May 26, 2020

UK Travel Tips - Cornwall & Devon: Quaint Harbour Towns

Looking for UK travel ideas? 🧐👩🏼‍💻🗺 You’ve found some!

Welcome to the Enjoy Eco Box Blog - we hope this inspires some places to go with our sustainable gifts!

We’ve got used to the cheap flights abroad for weekend breaks, which seems to be off the menu for a while. There are actually lots of beautiful and cosy places to visit in the UK to enjoy the outdoors. Since were all going to be staycationing once lockdown is over, I thought I’d give a few ideas for #flightfreeholidays (when it’s safe, of course)

First up, a little trip multi-centre of quaint harbour towns we went on last year in the South West:

As we live in the North West, we did the trip in this order:

🏖 St Ives, Cornwall

🌷 Fowey, Cornwall

🚤 Dartmouth, Devon

First up was St Ives, far over in north west Cornwall. It’s a fair drive, but it’s worth it for the selection of beaches and scenery. Did you know there are five there? Lots of choice and plenty of space on the pristine sand and in the turquoise sea, and that’s before we’ve even started to venture a little further!

You can walk in either direction on the South West Coast path - our favourite was walking west, with a high reward to effort ratio (our favourite kind) Dramatic cliffs and beautiful, sheltered beaches, swipe to take a peek yourself☺️

TIP: Having very little sense of direction between the pair of us, I find the coast path walking some of the simplest around - you always know which direction you’re going in when you can see the sea!

TIP: for a multi centre break, start furthest away and work your way closer to home, that way the biggest journey will be done when you’re fresh and excited 😁 for your trip, and when you have the come back 😒 it will be over that bit quicker!

🌷 Fowey, Cornwall 🌷

I knew we were starting in St Ives and finishing in Dartmouth, so I was hunting for a place midway, which we had never been to before. Of course it had to have great food and even better walking, so Fowey (pronounced 'Foy') turned out to be perfect.
An idyllic village from wherever you’re standing - scroll for views from the village and from the opposite side of the river. The best way to explore the area is the classic Hall Walk (you can find instructions on the National Trust website). A lovely, not too difficult walk along the opposite side of the river back towards Fowey. It hard to pick a best bit, but the most fun is probably the stunning boat ride out to the start!

TIP: National Trust membership isn’t just for meandering around stately homes (although we enjoy this 🤓), it also covers you for NT car parks all over the UK, saving you 💰💰💰 - ideal for a trip like this!

🚤 Dartmouth, Devon 🚤

The final stop had been on my list for a while. Partly because two of the nicest National Trust properties are in the area - Agatha Christie’s summer home Greenway (actual 🤤), and Coleton Fishacre, a stunning Art Deco home with some of the nicest and most varied gardens around.

There’s very limited parking at Greenway, and getting there and back is part of the fun ☺️ Hop on the ferry up to Dittisham (looks as cute as it sounds) and then across to Greenway, explore the house and gardens before walk back to Kingswear here you can enjoy a pint and a view of Dartmouth and the boat yards. If we went again we would probably stay in Kingswear instead - the views are the best!

If you fancy a bigger hike, Coleton Fishacre’s gardens come right down to join the South West Coast Path. You really need time on your side for this though so make sure you have it! An alternative is to get the car ferry over - ours was delayed setting off as a humongous mega yacht came into the harbour, you know a place must be good if someone with a £££ super yacht wants to be there instead of the Caribbean 😅. After looking at the house and learning the (tragic) tale of this glamorous family, don’t miss walking around the gardens and down to the sea. It was certainly a #dreamhome for me . . .

If have any questions, let me know . . . until then, where to on your next trip?