Cornwall

We took a long weekend from August 13-16 to drive to Cornwall--a county in southwest England. We made a stop on our way at Dartmoor National Park, where we got to experience walking on a real English moor. We drove somethrough the park, but when the roads got so narrow that our Odyssey could barely fit, let alonepass another car, it got less fun and more scary.But, even sticking to the main roads through the park we saw some amazing things,like thislintel bridge that was almost 1000 years old. Still sturdy enough! We arrived at our cottage(we stayed at a self-catering place with fullkitchen, 2 bedrooms, a big living room,and a pool called "Green Acres") in time for a beautiful sunset.

The next day we drove the short distance to the Eden Project.

This is an incredible set of biodomes set in a reclaimed clay mine. They had elaborate gardens and domes for the rainforest and the Mediterranean climates.

After a full day there, we

came back to swim for a bit before heading to Fo

wey for dinner.

This was a lovely seaside village

with some majorly tiny and hilly streets! We left our minivan outside the town and walked in--good call.

Day three saw us driving around the Cornwall Penninsula.

We made a stop at Pendennis Castle,

which was one of a chain of castles commissioned by Henry VIII to protect England from what he saw as a possible invasion from

the European continent after he broke from the Catholic Church. A sister castle--St. Mawes is located right across the inlet. This castle near Falmouth was also significant in WWII as American GIs trained and stayed here while preparing for the D-Day invasions. After Pendennis, we drove to St. Michael's Mount,

an abbey set on a rock off the coast of Cornwall. There has been an abbey on this island for 1,500 years and was given to Mont St. Michel in France after William the Conquerer (although the English obviously dispute this). The St. Aubry family own it and built a castle there.

In one of the rooms of the castle, there was a cabinet that looks very similar to one a bought at auction in Diss. Mine is taller and has an enclosed cupboard on the bottom, but the shape and the carvings were the same.

Kent was happy to hear that this was an authentic piece from the early 1700s. The walk out to the island is across a pedestrian causeway that gets covered at high tide. It was a beautiful day, and despite the freezing water temps, the beaches nearby were full of swimmers and bathers.

We ended our day appropriately enough at Land's End.

It was a pretty dramatic stretch of coastline, full of businesses proclaiming themselves the "last"

hotel, inn, petrol, etc. Kitchy but fun.

On our final day, we made the pilgrimage

to Tintagel Castle, the supposed birthplace of King Arthur. It was an incredible day. We lost count of how many steps, but there were lots. This castle was intended to be remote and unaccessible, and they succeeded. It was cool for the kids to see "Morgan's cave" and to climb all over things that have been there since the Middle Ages. Cornwall truly was breathtakingly beautiful, and once again we were blessed with fabulous weather!