My passion for Cornwall - Free2Read

NORTH SOUTH CORNWALLPenzance –without thepiratesPenzance – which gets its name from theCornish for “holy headland” – datesback to early Christian settlers 1200years ago and is the unofficial capital ofthe Land’s End peninsula.Today St Mary’s Church stilldominates the harbour on thesame site as the early chapels.The town is famous as acentre for yachtingand the PenzanceSailing Club isknown theworld over insailing circles.Many peopleassociatePenzance withpirates thanksto Gilbert andSullivan but thetitle of the operettawas meant to be ironic – at thetime they wrote it, strait-lacedand sedate Penzance was chosenas a kind of Victorian jokebecause it was the unlikeliestplace to have any cutthroatscoundrels!The National LighthouseMuseum was established in 1990,and has an elaborate collectionof lighthouse equipment thathelps to tell the story of howan organisation, Trinity House,has built and maintained lightsaround the coast of England andWales for over 400 years. Thereare exhibits from a number offamous lighthouses such as theEddystone, Longships and LizardPoint and a chance to try outoperating a lighthouse yourself.Between the town centre andsea front lie the Morrab Gardens- three acres of renownedsub-tropical gardens which arehome to a surprising variety ofplants, shrubs and trees whichthrive in the mild climate. Someof the plants grown for over acentury here include magnolias,camellias, tree ferns, palm trees,and banana plants.Land’s EndMainland Britain’s most westerlypoint where 200-foot high granitecliffs gaze out across the AtlanticOcean to the distant horizon.In the foreground there’s theLongships Lighthouse, the Isles ofScilly 28 miles in the distance andbeyond that – America. Thoughyou’d need a really good telescopeto see that.Land’s End itself has a hotel,exhibition halls, play areas, Greebfarm, speciality shops, craftsmenand an exhibition dedicated to allthose ‘end to enders’ who coverthe distance between here andJohn O’Groats in an often bizarreand always exhausting fashion.Meeting at Land’s End are theNorthern and Southern sectionsof Cornish Coastal Footpath,the centrepiece of the longestcontinuous footpath in Britaincovering the coast from PooleHarbour and Dorset to Somersetand the Bristol Channel - over500 miles in all! Some ofthe most dramaticand spectacularsections ofthis walkingchallenge areto be foundnear to Land’sEnd. But caremust be takenas certain sectionstake you right tothe edge to get thefull impact of the scenery.Cornwall Tourism Magazine in association with www.cornwalltouristpass.com discover the extraordinary 43