Gunnards Head is probably worth catching a bus for - think it manages the tourist (ie. me)/local divide well. Delicious food. Good vegetarian options. They need someone to send them some decent compilations (Mum, Movietone, Yorkston would work) to replace the Norah Jones. But, yeah, a trek on foot.
St Ives is a funny one - I did see the "worst painting that I've seen for sale in excess of £500" in a gallery. I assumed it was supposed to be "naive art" but was by someone professing to have a fine art degree.
― djh, Sunday, 22 May 2011 10:22 (twelve years ago) link
Countryfile ignoring incredible landscapes to focus on some moss and a few local nutters
― the right to beef at (darraghmac), Sunday, 10 February 2013 19:21 (eleven years ago) link
Ok. Bookmarked this thread for all eternity. But this is finally *happening*, in two months. Shame Kate/Ms. Tregasking isn't around anymore.
Staying in a cottage with seaside views, near Pendeen. I got the St.Ives-Zennor and Mousehole walks down, if anyone else has prime recommendations, come forward!
― Le Bateau Ivre, Saturday, 11 May 2013 00:15 (eleven years ago) link
My wife has ancestory from Cornwall. She spent time in Mousehole in 1981 and enjoyed it. She watched a play in some outdoor cliffside theater overlooking the ocean whose name and location I cannot tell you. This, too, she enjoyed. I don't think the acting was the main attraction, though. Try looking up some local menhirs. It makes a good excuse to wander the countryside.
― Aimless, Saturday, 11 May 2013 01:29 (eleven years ago) link
Thanks! I have that theatre, on the cliffside, down on my to see list ~ can't remember the name now either.
Ordered the Lonely Planet for Kernow and Devon, should be good.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Saturday, 11 May 2013 01:40 (eleven years ago) link
Next step independence
― A frenzied geologist (Tom D.), Thursday, 24 April 2014 14:58 (ten years ago) link
Cornish indie, fuxxors
― PhetamineGrrrn (wins), Thursday, 24 April 2014 15:04 (ten years ago) link
Not entirely Cornwall but we've got a "tour" of YHAs booked that goes something like Beer, Boswinger, Lizard, Land's End, Perranporth, Dartmoor.
Recommendations of things to do welcome ...
― djh, Monday, 25 August 2014 15:36 (nine years ago) link
Avoid the ~Lands End Experience~ thing IMO, and walk down the coast to Nanjizal to see Kan A'n Mor/Song Of The Sea arch. (Or up the coast to Sennen, but that goes without saying.)
― Shugazi (Branwell with an N), Monday, 25 August 2014 15:39 (nine years ago) link
The Minack is the name of the theatre on the cliff edge round the corner from Lamorna, but that piece of info probably comes too late for LBI. (Hope you had a splann time!)
― Shugazi (Branwell with an N), Monday, 25 August 2014 15:44 (nine years ago) link
there's some really nice hiking along the south coast near praa sands(?) [lol im american] if the weather is nice-ish. my wife and I also knew some people who had a house in mousehole outside of penzance which was pretty chill and interesting
― panettone for the painfully alone (mayor jingleberries), Monday, 25 August 2014 17:21 (nine years ago) link
Hi Branwell, no, we went to Minack's, ta! Which was great. The tiny beach next to it (with the steep climb up the rocks to the theatre) was a treat too. Mostly did loads of coastal walking, stretches of 7-10 miles a day. Incredible scenery. Mousehole, Penzance, Zennor is fab too.
Portheras Cove was a true find, too, and rather quiet as it takes quite a climb to get there. If you want something educational or museum like, Geevor's Tin Mine was impressive, but agreeing with Branwell: avoid Land's End like the plague. Good god, they turned that landmark spot into some sort of US western shopping mall ugh. Terrible.
― ambient yacht god (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 25 August 2014 17:34 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/SIUkCCg.jpg
I took this photo while there, which is basically a blueprint of my time there. Warm weather all day every day, and these views, these views... sighs
― ambient yacht god (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 25 August 2014 17:41 (nine years ago) link
DJH I know a bit about the area around Beer (I grew up in Sidmouth). Recs kinda depend on what you like to do; Beer itself is very cute, but the first two things which spring to mind in that little stretch are (a) an excellent pub called The Fountain Head in Branscombe and (b) the good, tiny and crammed secondhand bookshop just by the Cobb in Lyme Regis. On a nice day Hix's Oyster House in Lyme is worth the few quid extra it'll cost you to eat there.
― Tim, Monday, 25 August 2014 18:13 (nine years ago) link
Kernow is currently being suggested as an Anglo-Celtic compromise solution for my wedding next year. Any recommendations for venues, locations, etc?
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Monday, 25 August 2014 21:21 (nine years ago) link
I would really like to be helpful in suggesting lovely places in West Penwith but I'm rather useless as I haven't the foggiest as to what is required for a wedding!
― Shugazi (Branwell with an N), Monday, 25 August 2014 21:51 (nine years ago) link
I went to a good wedding at Polhawn Fort once, which has the feature (may be an advantage or a disadvantage) of not being very far into Cornwall.
― Tim, Monday, 25 August 2014 21:54 (nine years ago) link
Thank you both. I have an open mind about venues (country houses, hotels, forts...) so will do some digging.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Monday, 25 August 2014 22:16 (nine years ago) link
the other day I was sat next to someone on a bus loudly telling people about his imminent wedding in Cornwall, but he seemed like a bit of a knob so he's probably chosen somewhere bad
― for sale: Bebe's boots, never worn (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 00:03 (nine years ago) link
next time I make it to the UK I am going to go to here.
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 02:32 (nine years ago) link
will probably use the modern antiquarian as my guidebook
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 02:40 (nine years ago) link
Sharivari, I asked around a bit:
For sheer grandeur, there's this place (it's Newquay, but eh) though it might be quite pricey?http://www.headlandhotel.co.uk/explore/headland-history/
There was another one on the Lizard I was trying to remember (but only seen it while walking, not actually stayed there) might have been this one:http://www.mullion-cove.co.uk/
But if you want a place with good transport connections, you'd probably be better off looking somewhere like Falmouth that is actually on a reliable train service. (Cornish friends say Falmouth is the place for big weddings.) Depends, really, if you want somewhere beautiful and amazing but really out of the way, or somewhere that family coming from out of town can easily get to.
― Shugazi (Branwell with an N), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 10:53 (nine years ago) link
That's amazing. Thank you so much!
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 11:05 (nine years ago) link
the eden proj does weddings in their jungle biome iirc. might be a bit rum but at least you'd definitely avoid the miserable pissy rain
lots of the other famous gardens in the area probably do weddings too, though personally i don't think you should necessarily rule out plain old cavorting naked on the moors
― john wahey (NickB), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 11:50 (nine years ago) link
Cavorting's an option. I'll suggest it to the in-laws - would probably work out quite cost effective.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 11:57 (nine years ago) link
Please do not encourage any fucken hippies to do any bleddy handfasting ceremonies at Men An Tol. Please. They're a nuisance, they frighten the livestock.
― Shugazi (Branwell with an N), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 12:05 (nine years ago) link
Thanks for the suggestions.
― djh, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 19:41 (nine years ago) link
cornwall circa 1913
http://i1.wp.com/www.retronaut.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Cornwall-village.jpg?resize=620%2C502
http://www.retronaut.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Cornwall-29.jpg
http://www.retronaut.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Cornwall-191.jpg
http://www.retronaut.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Cornwall-161.jpg
http://www.retronaut.com/2010/02/colour-photographs-of-cornwall-2/?utm_content=buffer5d5df&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
― ogmor, Sunday, 31 August 2014 07:41 (nine years ago) link
Think there was a recent ep of 'don't tell the bride' where they got married at the Eden project.
― kinder, Sunday, 31 August 2014 10:25 (nine years ago) link
oh my, those photos are fantastic!
this record sounds interesting:http://thequietus.com/articles/16179-robert-curgenven-sirne-review
feel like i wanna start a landscape/memory/music thread on ilm but i don't really know how to frame it exactly
― john wahey (NickB), Monday, 8 September 2014 11:56 (nine years ago) link
That record sounds amazing. And NickB, go for it with your thread!
― ambient yacht god (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 8 September 2014 17:27 (nine years ago) link
nickb what sort of thing did you have in mind/were inspired by?
― ogmor, Monday, 8 September 2014 21:32 (nine years ago) link
well, um, music that evokes particular landscapes (whether that's urban or rural, and specific, real places or perhaps imaginary ones too) and explores the human stories that have left their mark there, or again perhaps those traces have been erased entirely and can only exist in the present by us projecting them back on the landscape if only in our imagination? and i suppose that's what a lot of folk music does, but also there's quite a bit of contemporary stuff from i dunno, from field recordings like chris watson's in st. cuthbert's time through people associated with psychogeography like jem finer and andrew kötting, to the clattering shire books indie of way through or some of the folk on the outer church compilation who are maybe at more of the occult/hauntological end of things. maybe more high profile stuff like burial or these new puritans are somehow connected too, and i wish i could think of non-british stuff off the top of my head but uh... i dunno, thoughts all half-baked & messy
― john wahey (NickB), Tuesday, 9 September 2014 11:35 (nine years ago) link
that's a great batch of material & there should definitely be a thread to collect this stuff together & muse although I can't think of a title
― ogmor, Tuesday, 9 September 2014 13:29 (nine years ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/sep/14/cornwall-and-south-devon-originally-belonged-to-europe
“This is a completely new way of thinking about how Britain was formed,” said Dijkstra. “It has always been presumed that the border of Avalonia and Armorica was beneath what would seem to be the natural boundary of the English Channel. But our findings suggest that although there is no physical line on the surface, there is a clear geological boundary that separates Cornwall and south Devon from the rest of the UK.”
The findings, go some way to explain why Cornwall and Devon have an abundance of tin and tungsten, metals found in Brittany and other areas of mainland Europe. “These minerals come from deep in the crust,” Dijkstra said.
― calzino, Friday, 14 September 2018 16:01 (five years ago) link
i've never been to cornwall, but that's changing in a couple of weeks. my aged parents are coming for a visit and we're all going out there. 6 of us! we're going to what i'm told is called the north coast. from london. and... we have no car.
any advice? how to get out there and get back? what to see? (we'll be near tintagel)
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 1 October 2019 08:48 (four years ago) link
I went for the first time this year too! We were based in Penzance and Fowey, on the South coast, but we made it to St Ives which was lovely and on the north coast, and to Lanhydrock which is on the edge of Bodmin Moor. Both highly recommended. Oh and the Eden Project is a must!
― Captain ACAB (Neil S), Tuesday, 1 October 2019 08:52 (four years ago) link
The train journey from London is great but expensive (about £100+ return). Takes four hours; sit at a window on the left for the views. But it won't get you very near Tintagel: Bodmin probably is the nearest station.
North coast is mainly beaches and scenery, so weather is a factor, but Tintagel, Padstow, St Ives are all worth a visit. Eden Project if it's raining.
I have *seen* buses in N. Cornwall...
― fetter, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 09:01 (four years ago) link
The sleeper train from Paddington is worth considering if feasible as you effectively get a night's accommodation plus the journey, and it's really good fun with its own bar and breakfast (of the bacon roll variety) served in the morning.
― Captain ACAB (Neil S), Tuesday, 1 October 2019 09:05 (four years ago) link
the beach and cave underneath tintagel are sublime. slate cliff face and green coppery water. my cousin works at the eden project but i've never been. apparently they have lots of ppl on zero hours contracts.
― ogmor, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 09:06 (four years ago) link
Bodmin Dungeon is well worth a visit and I love Newquay - even though it is probably considered tacky by ILX, 3 or 4 of my fave beaches in England there.
― calzino, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 09:17 (four years ago) link
Never been there either, seems like a nightmare to get to.
― Let them eat Pfifferlinge an Schneckensauce (Tom D.), Tuesday, 1 October 2019 09:49 (four years ago) link
it's very slow going when you get past Plymouth on the train, but some lovely scenery if want to pack a few tinnies
― calzino, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 09:56 (four years ago) link
Plymouth itself is worth a visit, though it is of course in Devon, I enjoyed the hoe very much
― Captain ACAB (Neil S), Tuesday, 1 October 2019 09:57 (four years ago) link
oh hi
we are going to Cornwall next week! my wife has always wanted to go there and I haven't been since I was 13... which was 30 years ago
I'm driving, which is a bit daunting, but we're stopping in Poole the first day which is just over halfway there, so at least I only have to do 3-4 hours a day.
then we're going to stay in Boscastle (visiting Tintagel), Newquay, Hayle (St Ives), Penzance, Falmouth, St Austell and Polperro for a day or 2 in each place. will try to visit some other places (Bodmin, Truro, Looe, Land's End, St Michael's Mount etc) but a lot of that depends on how wiped out my wife is from chemo. She has been prescribed more steroids this week which might help a bit with that, but I think the first week at least she's not going to be up to doing much. the 2nd week she doesn't have chemo so should feel a bit better hopefully
― Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 10:07 (four years ago) link
Newquay is in geologic history a part of France, hence the tin and beautiful Cornish granite and it often doesn't feel like England at all to me (even when it is pissing it down) in some mysterious way - but they voted for brexit in big numbers.
― calzino, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 10:14 (four years ago) link
Newquay Cornwall I meant obv
― calzino, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 10:16 (four years ago) link
I think I want to train it most of the way then rent a car. Where should I do that? Exeter? Truro? Bodmin?
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 1 October 2019 10:21 (four years ago) link
Hire a car in Exeter or Plymouth.
I went to Plymouth for the first time in ages a few months back* and I didn't mind it at all, I've grown to like the kind of paper-thin sub-Scando/Festival architecture of the post-war City Centre, though the place does appear to be very largely on its arse at present. The Hoe is OK, the Barbican is pretty good. The new shopping centre at the top of town is a vision of awfulness replacing the old brutalist shopping centre of which I have fond memories.
If I couldn't drive I think I'd probably get the train down to Bodmin then try to work out local buses, not least (as Neil says) for the train ride between Exeter and Plymouth, which is world-class. I think I probably wouldn't stop off in Plymouth, not least because getting from the station to the Hoe (in particular) is a bit of a slog.
*not counting trips there for the football, during which I don't really have the chance to look around, the point is to get into and out of the place as quickly as possible
― Tim, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 10:24 (four years ago) link
The chain ferry at (I think) Torpoint is a funny way to get your motor over the Tamar, though it's slower than the bridge, and the bridge gives you a good view of Brunel's amazing rail bridge IIRC.
― Tim, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 10:27 (four years ago) link