Category: SOUTHWEST ENGLAND

The maritime port of Falmouth sits on the county’s south coast at the end of the Carrick Roads, a huge river estuary that empties out into the third deepest natural harbour in the world. Falmouth’s fortunes were made during the 18th and 19th centuries, when clippers, trading vessels and mail packets from across the world stopped off to unload their cargoes in the town, and Falmouth remains an important centre for shipbuilding and repairs. These days, however, it’s better known for its lively nightlife and the newly-built campus of the CUC (Combined Universities of Cornwall), a few miles up the road in Penryn; although salty seadogs can still get a taste of the town’s nautical heritage at the stunning National Maritime Museum beside the harbour.

If you thought the British seaside holiday was dead, then think again; it’s alive and well along the stretch of coastline between Torquay, Paignton and Brixham collectively known as the English Riviera. Despite the name (and the best efforts of the South Devon Tourist Board to convince us otherwise), this is a long way from St Tropez, but the region does have its peculiar charms – especially if you’ve got a soft spot for amusement arcades, deckchairs and good old-fashioned fish and chips. Queen of the coastline is grand old Torquay, where the Victorian villas and chintzy hotels are stacked up like dominoes above the bay. Just to the west of Torquay is Paignton, the picture of an English seaside resort, complete with a seafront promenade, multicoloured beach-huts and a faded 19th-century pier.

Nestled on the steep tree-covered hillside overlooking the River Fowey, opposite the old fishing harbour of Polruan, Fowey (pronounced Foy) is a pretty tangle of pale-shaded houses and snaking lanes. It has a long maritime history, and in the 14th century raids on French and Spanish coastal towns were conducted from here. To defend the town against Spanish raids, Henry VIII constructed St Catherine’s Castle (EH; admission free), above Readymoney Beach, south of town. The town later prospered by shipping china clay, quarried at the clay pits around St Austell, but the industrial trade has long disappeared and Fowey has now reinvented itself for summertime tourists and second homeowners.

The delightful little town of Totnes has been something of a hippy haven since the 1960s, and its artistic connections continue thanks to the nearby Dartington College of Arts, a couple of miles up the road from the town. But the history of Totnes stretches back much further than the summer of love; a well-preserved Norman keep stands guard on a hilltop above town, and the main street is lined with elegant Tudor and Elizabethan buildings that hint at Totnes’ history as a mercantile town. In fact, tiny Totnes has a higher percentage of listed buildings than anywhere in Britain.