The Buchans 2015: September in Cornwall

We set off for Chasewater Park Caravan Site on the 1st September. We managed the 180 mile drive in under 5 hours, which was pretty good because most of it was on A roads. Chacewater is a small village close to Redruth. We used the bus on the first full day to go into Truro to see what they had on offer. As with any city they had all the usual shops and quite a few undercover markets, but the main draw is the cathedral which is very impressive.

Truro Cathedral

Icon of the Virgin of Tenderness of Vladimir – this was painted for Truro Cathedral by John Coleman in 2010

High Altar and Reredos

The Nave and ceiling of the cathedral

Gwennap Pit is somewhere we had never heard of, but was just around the corner from the campsite. It was made famous by John Wesley. Possibly a hollow created by local mining activities. It has remarkable acoustic properties. He was to preach there on 18 occasions between 1762 and 1789.

Stuart

John Wesley in mosaic

East Pool mine during its working life

Stuart in front of where the 5 huge boilers were sited

The steam powered engines were used to wind men and ore up and down

The chimney – Sue at the bottom

Mitchells shaft winding engine and signals board

Trerice, now National Trust, is an Elizabethan historic manor near Newquay, Cornwall. The house was built in 1573 by Sir John Arundell. The Arundell family supported the Royalist cause during the English Civil War and as a result had some degree of financial hardship. At the Restoration of the Monarchy their fortunes revived.

Eight hundred young yew trees have been planted to map out the intricate design of a new knot garden.

Plants for sale – even the National Trust has BOGOF’s

Sue trying the musket for size! She refused to try the metal helmet on.

For those of you reading this who were at Cornwall School this is a ‘chough’ as found on the blazer badge of the school.

Following the visit to Trerice we spent a couple of hours in Newquay. We weren’t too enamoured with Newquay town and thought it was a bit ’kiss me quick’.
Newquay Beach

Newquay Harbour

We had put one day aside for a visit to St. Ives. Rather than go on the bus, 1hour 17 minutes, we took the car and were subjected to the astronomical car parking charges in St Ives.
Anyway the trip was well worth it. We visited the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden followed by the Tate and then a pleasant walk around the town.
The following photos were taken in and around the Museum and Sculpture Garden. In the garden we saw Una Stubbs (actress) and Sue said ‘Hello’ to her as though she was a long lost friend and got pleasant ‘Hello’ in return