A week in the West Country
 

Greetings, All :)

I will be visiting the UK again in May 2009 and a week down around Devon and Cornwall appeals to me.

My current thinking is to take a train from London to a station somewhere in that area, hire a car, check into a nice B&B in a convenient location and do easy, gentle day trips to explore.

Can anyone suggest a good place to base myself for exploring the region? I am considering Penzance at the moment because it has a railway station and it might be nice to do a day trip on the ferry to the Isles of Scilly. My only reservation is that Penzance is not particularly central to the region which might result in some fairly long day trips to reach parts of Devon. Of course, if the scenery (I will be taking a LOT of photographs) around Penzance, Land's End St Ives, etc is spectacular enough, I may not need to venture further afield.

What are the 'must sees' in the region?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

Sounds like a very good plan! I'm not sure there is really a central spot to really see the West Country--it sort of breaks down more into counties with North and South Cornwall being fairly large areas requiring much peninsula dipping to enjoy fully.

You might want to, in a week--just settle in Cornwall--perhaps staying where you are most interested in being (sounds like St Ives--a great choice) and enjoying the region nearby.
Devon is also very lovely- with Dartmouth and Dartmoor both excellent destinations depending on your interests. The walking is excellent throughout. May will be hedges full of flowers...

Cheers,
Meg
Up the Ben and Down the Boozer
http://megrobb.typepad.com/britishtravel/

I love the St Ives area. Penzance is a bit far out of the way IMO.

Thanks for your kind replies. Further research has turned up Bodmin as a possibly more central base. Can one do a round trip to Land's End from Bodmin in a day? It looks as though one can reach most other places from there and it is also accessible from London by rail.

What do you think?

I don't think you will manage a day trip to Scilly by sea. You can fly from Lands End or Newquay.

We spent four days in Penzance this past fall. We saw trips to the islands advertised. Also, we made a one-day, round-trip visit to Land's End. A woman we met stopped off on the way and walked the coastal trail to Land's End.

We really enjoyed St. Michael's Mount, easily reached by bus from Penzance or by walking along the bay.

Also, the Minack Theater is well worth a visit. For something out of the usual there is a telegraph museum nearby.

We didn't have time to go, but we were told we could easily reach St. Ives from Penzance.

If you do stay in Penzance or thereabouts, be sure to take a tour with Harry Safari. He's a hoot.

Thanks for your responses :)

I have discovered that one can do a day trip to The Isles of Scilly from Penzance, going one way by air and the other way by ferry, giving about 6 hours on St Mary's.

I'm trying to work out how far I could reasonably drive from Penzance on a day trip. Does any one know if I could get from Penzance to Polperro and back in a day? How about Tintagel or Bude?

Would it be better to spend say 3 nights in Penzance and 3 nights somewhere like Bideford or Clovelly?

I don't know this area well, so any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

Hi Yelpir - With a car you can certainly day-trip to Polperro, Bude ... or anywhere else in Cornwall. Personally though I'd possibly choose Falmouth as a base rather than Penzance.

If you want a few days in Devon too I'd suggest Lynmouth (N. Devon) or Dartmouth (S. Devon) to base rather than Clovelly or Bideford.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Hi Steve, thanks for your help :)

The plan so far:
Arrive Heathrow (from Cape Town, so no real jetlag problems) at about 7:00am on May 6th. Take a 10:00am coach from Heathrow to Taunton in Devon, arriving at about 1:00pm. Pick up a rental car and drive to Lynmouth for the first overnight.

From there I want to spend about 10 days doing a slow circle of Devon and Cornwall, finishing up back at Taunton at about 1:00pm on May 16th. Drop off the rental car and take an afternoon coach back to Heathrow.

This will give me 10 nights for which I will need to find stopover places. I could do 5-5 nights in two places, 3-3-4 nights in three places, 2-3-2-3 nights in 4 places or 2-2-2-2-2 nights in 5 places.

2-3-2-3 in 4 places looks good to me at the moment. If Lynmouth and Falmouth are two of those places, I would still appreciate suggestions for two more nice towns (or farms) to spend a couple of nights in. I am especially looking for beautiful scenery and quaint villages. I will be staying in B&Bs all the way.

Thanks :)

Yelpir - I think Dartmouth is one of the nicest places in Devon - a good base IMO for South Devon/Dartmoor.

So my 4 would probably be Lynmouth, Fowey, St Ives and Dartmouth.

If you want to see E.Devon/W. Dorset, consider Sidmouth.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Yes, Fowey and St. Ives are interesting.

If you go as far as Fowey and St. Mawes, detour through the beautiful St. Just in Roseland.

Thanks for your advice. With your help, my stopovers are now more or less settled :)

Now I am wondering if in early May I need to book B&B accommodation or whether I can just wing it. Previously I have always planned down to finest detail and had everything booked way ahead of time. Now the idea of just drifting wherever the wind blows is appealing to me.

Would I be correct in assuming that there is no shortage of good B&B accommodation in Devon and Cornwall and that I would never find myself stuck for a bed?

Just a thought. The area of Devon and Cornwall isnt that big - so why waste so much time uprooting, unpacking and travelling. I would consider just two bases - one of which would be Lynmouth (suggested by some other).

You've had some good advice here. Just a couple of thoughts: I think it makes sense to have a couple of stops because otherwise you'll end up backtracking a lot. Cornwall and Devon might be 'small' by US standards but distances which look short on the map actually take a long time to traverse - those winding country lanes are beautiful but slow. So I think you have the right idea, to move on after a night or two. I'm unclear whether you want to base yourself in beautiful villages/scenic countryside. Those places you've listed are largish towns. And why limit yourself to B&Bs? Have you considered inns/pubs with rooms? There are some great places - Here's a link to a place that was named pub of the year:http://www.cornwall-online.co.uk/gurnards-head/
It offers B+B and great dining. It is in a beautiful spot outside of St. Ives (which is really quite a big town). There are fantastic walks along the headland. Just a thought! And I hate to sound like a disloyal Brit but Clovelly has turned into quite the rip-off - you have to pay to even enter the village! Lands End has long been comletely shameless about being nothing more than an expensive car park - better to look into some of the stunning walks in the area, eg. from Tintagel.Ignore the Arthur/Camelot tourist tat in the town and set off from the ruins for a breathtakingly beautiful walk along the cliffs, looping back to a pub in town. And remember, it may be May but be prepared for any kind of weather!

In 1998 we stayed at the Garrick in St. Ives--don't know what it's like now but the view off their bluff was great.

Tresanton in St. Mawes was one of the loveliest places I've ever stayed--but pricey.

Tor Cottage which is tucked away near the border of Cornwall was a lovely overnight.

I enjoyed the walk down to the ruins at Tintagel. I wasn't aware there was a walk along the clifftops there. If there is, the view rivals the Oregon Coast.

If you're buzzing up and down the dual carriageway, stop off for a drink at Jamaica Inn (especially if you (or passenger) are a Daphne duMaurier fan).

Wow! Thanks folks. Great advice. I will research all those suggestions :)

My preference is for small villages and country roads as far away from crowds as I can get. Last year I spent three days in the TINY village of Near Sawrey in the Lake District and I loved it. You could step out the front door of the guest house and see sheep grazing in the field across the road. You could walk in any direction through beautiful countryside. Heaven. My time in Scotland was spent exploring the back roads up the north-west. Again, my idea of heaven.

I am not at all keen on big towns. Small country villages or even farms are more my style. I try to avoid larger towns if I can. Early to bed and early to rise. Dew on the grass and birds singing. Sunrises and sunsets. Green fields, streams, woods, cliffs, seascapes, deserted beaches, fishing boats. Definitely my thing.

I would be quite happy to stay in inns and pubs with rooms. I just don't like large, impersonal hotels. I am also on quite a tight budget. I would rather not have to pay more than 50 pounds a night for bed and breakfast. And I do like ensuite as I visit the loo often at night (I get frequent flusher miles :) )

My plan is to keep as much as possible to the little back roads and to enjoy both the inland and the coastal scenery. The walk along the cliffs at Tintagel sounds divine. I am not a long distance hiker, but I can manage up to a 5km walk to see breath-taking scenery.

All suggestions gratefully received :)

If you prefer smaller villages, Yelpir, you might want to consider Polperro as one of your bases.

And your original idea of Clovelly fits the bill too - although I think the scenery is nicer and you have more options around Lynmouth.

Unless you're here over Bank Holiday I don't think you'd have a big problem just stopping wherever appeals to you and finding a B&B.

Steve

Check out Portmellon which is a tiny village just past Mevagissey. It can be reached without going through Mevagissey (you will understand why this is a good thing if you go there). Beyond Portmellon is Goran Haven, also quiet.

We rented a house literally hanging over Portmellon cove in 2006. There were smaller places to rent and the pub is also a B&B--it looked well, average. There are some wonderful coastal paths through Portmellon and it's quite close to the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

Mevagissey is okay to explore but using its streets as access to Portmellon means going up a very long, steep hill which is single lane with infrequent and difficult pullovers. Sort of good fun once or twice but it was also good to have an alternative route.

Also stayed a week in Polperro--its physical setting is pretty and the coastal paths are great BUT it teems with daytrippers and the pedestrian area shops are for the most part tourist tat.

It might be slightly quieter in May than August when we were there. It does get very quiet again in the evening. I wouldn't use it as a base again.

Before your route is totally planned I want to offer a suggestion for sightseeing: Cornish gardens. Trelissick is very nice, Trebah absolutely great. May should be a good time for garden visits.

We also stayed at the Garrack Hotel in St. Ives; we liked it but it sounds not your thing. St. Ives is fairly large. (Good museums and great beaches though.) But the scenery between Lands End and St. Ives and on north is very good.

I'm afraid my penchant for detailed planning has asserted itself again and I have been busy filling in the details in the itinerary. Here is the latest version:

May 6 (Wed)
- Heathrow to Taunton by National Express coach
- Arrive Taunton 1255. Pick up rental car from Enterprise
- Drive to Lynmouth, arriving mid afternoon
- Local sightseeing
- Overnight in Lynmouth

May 7 (Thu)
- Do the Riversmeet walk
- Ride the cliff railway to Lynton
- Take an Exmoor coast boat cruise
- Explore Exmoor National Park
- Overnight in Lynmouth

May 8 (Fri)
- Drive from Lynmouth to Tintagel
- Route: Ilfracombe, Braunton, Barnstaple, Bideford, Clovelly, Bude, Boscastle, Tintagel
- Overnight in Tintagel

May 9 (Sat)
- Visit Tintagel Castle
- Visit Merlin's Cave
- Take a walk along the cliffs
- Overnight in Tintagel

May 10 (Sun)
- Drive from Tintagel to Penzance
- Route: Padstow, Newquay, Perranport, St Agnes, Portreath, St Ives, St Just, Land's End, Mousehole, Newlyn, Penzance
- Visit St Michael's Mount
- Overnight in Penzance

May 11 (Mon)
- Fly from Land's End to the Isles of Scilly
- Spend the day on St Mary's
- Return to Penzance on the ferry in the evening
- Overnight in Penzance

May 12 (Tue)
- Drive from Penzance to Fowey
- Route: Porthleven, Helston, Mullion, Lizard Point, Gweek, Falmouth, St Mawes, St Just in Roseland, Mevagissey, St Austell, Fowey
Overnight in Fowey

May 13 (Wed)
- Visit Bodmin
- Explore Bodmin moor
- Overnight in Fowey

May 14 (Thu)
- Drive from Fowey to Dartmouth
- Route: Looe, Saltash, Plymouth, Kingsbridge, Salcombe, Dartmouth
- Overnight in Dartmouth

May 15 (Fri)
- Drive through Brixham, Paignton, Torquay, Newton Abbot, Asburton, Two Bridges (Dartmoor), Buckfastleigh, Totnes and return to Dartmouth
- Overnight in Dartmouth

May 16 (Sat)
- Drive from Dartmouth to Taunton
- Drop off rental car
- Return to Heathrow by National Express coach.

I am currently reseaching accommodation in the 5 towns that I have chosen for stopovers (based on the kind advice that I have received from members of the forum).

I would greatly appreciate any comments on the itinerary, especially with regard to the routes and things to see along the way :)