Accommodation in Fowey

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS The Eden Project The Lost Gardens of Heligan Wheal Martyn China Clay Museum Charles Town Shipwreck Museum CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

St Catherine's Castle English Heritage Fowey -The Remains of o a small artillery fort built by Henry VIII to defend Fowey harbour. It has two storeys with gun ports at ground level. Below the 16th century fort is a two gun battery built in 1855.

The town of Fowey has a unique unspoilt ancient charm which holds a special fascination for visitors of all ages.

The medieval and Tudor cottages, narrow steep winding streets with glimpses of the shimmering river below, busy with yachts and boats; cobbled walkways perfumed with flowers from hanging baskets and window boxes and the quays bustling with life, all help to encant the holiday maker, many of whom choose to visit us year after year.

Privately owned 'Place', a 15th century fortified manor house, dominates the town. Still owned by the original family who had it built, its fortifications and high boundary wall give the town a feudal atmosphere. The town has strong connections with the world famous author, Dame Daphne Du Maurier, who spent most of her life in the area.

A Daphne Du Maurier festival is held each May, which is a celebration of her life and work. Fowey Regatta week, in August, is a hugely popular event, with competitive sailing events, street carnival, the Red Arrows display team and much more.

The multitude of sailing dinghies, yachts, schooners and motor launches either moored or sailing in the estuary is an impressive sight to behold.

The Fowey Estuary has to be one of the most attractive and unspoilt parts of Britain's South coast. The peaceful Fowey river is surrounded by many miles of lovely open countryside, much of which is in the ownership of the National Trust.

There are many lovely walks around the Estuary with its quiet waters, green woodland and mass of wildlife which can be enjoyed all the year round. In fact, more and more people are coming to the Estuary out of the main season to experience the more rugged aspect of Cornwall. The sight of the river when the winter gales are raging can be quite spectacular and perhaps, at times, a little too exciting for the competitive sailors and yachtsmen, to say nothing of those whose livelihood is connected with the water!

Stepping outside the Estuary presents the walker, sailor and holidaymaker alike with a very wide choice of both man made entertainment and the natural beauty of the county, from the rugged north coast with its surfing beaches to the much softer south coast with its small sandy coves.

Eating out can range from a gourmet meal in one of the many first class restaurants that the county has to offer to local ale and a pasty in a sleepy Cornish country pub.

For the children there is the excitement of Flambards Adventure Park, Dobwalls Theme Park with its famous miniature train rides and the magnificent shire horses at the Shires Adventure Park.

The North Cornwall coast with its sandy surfing beaches and the cathedral city of Truro are all within easy reach.

Fowey is the toast of yachtsmen and ramblers, but also of historians and archaeologists.

Iron Age Man lived here. The Romans found it already a port. In 1380 the Spanish, and in 1457 the French, tried to raze it to the ground. Drake, Raleigh and Frobisher all sailed from Fowey, whose harbour was surveyed by Cook before he became Captain. Here, Charles I was shot at and Queen Victoria welcomed; here, Kenneth Grahame and Daphne du Maurier found literary inspiration and the Treffry family planned their pioneering role in the Industrial Revolution.

A natural place, then, for a museum. It has a sympathetic setting in the oldest part of the Town - in a room which served as a council chamber when Fowey was a borough in its own right.

With the civic regalia on display is the mayoral chain made for the former Lord Mayor of London, Sir Charles Hanson, in his role as Lord High Sheriff of the City of London. It stands proud among artefacts and memorabilia of the many who have enriched Fowey with art, craft or government, industrial skill or naval reputation.

Complementing them is the hardware of Fowey's seafaring celebrity: the timber, sails and cordage from ships that chased the Spanish, beat the French and carried Cornish tin and China Clay all over the world.
Together, they form a compelling backdrop for special events - like the 1995 exhibition of famous local authors - which bring cultural pilgrims to join the holidaymakers drawn by the magnet of Fowey's narrow, atmospheric streets and lovely estuary setting.