Take advantage of the fantastic luxury accommodation available through The Valley and visit these three historical attractions in Cornwall.
St Mawes Castle
St Mawes Castle is among the best-preserved of Henry VIII’s coastal artillery fortresses, and the most elaborately decorated of them all. One of the chain of forts built between 1539 and 1545 to counter an invasion threat from Catholic France and Spain, it guarded the important anchorage of Carrick Roads, sharing the task with Pendennis Castle on the other side of the Fal estuary.
A charming clover-leaf shape originally surrounded by octagonal outer defences, St Mawes was designed to mount heavy ‘ship-sinking’ guns. But particular care was also taken with its embellishment, and it is still bedecked with carved Latin inscriptions in praise of kings Henry VIII and his son Edward VI.
While away the hours exploring the grounds that stretch down to the shores of the estuary, which offer view across the blue waters to another historical settlement, Pendennis castle. Take advantage of the outdoor theatre productions that take place here during the summer months.
Trematon Castle
Trematon Castle has belonged to the Duke of Cornwall since soon after the Norman Conquest. Built on the ruins of an earlier Roman Fort it survives, a perfect miniature Norman castle, motte and bailey with a gatehouse built to be fit as lodgings for Edward, Prince of Wales, known as the ‘Black Prince’.
In 2012, garden designers Julian and Isabel Bannerman moved in and began to plant a garden which is intended to play to the Castle’s romantic and pre-Raphaelite glories, the astonishing wild flowers, woodland and orchard provide visitors with a wonderful experience, bombarding their senses with a variety of beautiful scents and colour. This is a garden not to be missed!
Chysauster Ancient Village
This ancient Iron Age settlement dates back 2,000 years ago and is one of the best examples and most well preserved examples in the whole of the county.
The village was made up of stone-walled homesteads known as ‘courtyard houses’, found only on the Land’s End peninsula and the Isles of Scilly. The houses line a ‘village street’, and each had an open central courtyard surrounded by a number of thatched rooms.
The reason for their departure is not known but could have possibly have been due to a decrease in the population or the availability of fuel, but visitors today can wander around the village settlement and gain a sense of what the houses would have looked like and how the settlement waslaid out.
Set on a hillside, the site has stunning views across the countryside and out to sea and is home to a fantastic range of flora, fauna and wildlife as well as some visiting birds enjoying the warm climate of the far west of Cornwall.
Our favourite time of year to visit would be late spring when you can view the magnificent carpet of bluebells that bloom every year.
Photo by: Ulli1105
Photo by: Nilfanion
Photo by: Paul Allison
THE VALLEY is proud to be the only 5 Star Gold Self Catering holiday village of its size in the whole of Cornwall
