I seem to remember from many many years ago that St. Austell was well known for "something"! Can't find any mention of the place in any guide books - Can any of you super travellers help? It's like catching a glimpse of something but when you turn round to look it's gone!! most frustrating. Thank you.

It's been years since I've been there, but AFAIK St. Austell was known for two things: 1) china clay mining, and 2) being the place where you get off the train to catch the bus to Fowey!

To me, it is Tregrehan Garden nearby,and bus to Mevagissey for the lost garden of Heligan.

Or Eden Project? but seems not very interesting.

Hello Skaye - We were in Fowey for 6 days in June.
The reason we chose this pretty little fishing port was because to get to Mevagissey and the Lost Gardens of Heligan we had to catch a ferry across the bay (which took about 40min. each way), and thought it would be something different to the usual bus service - and it was!
We did take the bus to St Austell and connect with the Eden Project on another day. The buses don't tie up very well in our opinion when getting from one town to the next - for instance it took FOREVER to get to Padstow with lots of walking to bus stops and asking people if we were going in the right direction.
Fowey itself is too divine! We stayed at the Fowey Hotel which is pure Victoriana and had one of only two rooms upstairs that had a big bay window looking out towards the entrance to the little harbour and across to Polrune( I think thats not spelt right) but it's the town on the other shore.
The small fishing boats came right under our window to pull up their lobster and crab pots. The weather was like Greece in August and the water clear and blue. Below the hotel is a Victorian Tea Garden so nothing blocks a persons view. The bus stop was in front of the hotel but my word are those lanes narrow! We had nothing but admiration for the drivers!
The restaurants were very good and there are delightful river trips up the estuary past Daphne du Maurier's house.
She wrote many books here. If you go tto that part of the world, look out for the famous Jamaica Inn.
The whole experience for us was like taking a step into the past.
I would be happy to answer any other queries if I can.
P.S. It was SO exspensive!

A google search gave lots of references to St Austell. Four are attached.

http://www.aboutbritain.com/towns/StAustell.asp

http://www.touruk.co.uk/cornwall/corn_sau.htm

http://www.connexions.co.uk/areas/html/st_austell.html

http://www.cornwall-online.co.uk/res.../staustell.htm

We stayed in a BnB in West Looe and found the whole area easily accessible by car. Polperro and St Ives, though totally different, were our favorites. We visited in the last week of October so tourists were minimal though it was a school vacation week.

Thank you all very much.. sorry to be late acknowledging the help but my computer went on vacation (still is as far as e-mail!)..

St Austell does have a brewery and their beers were the finest "local" brew that I found. If you keep heading SW from there you will stumble across St. Mawes which was a nice little twon with a beautiful castle. Don't miss the Lizard peninsula. There is a music session on Monday nights at the Top House in The Lizard and on Tuesday nights at Cadgwith. Very energetic!

Bill

PS:

Some pics of the area can be found at http://www.geocities.com/obeirne_wales_2004/

SW England was the first half of the trip.

Bill