George and I spent the August bank holiday weekend in Cornwall and it is definitely my favorite place we’ve been in England so far.
Our first day in Cornwall, we drove to St. Ives and spent the day walking through shops and art galleries. St. Ives is a working harbor and one of the most popular destinations in Cornwall. The old quarter, called the Downalong, used to be home to the fishermen of St. Ives when the town was a thriving fishing port. Now, however, the stone cottages are mainly holiday homes.
For lunch, we ate traditional Cornish pasties while sitting by the harbor. Until a seagull knocked George’s pasty out of his hands… It was pretty hilarious.
After leaving St. Ives, we visited the ancient village of Chysauster, which is an Iron Age settlement made up of 10 courtyard houses. Although the thatched roofs are long gone, the walls of the houses are still well intact. We walked through the different rooms in the houses, imagining what they might have looked like and who might have lived there.
We continued south along the coast stopping one more time at the Levant Mine and Beam Engine. Cornwall has a rich mining heritage and this mine houses the last working steam engine in the county. It was interesting to learn about the mine, especially since one of our new favorite shows, Poldark, is all about the 18th century Cornish mining industry.
I don’t have many pictures from Sunday because it was actually raining really hard, but we ended up going to St. Michael’s Mount near Marazion. St. Michael’s is a castle on an island that is accessible at low tide by a cobblestone causeway or at high tide by boat. It was super cool and I’d really like to come back when it’s not raining.
Later on Sunday, we drove to Land’s End as it had mostly stopped raining. We didn’t want to come all that way and not see Britain’s most south-westerly point! The photo above was taken along the South West Coast Path at a natural arch called Enys Dodnan with the Armed Knight sea stack in the distance. The pink heather completely covered the ground and it was crazy beautiful.
We spent that night in Cadgwith Cove at an inn near the Lizard Peninsula. I knew almost nothing about Cadgwith before booking our room, so George and I were both very surprised when we arrived at this tiny fishing village.
Even though the village was very small, everyone we met was so warm and friendly. It was refreshing to stay in a place that didn’t seem interested in the technologies of the 21st century. The village of Cadgwith still seems to revolve around the fishing industry, with boats taking precedence on its rocky beach and lobster pots piled up on the streets.
We got up early the next morning and headed to Kynance Cove because we were determined to spend some time at the beach on our vacation. We arrived at high tide and at first had the beach to ourselves. However, as soon as the tide went out, masses of people began making their way to the beach. It wasn’t very warm at all, but the sun was shining and we were happy.
THE BRITTAINS ARE COMING 