west country info
20/5/70
8:22 am
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DISCOVER THE WEST COUNTRY AREA HIGHLIGHTS The coast of Cornwall, its granite fangs breaking the spirit of the North Atlantic rollers, points the way to an ancient land of mystery, myth and legend
Cornwall - Devon - Somerset The Eden Project - St Austell. Contains the world’s largest indoor rainforest and Mediterranean garden. The north Cornish coast - one of the most stunning in England - to Tintagel - the fabled birthplace of chivalry and the tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
The Eden Project
Bodmin Moor, where its tors and the remains of the round stone huts of the farmers of 4,000 years ago set off its prehistoric past and the industrial archaeology of the copper miners and granite quarrymen. Dartmoor. Splendidly desolate, its granite tors, standing stones, heather clad hills and ancient stone clapper bridges over sparkling streams rise up to more than 2,000 feet.
Dartmoor
Exmoor straddles the Devon/Somerset border and is a world apart from Dartmoor. From a plateau of moor and heathland and beech hedged fields, fast flowing streams.
More Arthurian legend. This time at Glastonbury Tor, the site of the marshland ‘fairy isle’ of Avalon where King Arthur and Queen Guinevere were said to be buried. England’s smallest city - Wells, nestling in the foot of the Mendips. Exeter too, boasts a magnificent cathedral, with its two great towers dating back to the 12th century. The ancient fishing villages of Cornwall are worth visiting - among them Mousehole and St Ives. They were centres of the pilchard fishing industry.
Wells
St Ives is home to the Tate Gallery of the West. Still busy ports are Newlyn, near Penzance, Looe, Polperro and Brixham, along with the great natural harbours of Plymouth and Falmouth. Back to the age of the dinosaurs ... to the Jurassic Coast. Eastwards from Exmouth for nearly 100 miles.
And don’t forget ... Somerset is where cider apples grow! And the simply amazing Cheddar Caves & Gorge 450ft high limestone cliffs and beautiful caves, home to peregrine falcons and rare bats. 15
