Today began with some more promising sunshine and a walk along the esplanade and play at a local park. We even ventured down onto the ‘beach’ as the tide was receding and spent time skimming rocks and watching the ships in the bay. After such a leisurely start to our day we were ready and raring to go once Glendurgan actually opened at 10am. It proved to have been worth the wait.
Glendurgan Gardens have been developed continually over 180 years and were the concept of the Fox family. Because of its sheltered valley location there were sub-tropical plants in abundance. The maze was planted in 1833 using Cherry Laurel and was surprisingly challenging despite its height – with a constant danger of losing Abbey! The other highlight for the kids was the Giant’s Stride, a stout pole with hanging ropes from which to swing. The colours in the garden were magnificent as were the size of some of the plants.
From the green of the valleys we took a different tack and visited Pendennis Castle taking in 450 years of war time history at Cornwall’s greatest fortress. The Castle has protected Cornwall against foreign invasion from the time of Henry VIII right up to the Second World War with the surrounding beaches being used to practice landings for D-Day. The Castle is managed by English Heritage who always have something fascinating on hand for the kids. Today they had to decipher a spy trail and participated in an Army style obstacle course – though Abbey was a tad shy of the Sergeant in charge.
Agent Crazy
The weather was just superb so we lunched outside at the café then spent nearly 3 hours wandering the barracks, castle and various bunkers on display.
Having had some much needed Vitamin D we walked back into Penzance for an Indian buffet at The Ganges before hitting the sack. Zac proved yet again that when it comes to buffets he is in heaven.
Great Blog Paula. Well done!
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