Penzance
With its sub-tropical gardens,
busy working port, superb promenade and charming shopping streets, Penzance
has enormous appeal. Easy reached by road and rail and with helicopter and
ferry links to the Isles of Scilly, Penzance is the ideal centre for touring
the area.
The town has many historic buildings to loiter over, particularly the picturesque
chapel street, with its antique shops and the gleaming colours of the National
Trust owned Egyptian House. A plaque at No. 25 marks the home of the mother
of the Bronte sisters, Maria Branwell. The street leads down to the sea and
memories of pirates and bygone centuries still linger with the Admiral Benbow,
the old Turk’s Head pub and the rich display of the maritime museum.
There are charming Regency squares and terraces as well as charming Victorian
buildings including the Market House and St John’s Hall, which houses the
Royal Geological Society Museum.
Penzance boasts the only promenade in Cornwall on which the Victorian Jubilee
Open Air Bathing Pool is to be found.
Newlyn
Penzance’s neighbour in the western corner of the magnificent Mounts Bay is
Newlyn, the premiere fishing port in the south west. Here a remarkable combination
of busy industry and Cornish tradition creates a fascinating world.
The Penlee lifeboat is moored in the harbour and the old lifeboat house, situated
on the cliff between Newlyn and Mousehole remains in memory of the Soloman
Browne boat and its crew lost in 1981.
Newlyn is also famous for the Newlyn Orion Art Gallery which houses local
work.
Madron
The moors behind Madron village abound with ancient relics, one of the most
imposing being Ding Dong Mine engine house, which has recently been carefully
renovated.
