Upcoming trip to Penzance, Cornwall
 

On another thread in the lounge I changed our plans from an Alaska Inside Passage Cruise to a trip to Cornwall and then Iceland and have been busy making arrangements. Several people on that thread commented that they were also planning a trip to Cornwall and expressed interest, so I am writing this post instead of continuing the other since the thread title might be misleading.

After lots of searching, I found a guesthouse in Penzance which fits our needs very nicely. It is called The Stanley Guesthouse. They were prompt in responding to my inquiry answering the questions that I had and are willing to accommodate DW's dietary needs at breakfast . They are located on the Promenade in Penzance and is a doable walk from the train station.

I loved Penzance on my visit from St. Ives on the bus that does a circular route that includes both. I highly recommend the bus, btw, for those who enjoy local transport as I do, easier to see the lay of the land from higher up with an expert negotiating the lanes from village to village. Should I make my way there again I plan to stay in Penzance, a very sweet town, I thought.

I am planning to go at some point, as my goddaughter lives in Falmouth.

It's fun to google Pirates of Penzance and get the related bits of info.

We stayed at the Stanley a couple of years back and enjoyed it very much, good location, yummy breakfast, comfortable beds.

One of our grandsons lost his wallet and had no idea where. We found out where it was when Kate at the Stanley emailed us that he had left it in his room and she would keep it there for us if we wished to pick it up on our return from the Isles of Scilly or, if we didn’t get her email until our return to the USA, she would post it out to us.

Stanley GH duly noted.

We've got a cancellable reservation at the Longboat, but we'll look at the Stanley as well. After doing some further reading we've decided to spend 2 nights in Penzance and 1 night on the Isles of Scilly instead of the other way around.

As someone who's played Mabel in the Pirates of Penzance more times than I can remember, and having been assistant director for it twice, I think I should give it its due.

It all looks beautiful. We can hardly wait.

evecolorado, it is good to hear from someone who has stayed there and had a positive experience. Thanks for your input.

StCirq - I remember at one point you mentioned singing the part of Mabel, a favorite character of mine. If you saw the most recent movie version of Pirates, what did you think of Linda Ronstadt's performance as Mabel I liked her a lot in that part and had no idea she could sing like that. Here is clip of her in the movie version singing "Poor Wandering One" for those who may have not seen it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfjAJn4SC-w.

Be sure to visit St. Michael's Mount and St. Ives when you are in Penzance.

sounds like a good start, Basingstoke.

care to post a link to the Stanley?

Certainly annhig. For you, anything -well, almost.

http://thestanleypenzance.co.uk/

Cherie, absolutely - it is already part of our plan.

Basingstoke, thanks for the link! the reason I was particularly interested was because you'd said that it was walkable from the station and I couldn't think of a B&B that fitted that description. Turns out that it's opposite the Jubilee Pool [known as the Jublee pool in this household,] which has just undergone a complete renovation after the storm damage of 3 years ago. i'm sure that you will be impressed:

https://www.jubileepool.co.uk/plan-your-visit

You might however not be quite so impressed with the walk from the station. The good news is that it's quite flat, and takes you round the harbour [albeit between the car park and the road for most of the way], but it's not a hop, skip and jump by any means.

I don't want to put you off, but just make sure that you know that you've got a bit of a walk - which I'm sure you'll think is worth it when you get there.

annhig - thank you for the heads up about the walk from the station. I understood it would be about 10-15 minutes but if not I will consider taking a taxi. I am used to boring walks from train stations. The pool looks awesome, is it really as big as the photo implies"

basingstoke, I've seen LR singing that part before and was, frankly, amazed. I always loved here, but had no idea she could do G&S like that!

It is sad what happened to some of the people in principal roles in that movie. Linda Ronstadt has a sever case of Parikinsons and can no longer sing. Tony Azito, who played the Police Sergeant brilliantly and reminds me of Dick Van Dyke, died of AIDS in his early forties and most sadly, George Rose, the Major General was beaten to death by his adopted son and the son's biological father. He had left his estate to the son.

Basingstoke, I confess that I've never walked it and it probably is only 10-15 mins but you may not feel like doing that after a few hours on the train. I just wanted you to know that it's not exactly adjacent.

As for the pool, yes, it is pretty big. DS has swum there but I haven't - well, not yet. There is also a good restaurant next door to it, but in PZ you are really spoilt for choice.

Thank you annhig for the clarification. My thinking is that after all of that time on the train I might just want to walk it off for awhile.

Do you think Truro merits a side trip on our holiday? In researching Cornwall, I found that Truro is the center of Cornwall's Jewish community with bi-weekly services held at a school. That was interesting to me but I am sure you already knew that.

basingstoke - to my shame I didn't know that. Where are the services held? A good reason for you to go there, certainly, if one of the services co-incides with your visit. Otherwise Truro is a very pleasant country town - the Cathedral is interesting, [not of the same antiquity as Exeter, though in the same style] there are a few elegant Georgian streets, [including the one where my office is situated], but it doesn't have the charm of Penzance, Falmouth or Helston.

It takes about 40 mins on the train from PZ so you could decide on the day whether you wanted to go or not, depending on how the rest of your trip is going.

basingstoke - I looked it up, and the services are not held in Truro but in a village about 3 miles to the west which is not easily accessible by public transport. In fact they are held at an education centre that I didn't even know existed and I live quite close albeit in a different direction. if you were keen to go I'm sure that it could be arranged [I suspect that someone from the local community would be very happy to give you a lift as would I if we're around] but it won't I think be a matter of just getting off the train and walking to the school. Not even for you!

Sorry I'm a little late to this party, but last year I posted some questions about visiting Cornwall/Devon (without a car) and got some great help. Also, I came back to thank people for their help and included a mini-trip report. Perhaps you'll find something useful there:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...hout-a-car.cfm

(duplicate post on other thread)

Just wanted to add in my thanks for the responses on this forum, it's proving to be instrumental in my trip planning!