Cornwall, Part III

I completely glossed over our quick trip to Land's End, Cornwall, England (as opposed to Lands' End, WI, USA, the mail order company). On our third afternoon after St Michael's Mount, we decided to drive to Land's End because well, when would we ever get to drive to Land's End again? Land's End is the most westerly point in the UK. It is pretty much unpopulated and one must take very narrow roads to get there. Once we arrived, we finally decided it was worth the 3 GBP entrance fee to park for a half-hour visit and went into the cheesy visitors' centre/theme park. There were shops, food stalls and some pirate thing that unfortunately was just about to close for the day. There was also a pretty cool zip wire that kept the boys occupied, especially when the hoard of teenage French schoolgirls invaded it. We saw another sort of bike rally consisting of like four motorcycles - much less than Tenby's 300+. We took photos, I bought a Cornwall flag, the kids got a smashed penny souvenir. Been there, done that. Tick!

Longships Lighthouse
Obligatory "I was at Land's End" photos
Evan refused to participate.
An official photographer will charge you a ridiculous sum to put your hometown on the bottom right arm of the sign and allow you to enter the enclosure to stand next to the post. We passed on the offer to rob us blind and snapped a generic one instead. FYI: John o'Groats (anglicized & butchered version of Jan de Groot) is reputedly the northernmost point on the mainland UK and is located in Scotland. The actual most northerly point is nearby Dunnet Head, 11 miles further north. But it definitely is (in conjunction with Land's End) one end of the longest distance between two inhabited points on the British mainland.

Anyway, after checking into Devon on Friday and finding Plymouth to be a dive, we ate dinner at our hotel, The Holland Inn. The restaurant is billed mainly as a carvery which is buffet-style. We made the mistake of ordering off of the menu and it litruhlee took 45 minutes to get our meals. Ugh. But they tasted OK. The next evening, we had the carvery.
Saturday included a full English breakfast complete with smoked kippers and a visit to Cotehele, another NT property, imagine that. This place was totally awesome. I have to add that in my conversations with olde ladies regarding NT properties, EVERY SINGLE ONE of the ladies has mentioned that I must see Cotehele. Olde ladies are always right.
The property included:
a folly (Prospect Tower) into which we could climb
located in the midst of a cow pasture
a fledgling orchard
and cider press barn (as filmed in Edwardian Farm, see below)
a giant pond
or two for Owen's enjoyment
generous gardens
tunnels
a fab house with nice decor
Look, another turtle carapace
They must grow'em big in SW England!
Every fashionable Manor House should have a mounted albatross head.
Deer heads are sooo 1806, don't you agree?!
Fire extinguishers - hunh!
docents that allowed young boys to handle any and every weapon of said boy's choosing (such a patient man)
a mill
artisans' workrooms/shops including a potter (he was working so we didn't take a photo, but he was so good with the kids & inspiring), a saddler,
a wheelwright,
a blacksmith
and a chair maker
beautiful views
and delicious food and ice cream served in the barn.
Boys letting out some sugar after an ice cream binge
It was a long day and we all crashed int he hotel room to watch the Dr Who 2011 season premiere. Awesome episode indeed! We ate a much quicker dinner and were in for the night.
We checked out on Sunday to head for Morewellham Quay, a town that has been preserved to demonstrate the mining industry and it is also the site where a documentary-like show called Edwardian Farm was filmed. It is one of our favoUrite programmes here (along with its predecessor Victorian Farm) and portrays a year's worth of farming life in Edwardian times through the work of one historian and two archaeologists who play their parts and truly lived in the environment. It's actually fascinating even if it sounds way geeky. Follow this link (Edwardian Farm) to find out more.
Morewellham Quay was interesting but if the show hadn't been filmed there, it wouldn't get nearly as many visitors. It was fun to meet the animals
that have become famous from the show and to look around. Evan, Craig and I explored for a short time while Finn and Owen played Pokemon in the car because they were visited out.
We found a great pub
called The Mary Tavy Inn in a town called Mary Tavy with a pool table and carvery for Easter dinner and headed home. We were home by 4 PM and unpacked with laundry almost done by 8 PM. Yay us!