Questions for John Bull and anyone else who can help, re Cornwall !

Ken and I are planning a 5 day stay in the Cornwall area in mid June before cruising on the Sapphire Princess to Norway. We land in Gatwick and plan to head into London for a couple of days. Staying near Victoria Station.

We have tentatively booked a B&B in Falmouth to use as a central place from which to explore the Cornish coasts. We do not plan on driving but will use public transit either trains or buses. Is Falmouth a good spot to stay?

We want to go to St Ives and other spots along that coast plus as much as we can fit into the dates from June 15 to 20.

Any suggestions would be really helpful.

We would love to go to the sites of Doc Martin and Poldark if we can fit it in.

Help please!

Avril:D

Certainly St Austell and St Ives are both accessible by train from Falmouth, though it would be a long day. Port Isaac is harder , going by car is problematic as there is very little parking. There are buses from Falmouth, two changes, takes more than three hours. It is nice but little more than your standard scenic fishing village (no offence to the few locals left there). There is definitely enough to see in Falmouth, St Austell and St Ives, not to mention all the cream teas and pasties!

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Thanks for the info. Glad Falmouth is OK for centralized stay but if anyone has further guidance on another possible place to centralize please let me know as our reservations are not carved in stone.

This will be our first time in Cornwall but we have visited many other spots in Britain, Scotland and Ireland before. Our families originated in Britain and emigrated to Canada in the early 1900’s. We still have family in the North.

Are buses the better way to travel or are the trains routes a better fit for many of the places. I would expect buses but just want some verification for those in the know.

Thanks again for all the help.

Avril

Hi Avril,

We've got a couple of CC members in Cornwall & you really need their input.

It's not my corner of England, tho I lived there for a couple of years a while back, but here's a few pointers.....

Falmouth is on the rail network, & that's important if you've got no personal transport.

It's a branch line - to get anywhere you need to change trains at Truro so you'll get to know Truro station quite well.

A town on the main line, like Truro or St Austell, would be more convenient for travel but are comparatively bland towns. Falmouth is very pleasant & has enough going for it. Other places that would be pleasant to stay - St Ives, Newquay, Looe - are also on branch lines.

http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/gwr%20station%20map%202016.jpg

Buses are relatively infrequent and slow. especially off-the-beaten-track in Cornwall.

https://www.firstgroup.com/cornwall/routes-and-maps/network-maps and click on "Network Map"

Consider a day in Plymouth by train - The Barbican, Mayflower Steps, The Hoe & Smeaton's Tower, Plymouth Gin Distillery are among the places worth visiting. All neatly close together, though a 20 minute walk from the station..

And a trip to the Eden Project - train to St Austell then local bus or taxi for the 4 miles to the Eden Project (discounted admission if you present your train or bus ticket).

For Charlestown (Poldark) it's the same station then 6 miles by taxi (bus?). Charlestown is small but delightful. Nice little museum there too.

I think other Poldark locations need private transportation from Falmouth.

As Oz has posted, Port Isaac (Doc Martin) is more problematic by public transport. Ditto Tintagel Castle and a number of other places I could suggest.

Mebbe browse Cornish excursion coach offers, though you'll probably have to take the train to the nearest pick-up point

http://www.oatestravel.co.uk/en_GB/day-tours

http://williams-travel.co.uk/holidays/day-tours/

http://www.roselyncoaches.co.uk/day-trips/

Or on the river .............

https://www.falriver.co.uk/days-out/from-falmouth

Or, any chance of renting a car for a day or two?

JB :)

Thank you so much JB!

Car rental is a possibility but it has been 40 years since we drove in England ! I am in my early 70’s so car rental could be problematic with car rental companies.

Hopefully the Cornish CC members will see this and put their two cents worth into the conversation. If you think of anything that will help please add it and I will continue monitoring.

Avril:)

There are one or two rental companies that have lower limits, but "early 70's" is hardly old these days.

To get around Cornwall you really need a car. The public transport system is more than a bit creaky. June is not high season as is in term time so it’s not too bad.

For Doc Martin you need to get to Port Isaac where you will recognise all the locations. You park at the top of the hill and walk down. At the newsagent they do DM tours run by a couple of fishermen who are extras on the show, and on Poldark! Well worth it.

With a car the north coast is excellent from Padstow, Tintagel, Boscastle, Port Isaac up to Bude. All worth a visit. Port Isaac and Padstow and Fowey have Michelin star restaurants.

Eden Project and Lost Gardens of Heligan great if you like botany.

Lanhydrock if you want some history.

But really a car is essential.

Good luck.

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Avril ~

I'll respectfully disagree with simonpjd that you really need a car -- although I would agree that it could make your trip a bit easier in some ways (but perhaps more difficult in others), especially for visiting certain isolated locations on the north coast (e.g., Port Isaac, Tintagel, Boscastle) where public transport is scarce or nonexistent.

Although I can't claim to be Cornish, in an earlier life I lived in Cornwall for a year -- without a car -- and managed to travel quite extensively around the county by train and bus. It does take planning and careful timing. Two essential websites are:

https://www.firstgroup.com/cornwall (for bus routes & timetables, etc)

and

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ (for rail travel)

To find out where you can travel without a car, familiarize yourself with the Cornish section of the Zoomable Map (downloadable as a pdf file) on the National Rail website and with the Network Map (also in pdf format) on the firstgroup website. (Whoops -- I see that John Bull has already suggested this.;))

I've been to Falmouth many times. Although it's not at the top of my personal list of favorite places in Cornwall, it is an obvious base, with a number of amenities and a beautiful, large harbor. As JB pointed out, it's on a railway branch line (with several stations in Falmouth itself); to reach most other destinations Cornwall, you'll have to take the branch line train to Truro (an interesting "city" in itself, well worth visiting) and change there to a main line train.

Incidentally, if you do stay in Falmouth, you must take the ferry across the harbor to the charming village of St Mawes:

http://www.stmawes.info/

It you're not absolutely set on basing yourself in Falmouth, there are a handful of other places you might consider, though each has its pluses & minuses as far as travel is concerned. My absolutely favorite town in Cornwall is Fowey, whose setting is second to none:

https://www.visitcornwall.com/places/fowey

It doesn't have a railway station, but it is a shortish bus ride from Par, whose railway station is on the main line.

Lostwithiel is a charming small town on the main railway line (though not all trains stop there), and is fairly close to Lanhydrock House and its magnificent grounds (a longish walk or a shortish taxi ride):

https://www.lostwithiel.org.uk/

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lanhydrock

Finally, Penzance would make a reasonable base if you are interested in visiting the far (and somewhat wild, scenery-wise) west of Cornwall. It's at the end of the rail line, and has good bus links to Marazion (for St. Michael's Mount), Mousehole, St Just (much preferable to Land's End, IMO), and lots of little out-of-the-way places you've probably never heard of.

These ideas just scratch the surface, but may be enough to think about for the time being.

Oh, and I'd also suggest getting your hands on a copy of the Cornwall Ordnance Survey Leisure Guide. (Used copies available via that humungous online retailer for just pennies.) You'll thank me later!

Thank you for all the wonderful info. It certainly has given us some real ideas to ponder.

It is obvious whatever we do we will have a wonderful time in Cornwall.

Any other info will be gratefully accepted!!

Avril

We're doing the same thing this summer - staying in Devon and Cornwall before taking a Norwegian fjords cruise out of Southampton. My research led me to a tour company that offers a lot of different tours, including one that goes to some Poldark spots, It's out of St. Ives - http://www.oatestravel.co.uk/en_GB The prices are extremely reasonable. We've already booked our accommodation in Penzance and I'm looking at another lead to a tour that will pick us up from there but we're also planning on taking a couple of the tours from St. Ives as well. Hope this helps!

We're doing the same thing this summer - staying in Devon and Cornwall before taking a Norwegian fjords cruise out of Southampton. My research led me to a tour company that offers a lot of different tours, including one that goes to some Poldark spots, It's out of St. Ives - http://www.oatestravel.co.uk/en_GB The prices are extremely reasonable. We've already booked our accommodation in Penzance and I'm looking at another lead to a tour that will pick us up from there but we're also planning on taking a couple of the tours from St. Ives as well. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the help.

Since we are currently booked to stay in Falmouth it might be problematic getting to and from St Ives or Penzance in time for a tour.

I had looked at this site earlier .

I will certainly keep it in mind.

Thanks again.

Yes, if you're staying with the place you've booked in Falmouth it wouldn't work for you. There are spots I really wanted to get to that just won't work out for us without a car but maybe it's better to slow the pace down and get to know a few places better than to dash from one to the next. Good luck with your planning and have a wonderful vacation.

You can have a great day out on the River Fal - https://www.falriver.co.uk/days-out/from-falmouth