Coverack in Cornwall

We stayed a week in this seaside village. It is in far SW England with many ships over earlier years having wrecked on the offshore rocks that were formed from 2 plates colliding. A few days before we arrived our hostess contacted us and said to not worry about the floods they just had that took out many residences. She said to just drive around the road blocks. GREAT! We drove from London using google maps. Bad idea. They took us the shortest way which was a great highway until we got to the Cornwall area. Then it was on back roads through hamlets (like Gweek- see pic below) that were just a few houses. The road was 2 way with enough room for 1 car (barely) with small cutaways every couple of hundred yards that could let 2 by if you didn’t mind scraping up the side of your car with 6 foot rock walls covered by vegetation on BOTH sides. Locals drove 40-60 mph on these.  This first day of driving on the left was a real experience. Oh, my rent car was a brand new Mercedes diesel with 8 miles on it! It’ll be hard to say that I didn’t put those scratches on it. We now use google maps for assistance but not as gospel. We joined the National Trust, a non profit organization that owns and maintains 100s of properties in the U.K. from castles to estates to gardens, etc. Everyone at each of the properties we went to was great. They loved their work and were eager to talk about and answer all questions. We must have visited at least a half dozen properties in our week in Cornwall. I loved it. The weather was excellent with lows in 50s and highs in 60s. Some rain most days but not enough to keep us inside. On to the Cotswolds area.too cold to chill in shorts and sandals our hostess Pippa3 pics of flood damage a few days before we arrived. This is the main (only) road through town. They had it repaired a few days after we arrived5 pics of our place and the ocean view at different timeswe had the cottage on leftview when cloudy and rainy, which happened some every daywe saw what looked like Stonehenge from the main highway from London to Cornwall and snapped this. Found out later it is the real thing and due to vandalism we wouldn’t be able to get very close, so this was our drive-by visit to Stonehenge this is a 2 way road with a 60 mph speed limit. Those are stone walls inches behind the hedges, which are trimmed (periodically). We stopped to take this pic. It was narrower in many placesfish and chips and seafood chowderspicy dog with cheese, BBQ sandwich and frozen margarita more food in Cornwall- 5 pics1st minute sitting on other side of car- must have  gone to the left side to get in at least a dozen timesCoverack harbor flood damage3 pics of Coverack harbor a hard daySt Michael’s Mount is a Cornish counterpart of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France (with which it shares the same tidal island characteristics)- 6 pics- it was low tide so we walked out- a boat is needed at high tidea hike up Godolphin Hill which overlooks the north and south coasts of Cornwall-5 picsThe Eden project site- it has 2 biomes simulating a Rainforest and a Mediterranean environment with many plants. It also has outside botanical gardens with many plants and wildlife native to Cornwall and the UK – 9 picssome castle we saw-2 picstough daygarden at hostess house has a few of these very large snailsEast Pool mine- Cornwall was known for tin and copper- many got rich (land owners and speculators, and many went bust- sounds like the oil business)- area known as the Tin Coast- 2 picsnature walk at Lizard Point- the most southern land point and hamlet in England-7 picsbig sinkhole from collapsed coastal cavechicken in host’s back yardGlendurgan Gardens- a trail down to hamlet of Durgan with a beach- this beach and others in area were where the American gathered to cross for D-Day Normandy invasion-15 picsTrelissick- house and gardens-14 pics​Coverack Harbor infoThe Terence Coventry Sculpture Park is about 10 minutes walk to the south of Coverack, contained in three small meadows astride the old coast path. Sculptor died this year at 79. 20 pics​​​lunch at the Paris Hotel on the harbor in CoverackDartmoor Zoo- 2011 movie We Bought a Zoo based on this zoo- 14 pics- I looked for any Scarlett Johansson look a likes to no avail​​

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