Hope that helps - do come back with any queries you might have.

carolyn

cfc, we stayed at Carnson House, 2 East Terrace, Penzance, Cornwall, England TR18 2TD, Phone: 011-44-1736-365-589. It's a B&B and a sort of quirky old place (~275 years), having been everything from a dwelling to a brothel to a bakery, and not all rooms are en suite, but it's just a block from the train station, and the owners were lovely. You can have a look at it on Google.

cfc

And again, thanks all. Am taking all suggestions under advisement - which I guess in this case means, you advised me so I'm taking it as a suggestion.

I'm really hoping we can tuck enough in without feeling like we're on a fast treadmill, but am so looking forward to it.

cfc

Back with some questions about St. Ives, which we think is where we will be based for 4 days, 3 nights (thence to Exeter long enough to tramp around the cathedral on our way back to London). Our plan has us there toward the end of the first full week in Sept., which apparently is festival time in St. Ives. We still thought it made sense to try to stay there rather than Penzance - might enjoy some of the music, art. etc.

1. Unfortunately the Pedn Olva is fully booked for that time. Any other recommendations re: best place to stay? Our budget is moderate - can't quite afford the high end but can do better than a hostel, etc. Pedn Olva was toward upper part of our possible range, but location looked ideal, as did accommodations. Wish it weren't S.O.

Also, town seems to be rather 'hilly' or at least with pitched streets. Since we will be entirely on foot (with luggage some of the time), hoping to stay centrally and in less steep area.

2. Should we take half-board or stick to breakfast only, if dinner is available? Are there enough cafes and restaurants around that it's worth staying free to do that? I assume so (and we normally can't and don't eat heavily in the evening anyway) but always worth asking.

Thanks all.

cfc

(annhig - we took your suggestion re: Exeter, obviously).

cfc

To all: can reconsider staying in Penzance if you think St. Ives might be a little clogged with the arts/music festival. We know we want to do the Tate, and also a little down time just looking at the ocean. St. Ives seemed a pretty and quiet place to do that. But Penzance might afford more options, maybe? Dunno - never been there yet!

Cathinjoetown

St. Ives could be very crowded during the festival. It starts after the families have gone but that's when the empty-nesters arrive in addition to festival goers. It is very hilly with most of the activity around the harbor and beaches. There are many cafés and restaurants, if you see a restaurant you like, stop in to book early in the day as they fill up.

Guest houses can be high above the harbor, inquire about local buses. There is a shuttle from the large car park at the leisure center at the top of the town, it does a circuit down to within a few streets of the harbor but I don't believe stops in between.

You may be better off in Penzance with day trips to St. Ives. Personally, I would not commit to a breakfast/dinner plan unless I had a good recommendation. Maybe commit to one night and see how it is.