Today we visited the picturesque post of Fowey in Cornwall, a town famous for the export of the fine clay used in pottery, cosmetics, paper manufacturing, etc. In the morning, we were spoiled for choice with visits to the Lost Gardens of Heligan, the castles and estates of Cornwall, and hikes along the shoreline of the harbour. In the afternoon, options included Bodmin Jail and the Eden Project.
The Lost Gardens of Heligan are so called because for over 70 years they were lost under a tangle of brambles, ivy, and lots of undergrowth. Lovingly restored, they were a visual feast of shape and colour.
When you first see the Eden Project, you think you have walked on the set of a sci-fi movie with giant domes rising from what was once an old clay quarry.
Bodmin Jail on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall was built by military engineer Sir John Call during the reign of King George III in 1779 as part of groundbreaking prison reform.
Some of us visited Pencarrow House, a lovely, historic, Georgian house built in the 1760s and still owned and occupied to this day by the Molesworth St Aubyn family. This was followed by a visit to Lanhydrock House. Situated in idyllic gardens, it is said to be the finest house in Cornwall. It was built in the seventeenth century but was almost destroyed by fire in 1881.
Those wanting a leg stretch got to hike along the wooded trail that hugs the shoreline of Fowey Harbour.
