See tourist information about this area
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS:
BEST DAYS OUT CORNWALL
DEVON ASSOCIATION OF TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
ENGLISH HERITAGE
HISTORIC HOUSES
THE NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME
THE NATIONAL TRUST
THE WILDLIFE TRUST
HISTORIC SITES/CASTLE/CATHEDRALS
CORNWALL
Pendennis Castle – Falmouth: Heny VIII’s coastal stronghold and a secret war base
Tintagel Castle: These ruins with dramatic views are said to be the birthplace of King Arthur
Lanhydrock House – Bodmin: A perfect country house and estate with a feel of a wealthy but unpretentious family home
Mount Edgcumbe House and Gardens – Torpoint: Set in Grade I Cornish gardens within 865 acres of country park
St Michael’s Mount – Marazion: Discover an amazing island world with medieval castle and a sub-tropical paradise
Prideaux Place – Padstow: This stunningly beautiful Elizabethan manor house overlooks the picturesque fishing harbour of Padstow
DEVON
A La Ronde – Exmouth: A unique 16 sided house with fascinating interior decoration and collections
Buckland Abbey – Yelverton: The former home of Sir Francis Drake
Exeter Cathedral: Built in the decorated gothic style, it has the longest uninterrupted medieval gothic vaulting in the world
Hartland Abbey: Many ancestors have been prominent here, politicians, high sheriffs and even pirates!
Powderham Castle – Kenton: Set in a beautiful deer park on the Exe estuary
SOMERSET
Dunster Castle: An ancient castle and country home with dramatic vistas and subtropical gardens
Glastonbury Abbey: Romantic ruins – once the grandest and richest Abbey in England. A great Glastonbury experience awaits you here!
Lytes Cary Manor – Somerton: This intimate manor house was the former home of medieval herbalist Henry Lyte and his famous 16th-century plant directory, Lytes Herbal
Wells Cathedral: Perhaps the most beautiful of the great English cathedrals
GARDENS
CORNWALL
Lost Gardens of Heligan – St.Austell: Hailed ‘the garden restoration of the century’
Trebah Gardens – Mawnan Smith: A wooded sub-tropical ravine with its own beach
Trelissick Garden – Feock: A 20 acre garden, set on many levels, with fine open lawns, a superb collection of tender and exotic plants, providing year-round colour and superb views
Trengwainton Garden – nr. Penzance: Experience stunning views and an abundance of exotic trees and shrubs
ISLES OF SCILLY
Tresco Abbey Garden: The tropical garden is home to species from 80 countries, ranging from Brazil to New Zealand and Burma to South Africa
DEVON
Arlington Court: Gardens that nestle in the thickly wooded valley of the River Yeo
Clovelly Court Gardens: A classic example of a Victorian walled kitchen garden including magnificent glasshouses
Bicton Park Botanical Gardens – Budleigh Salterton: 60 acres of soft sweeping lawns, elegant water features & fragrant English borders
Castle Hill Gardens & Park – Barnstaple: surround a magnificent Palladian House, home of the Fortescue family since 1454. An 18th century landscape with grass terraces and statues
Marwood Hill Gardens – Barnstaple: three lakes, a bog garden, vast variety of trees, shrubs, herbaceous and alpine plants
Rosemoor – Great Torrington: This enchanting RHS Garden is a unique place, set in 65 acres in the Torridge valley
SOMERSET
Cannington Walled Gardens: Lying in the grounds of mediaeval priory, these gardens have classic and contemporary features
Tintinhull Gardens – Yeovil: A small 20th century Arts and Crafts garden surrounding a 17th century house
Hestercombe Gardens – Taunton: A unique collection of gardens spanning three centuries of garden history and design
FAMILY ATTRACTIONS
CORNWALL
Eden Project – St Austell: Contains the world’s largest indoor rainforest and Mediterranean garden. A gateway into the fascinating world of plants and people
Land’s End: The most South-Westerly point of the British Isles with breathtaking scenery five visitor attractions, shopping village and restaurants
Minack Theatre – Porthcurno: The famous outside theatre clinging to a cliff face, with amazing view
Monkey Sanctuary – Looe: Monkeys, wildlife gardens, playground and bats!
National Maritime Museum – Falmouth: Celebrating the sea, boats and Cornwall
Newquay Zoo: Experience the world’s wildlife at this award-winning zoo
Poldark Mine & Heritage Complex – Helston: Follow in the footsteps of 18th century Cornish tin miners
Seal Sanctuary – Helston: Seals, Otters, Penguins, Sheep, Ponies and Goats!
DEVON
Beer Quarry Caves – Seaton: Vast man-made complex of underground caverns created by centuries of quarrying since Roman times
The Big Sheep – Abbotsham: Family park with sheep racing, outdoor laser games, pony rides, plant nursery, brewery and indoor play area
Dartmoor National Park: Covering an area of 368 square miles, Dartmoor is the largest and wildest area of open country in Southern England
Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boats: Enjoy one of the finest heritage steam railway journeys in Europe and glorious boat trips on the River Dart
Donkey Sanctuary – Gunnislake: Donkeys, goats, sheep, pigs, rabbits and guinea pigs to feed and pet
Milky Way Adventure Park – Clovelly: Theme park, indoor adventure play area, assault courses, live shows and bird of prey displays
Morwellham Quay: 200 acres of outstanding natural beauty where the Victorian age is brought back to life including traveling underground to experience an authentic copper mine
National Marine Aquarium – Plymouth: Britain´s biggest, Europe´s deepest and UK´s best aquarium!
Paignton Zoo: See all your favourites as well as some more unusual species
Quince Honey Farm – South Molton: The largest honey farm in the country where you can view working colonies of honeybees
South Devon Railway – Buckfastleigh: A fantastic day out with steam and diesel locomotives
Wildlife & Dinosaur Park – Combe Martin: Explore 28 acres of stunning gardens with cascading waterfalls and 100s of exotic birds and animals
SOMERSET
Cheddar Caves and Gorge: 450ft high limestone cliffs and beautiful caves, home to Peregrine falcons and rare bats
Wookey Hole Caves – Wells: Britain’s most spectacular caves and legendary home of the infamous Witch of Wookey
Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm – Wraxall: 100 acre attraction – feed and stroke a variety of animals including big zoo animals
Grand Pier – Weston-Super-Mare: Something for everyone – arcade machines to thrilling rides, or a relaxing traditional afternoon tea in the exquisite Edwardian-style tea rooms
Haynes Motor Musuem – Sparkford: With more than 400 vehicles displayed in stunning style, dating from 1886 to the present day with cars from all over the world, it is the largest international motor museum in Britain
INFORMATION ON THIS AREA
The ironbound coast of Cornwall, its granite fangs breaking the spirit of the North Atlantic rollers, points the way to an ancient land of mystery, myth and legend. Its antiquity is borne out by a countryside from Land’s End dotted with Celtic crosses and the remains of Iron Age villages and stone circles.
Leaving the sunken skeletons of windjammers and steamers to the rocks and reefs of the north Cornish coast – one of the most stunning in England – we are drawn to Tintagel – the fabled birthplace of chivalry and the tales of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. Even in these days when science debunks romance, there is an indefinable magic about Tintagel’s castle ruins and Merlin’s cave.
Inland to the wilderness of Bodmin Moor, where its tors and the remains of the round stone huts of the farmers of 4,000 years ago set off its prehistoric past and the industrial archaeology of the copper miners and granite quarrymen. It also plays its part in the Arthurian legend of the region with Dozmary Pool. Dark and silent, and said to be bottomless, the pool is reputed to be where a hand surfaced to receive King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur. All this in just a 10-mile square.
Parson and huntsman Jack Russell was born in Dartmouth in 1795 and gave his name to the popular terrier he bred to go down fox holes.
We’ll fall to the call of the wild and move on to Dartmoor. Splendidly desolate, its granite tors, standing stones, heather clad hills and ancient stone clapper bridges over sparkling, clear rivers and streams rise up to more than 2,000 feet. Some mystery. At Hound Tor a devil dog is said to haunt the area searching out unbaptised children. This legend is among several that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to relate Sherlock Holmes’ encounter with the Hound of the Baskervilles. Wistman’s Wood adds to the surreal world that is Dartmoor. Here, clumps of stunted oaks – some more than 600 years old – grow among moss and ivy clad boulders.
Exmoor straddles the Devon/Somerset border and is a world apart from Dartmoor. From a plateau of moor and heathland and beech-hedged fields, fast-flowing streams carve their way through wooded valleys to the coast. Exmoor, with its red deer and buzzards, is the setting for another book of mystery and violence – R. D. Blackmore’s Lorna Doone. The little church at Oare is the setting for the near fatal shooting of the heroine. On the eastern edge of the moor is the fine medieval village of Dunster dominated by its Norman castle on one side and wooded slopes on the other.
The first house in the world to be lit by gas is in Redruth. In 1794, William Murdock, a mining engineer, used the gas produced by burning coal.
Let’s join the pilgrims of old and marvel at one of the finest cathedrals in Britain in England’s smallest city – Wells, nestling in the foot of the Mendips. Built between the 12th and 14th centuries, its west front is spectacular. Exeter, too, boasts a magnificent cathedral, with its two great towers dating back to the 12th century.
Some superlatives – at Cheddar. Its gorge is Britain’s largest; the Cheddar Yeo, in Gough’s Cave, is its biggest underground river; the Gorge Cliffs are the country’s highest inland limestone cliffs and Britain’s oldest complete skeleton was found in the cave, all of 9,000 years old. And there’s the eponymous cheese…claimed to be Britain’s best.
More Arthurian legend. This time at Glastonbury Tor, the site of the marshland ‘fairy isle’ of Avalon where King Arthur and Queen Guinevere are said to be buried. And it’s said Joseph of Arimathea buried the Holy Grail here. For millions of afficianados the annual Glastonbury Festival is the holy grail of music.
The ancient fishing villages of Cornwall are well worth visiting – among them Mousehole (pronounced Mouz’l) and St Ives. They were centres of the pilchard fishing industry. Now, St Ives is home to the Tate Gallery of the West. Still busy ports are Newlyn, near Penzance, Looe, Polperro and Brixham, along with the great natural harbours of Plymouth and Falmouth. On the rugged north coast there are fishing villages such as Clovelly and spectacular views from Hartland Point over one of the most treacherous stretches of water in Britain.
By sharp contrast, Selworthy, with its thatched cottages set in soft Somerset woodland is the perfect picture postcard village.
Back to the age of the dinosaurs…to the Jurassic Coast. Eastwards from Exmouth for nearly 100 miles, the cliffs and foreshore are recognised by UNESCO as one of the wonders of the natural world.
Enjoying one of Britain’s mildest climates, the region is also a paradise for plants with countless gardens to visit. It is appropriate that the Eden Project should be based here, successfully combining horticulture, ecology, science, art and architecture.
And don’t forget…Somerset is where the cider apples grow!