I seem to have more trouble in Cornwall than even in Glasgow.

perhaps you've picked up the Glaswegian accent from episodes of Taggart, jj.

Wycliffe isn't quite the same.

Thanks for all of your correct pronunciations, Ann! I am still laughing at your anecdotes about understanding the Cornish.

By the way I did not correct the woman about Tintagel. I thought I might have been mispronouncing it for all these years.

It is intriguing and often baffling in dealing with regional pronunciations. Several years ago we had close friends from France visiting us in Tucson, Arizona. They pronounced it Tuck...son. I didn't correct them. ;) They did finally pick up on the correct pronunciation.

I did know how to pronounce Tintagel, but on same trip had a much more difficult time with a young lad at Waverley Station. Having asked the question of where the first class carriage would be, all I could do was just nod my head to his response and pray I had, at least, a general idea of what he was saying but realized that I wasn't at all sure I did. Apparently it worked as he personally guided me to the first class car on the train to Glasgow. Likely he concluded that the American lady was polite but not too savvy.:)

Just finding this great report.

Thanks for the great report, which I learned about on the Cotswolds thread. I, too, prefer independent travel, but I don't want to drive in Devon and Cornwall, and I know that I would miss a lot using public transport. Plus I now have health issues that are keeping me home this year and may make tours more attractive.

I am wondering about joining/leaving the tour in the SW to avoid the long drive from London (I'd prefer to take the train) and to spend more time there. Guess I should ask Rabbies directly.

I was lucky enough to visit St. Ives back in the early 90s before it got so popular, and Stonehenge before they fenced it off. Never made it to the Minack theater though, which sounds wonderful.

Thanks for bringing this report up.

thursdaysd - I could probably suggest some places to stay if you wanted to extend a trip to Devon/Cornwall e.g. Penzance and Falmouth are both good options as they are fully accessible on the train but if i put my thinking cap on i might come up with some others.

Thanks ann. Looks like it won't be this year, but I'm hoping I may be healthy enough next spring. Maybe a repositioning cruise instead of a plane across the Atlantic. Definitely want to take the night train to Penzance and go on to the Scillies (might should book accommodation now!) How about Fowey? I have a list of gardens but suspect most of them require a car.

when toucan2 and her sis were here they used a local guide for a day to see places that they didn't want to drive to. i will try to find his name.

there are also companies that do day tours to gardens I think - again I'll do a bit of a search and come back to you.

As for the Scillies, if you could make a reservation that you could cancel closer to the time, that might be a good idea. If at all possible avoid school hols; the dates for 2018 are here:

https://www.schoolholidayseurope.eu/...s-2018-uk.html

if you want to see the gardens at their best, the "best" time would be between the end of the Easter school hols and half term which next year starts on Sat 26/5/18 and lasts for a week. This year most of the rhododendrons and tulips are now over so earlier in May might be a better bet, though the weather might not be quite so good. Who knows?

ok, here we go:

https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/holiday...nwall-gardens/

[DH has done a couple of walking hols with these people and they are pretty good]

https://www.rhs.org.uk/shop/rhs-gard...n-and-cornwall

[a slightly different collection of gardens and the tour starts at Bristol]

http://www.cornwallgardentours.co.uk/gardens.html

[nice ideas here, but no costs]

http://www.tourcornwall.com

[this is the chap that toucan2 used; they were very happy with his services]

Thanks very much, ann! Really appreciate the effort when I know you have so much going on. I would love to be in England in May (more than April, lol). It's hard for me to find the energy to plan anything right now, but at least I can read about it.

no probs, Thursdaysd.

amongst other things, Fodors is a very good distraction!