Route: Southwater – Rye – Petrockstowe – Constantine – Brompton Ralph – Hove.
SEPTEMBER 2018
Back in the UK we embarked on our regular autumn tour. This year it was a visit to the West Country and the counties of Devon and Cornwall.
However, we didn’t head west straight away, instead, after a few days catching up with friends and family, we took a side trip to Rye in East Sussex. Why Rye you may ask, why not go west immediately? The reasons are threefold, the Rye area is somewhere we have been meaning to check out for a long time, we found reasonably priced accommodation just out of town and the West County is manic until the school holidays are over. So a few days in the Rye area was the order of the day.
The old town of Rye is beautifully preserved and steeped in history. It also has some fantastic food shops, which really tested our willpower. A side from the town itself, the area has some very nice walks, with the terrain varying from coastal flat lands to hill and woodland, with quant villages cropping up everywhere. When the weather was good, we went got out exploring, when it wasn’t, we stayed in our very comfortable studio accommodation and planned our future adventures.
Ancient Street in Rye
Street of Rye
Rye on the horizon
New use for telephone box
After our week in Rye, and with the kids back to school, we headed of to England’s west country. The first week was spent in the village of Petrockstowe, right on the border between Devon and Cornwall. Home for that week was a period thatched cottage next to the church. The village itself is perched on a hill with magnificent views out over the Devon countryside, and accessed by a typical Devon narrow country lane.
Our accommodation in Petrockstow, a 17th century thatched cottage
Petrockstowe is in north Devon, with easy access to the north coast, together with Dartmoor National Parks and Bodmin Moor. The main focus of our stay was to explore Dartmoor as thoroughly as possible. To this end, we managed a number of hikes that allowed us to sample all the varied landscapes the area had to offer. One day we would be in a deep river gorge, the next in ancient woodland, then on top of a Tor (see below) looking out onto the bleak but beautiful expanse that lay before us, or meandering along one the many rivers that flow out of the moors on their way to the Atlantic Ocean.
Longaford Tor
In Dartmoor National Park, looking over to a quarry
Views of Vixen Tor, one of the most impressive Tor in Dartmoor NP
Witsman's Wood
Stepping stones at Dartmeet where the East and West Dart rivers meet on Dartmoor
Longash Wood on Dartmoor NP
Prehistoric stone and bronze age remains. Clockwise: Stone Raw, a Menhir, a Burial Chamber
But our stay wasn’t exclusively about Dartmoor; we did explore other places in the area.
Accompanied by our good friends Martyn & Jane (they were staying with us for a few days) we took a day trip to the north coast, which provided completely different scenery.
Our first stop was at the historic village of Tintagel, to see its medieval castle perched on a headland and with magnificent views out into the Atlantic Ocean. The castle is one of the most famous historic monuments in England, mainly due to its association with King Arthur. For those who are not so familiar with the history, myths and legends of the site, see below.
Old Post Office in Tintagel, Cornwall
Access to Tintagel Castle
View over the Cornish coast from Tintagel Castle
King Arthur Statue
Tintagel, the birth place of King Arthur
Our second stop was the beautiful and historic fishing village of Port Isaac. For many years this sleepy settlement, survived on its fishing industry and the visit of a few tourists during the season. But since the hit TV series “Doc Martin” it has become famous. Now the number of tourist visits has exploded, and in the high season it gets packed. Fortunately for us, we arrived in the low(er) season, with tourist numbers more manageable. Although its beauty is what mainly attracted us, we can’t deny the fun of matching the TV characters and locations to the reality of the village today.
Port Isaac or Portwenn if you are a fan of the Doc Martin TV series
Views of Doc Martin house and its surgery in Port Isaac
The day was finished with a tour of Devon’s narrowest roads, as the Sat-Nav seemed to delight in searching them out whenever possible. The up side of these routes did allow us to explore some tiny, and often beautiful, villages usually only visited by their residents. We even drove through a Ford, at one point, quite an unusual event on England’s roads these days.
From North Devon we headed west to our second location, the small town of Constantine, close to the southwest Cornish coast. Although some inclement weather restricted our activities, we did manage to get out and explore most days.
Our trip to Land’s End (most westerly point in England) was accompanied by a rare bit of sunshine, which made the cliff walk all the more spectacular. The walk took us from Land’s End car park, in a circular route, along both the north and south cliffs, passing the ruins of Bronze Age settlements and provided wonderful views out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Land's End
Land's End
Cornish coastal scenery at Land's End
Wreck of German ship RMS Mulhein at Land's End
Granite cliffs at Land's End
Moorland at Land's End
For the rest of our stay we concentrated on exploring the area known as the Lizard. The Lizard is a very beautiful parcel of land that forms the mostly southerly part of Cornwall, and at its point, the most southerly point in mainland UK. Two days were spent exploring the coast, with its dramatic shear cliffs, small sandy coves and picturesque fishing villages. Which of course included a visit to the Lizard Point.
Cat on car in Lizard Village
Polurrian Cove, Cornwall
Kynance Kove, Cornwall
Mullion Cove
View of Cornish coast with Polurrian Cove in the background
Colourful house in Lizard Village
On another day, we discovered the Lizard’s interior, a walk through the countryside to a small inlet where they still fish for oysters. Again the scenery was beautiful, but what we hadn’t appreciated was it would be all down hill one way and all uphill on the way back, good for our fitness though.
Port Navas in Cornwall
Our final excursion in this area was a visit to Saint Michaels Mount (see below for details).
St-Michael Mount, Cornwall
Causeway to St-Michael Mount, Cornwall
Another week had gone by and we were on the move again, this time northeast to our third county Somerset. Our home for this week was a small two-story apartment, surrounded by manicured garden and with views of the Quantock Hills. It was located in the hamlet of Brompton Ralf, which nestles in the countryside between Exmoor National Park and the Quantock Hills, in Somerset but close to the North Devon border.
It will come as no surprise to discover that our plan was to get out and explore the area on foot, with our main focus being on Exmoor National Park. However, with the weather unsettled on our first day, a walk around the local town of Wiveliscombe was all that we could manage. Having said that, the sun did come out eventually and the town turned out to be quite interesting.
Street in Wiveliscombe
Totem Poles at the entrance to Wivelscombe town depicting Trade, Industry and Leisure pursuits in the Town
Day two, and the weather wasn’t much better, and now very windy due to the remnants of a tropical storm passing by. We did manage a quick walk though, along the River Barle at Dulverton, before the rain set in.
Old 19th Century bridge over the River Barle
This became the pattern of the next few days, check the weather forecast and try and do our outdoor activities when there was the least chance of wind and rain. This plan had a reasonable amount of success as we didn’t push our luck and kept the walk length short.
The first of these was timed to perfection, with our walk through the landscape surrounding Dunster, undertaken beneath clear blue skies. The rain only returning just as we got back to the car.
Period Cottage in Dunster
Gallox Bridge, a medieval packhorse bridge across the River Avill (circa 15th Century). Gallox refers to the execution gallows on Gallox Hill.
Wild Ponies of Exmoor National Park
Dunster Castle and its Foly
Wild Ponies on Exmoor National Park
Views over Exmoor National Park looking out to the Bristol Channel
The second, our cliff top and countryside walk in the northern Quantock Hills, also worked well. The sun shone for the whole walk, but the wind was so strong getting near the cliff edge was a bit too risky.
Relic of an attempt in the 1920 to extract oil from local shale
Shoreline in Bristol Channel
Village of East Quantoxhead
Cliffs of the Bristol Channel
It's amazing what you find in Kilve!
Beyond that, the weather was really too bad to do much outside, so we concentrated on planning our future trips.
And that was our visit to England’s West Country. Really enjoyable, beautiful scenery, but we feel we only scratched the surface and will need further visits in the future to explore it more fully.
It was then back to Hove, for a week with our good friend Rob, and to catch up with friends and family before we go to France.
Personal Observations & Interesting Facts
England’s West Country
Mainly for our non-English readers, England’s West Country is normally considered to be the counties of Devon, Cornwall and to a lesser extent Somerset and Dorset. Our trip was to explore the two most westerly, Devon and Cornwall. The two combine to form a slither of land in the south west of the country.
Devon is the 4th largest county in England (2,590sq mi) and has both a north and south coastline. It has a rich biodiversity, thanks to its warm and wet climate, together with a varied landscape, of sea cliffs, sandy beaches and central rolling moorland.
Cornwall is smaller, the 12th largest county in England (1,375sq mi), and has the most southerly point in mainland Britain (Lizard Point) and the most westerly point in England (Lands End). It is famed for its rugged coastline, where steep granite cliffs buffer the land from the full force of the Atlantic Ocean. It is also famous for the culinary treat that is a Cornish pasty; traditionally this pastry was savoury at one end and sweet at the other, but now usually comes just in a savoury form of meat and veg. It also has a lot of cattle, mostly dairy herds, about one cow for every seventh person (numbering around 75,000).
Tor
A tor, which is also known by geomorphologists as a castle kopje, is a large, freestanding rock outcrop that rises abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes of a rounded hill summit or ridge crest. These dominate the Dartmoor landscape and provide an excellent vantage point to view the surrounding area.
Tintagel
The ruins of a 13th century castle occupy the headland and connected island close to the village of Tintagel. History and legend are entwined on this rocky headland, which has long been connected with the story of King Arthur.
Occupied since at least the late Roman period, Tintagel became a thriving Dark Ages settlement and port between the 6th and 8th century. During that time the first castle was built on the site, and according to the chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth, was the place where King Arthur was born. It is because of this, and because King Arthur is one of Britain’s best loved kings, that the site has become famous (the story of King Arthur is an interesting read, but too long to recount here, especially the debate as to what constitutes history and how much is just myths and legends).
However, the castle ruins that can be found on the site today are not from Arthurs time, but were built in the 1230’s by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, one of the wealthiest men in Britain at the time. The castle is of modest structure and in an unusual location, not in keeping with a man of Richard’s standing in society. So why build there? It was all to do with the legend of Arthur and Richard’s hero worship of the king.
Today a visit to the site is a walk back through ancient history, because in addition to the castle you can see remains of building dating back as far as the 6th century. The site also keeps on giving, with new archaeological finds as recent as 2017.
West Country Narrow Lanes
I had forgotten just how narrow some country lanes were in Devon and Cornwall. On some occasions you could hear the sound of the roadside foliage brushed either side of the car as you carefully negotiated them. And of course when you meet a vehicle coming in the opposite direction it would call upon all your driving skills to reverse back to suitable layby to allow the other vehicle to squeeze by. Sometimes if we spotted a car in front of us we would speed to catch them up, so forming a small convoy and therefore requiring any vehicle coming in the opposite direction to do the reversing (unwritten road rule). However, this can backfire if it is a large vehicle, tractor, lorry, etc., coming in the opposite direction, then our convoy has to back up.
Example of the narrow roads in the West Country
Saint Michaels Mount
St Michael's Mount, or “Karrek Loos yn Koos” in Cornish, means "hoar rock in woodland" is a small tidal island in Mount’s Bay, linked to the town of Marazion by a man-made causeway. The causeway is made of granite rocks and is passable between mid-tide and low water. The population of the island in 2011 was 35 and the National Trust manages the historical buildings on it. Its castle and chapel have been the home of the St Aubyn family since approximately 1650 and the earliest buildings, on the summit; date back to the 12th century.
The Lizard
As well as being the most southerly point in mainland Britain, The Lizard does have this unusual name. The name "Lizard" is most probably a corruption of the Cornish name "Lys Ardh", meaning “High Court”, “High Cliffs” or “Fortress”. But has lasted over time because of the predominant rock type in the area, that of serpentinite, which has an appearance that resembles the skin of a reptile.
