Holiday: Devon and Cornwall – Day 6/15:

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Welcome back dear reader! 😁. It’s Day 6 of our south-western UK holiday.

10.10am: Today, we said goodbye to the B&B in Boscastle and headed for Truro on ‘leg 3’ of our break. We’re staying for three nights The Alverton Hotel.

It looks like we might have left the good weather behind us in Boscastle though! ‘Brollies’ at the ready for the days ahead methinks! β˜”β˜”β˜”β˜”β˜”.

Still, we’ve had it good so far, and we’re not going to let a spot of rain get in the way of today’s list of visits. On the cards today is Trerice Manor (National Trust), Truro Cathedral and the Royal Cornwall Museum and we plan to see these before we check in around 3pm at the Alverton.

Trerice Manor

According to the NT website, it’s “An intimate Elizabethan manor and a Cornish gem, Trerice remains little changed by the advances in building fashions over the centuries, thanks to long periods under absentee owners”.

View from the end of the Garden
The view from the end of the Garden

11.05am: What a lovely house! Just looking at the outside, it wasn’t too big, nor too small and nicely looked after (on the outside at least!). Given the weather forecast, we decided to look around the Gardens first. Obviously, they weren’t at their best this time of the year, but whilst it remained rain-free, we took advantage of the conditions.

Knot your average garden!

The exterior has a special claim to fame. Some of it was used for exterior shots for the 1970s version of BBC’s ‘Poldark’ – doubling for the fictitious ‘Trenwith’.

We enjoyed looking around the greenery – now it was time to look at the inside.

The House from the ‘upper’ Garden

Plenty of care and attention had gone into the preservation of the interior, and it was one of those old properties where it was easy to imagine living there.

Next stop? Truro!

Royal Cornwall Museum

1.03pm: After driving around for a spell looking for a parking space, we did eventually locate the multi-storey not too far away from the main drag. We were planning to visit the Cathedral first, but stumbled on the Museum without having to look too hard! Pretty much ALL the tourist guides recommend visiting, so who were we to disagree?

Originally, the building was a savings bank (opened in 1845) and in more recent years, the interior had been extensively re-modelled to make best use of the space. It didn’t look much from the outside, but once through the doors, it was more like an Aladdin’s Cave of Cornwall!

It was just a fiver each to get in – and that lasts for a whole 12 months! Great value for sure! And from our experience, the sheer range of items on display meant that visiting more than once would be a definite advantage.

We like our museums to have a bit of everything – and Cornwall’s didn’t disappoint!

Located across two floors, and celebrating Cornwall’s mining and engineering heritage, there was literally something for everyone! The exhibits reminded us of how old Cornwall is! As just one example, they had even unearthed a coin dating back to William I! (centred, at the bottom, in the above photo) making it around 1000 years old!

If you like your mineral deposits, then you’ll be here for a long while. It perfectly illustrated how rich the local soil is in mine-able rock featuring pyromorphite, cerussite, azurite, malachite, liroconite, LoadsOfOther-ites and copper sulphate sulfate sulphate sulfate (I’d heard of that last one, but I don’t agree with the modern spelling!)

And if minerals aren’t your thing, there is a modern picture gallery plus a whole section of the Museum covering Ancient Egypt too.

Wow! We’re impressed! I think we probably only covered about 75% of the Museum, so that’s a perfect excuse to do it all again next time we’re this way! A great way to celebrate Cornwall’s heritage.

Truro Cathedral

Truro was first Anglican cathedral to be built on a new site since Salisbury Cathedral in 1220. Foundation stones were laid on 20th May 1880 by the then Duke of Cornwall (better known later as King Edward VII).

2.01pm: We were pleased to discover that the Cathedral was only a short walk from the Museum.

The splendid Truro Cathedral

When we arrived, there was an Organ Recital just finishing and consequently, the cathedral was very busy. What a beautiful sound! It was certainly good for their donations box!

A truly impressive space inside, with plenty of light showing off the stained-glass windows to the fullest.

Close-up, there was the mighty organ! (Kenneth Williams voice impression banned!).

Lunch on the run!

2.03pm: We had the swiftest of lunches in the Cathedral and were in and out within 15 minutes. Just time for us to discover on leaving, that it was now pelting down with rain! The promised weather forecast had come true, but we’d been lucky to miss most of it because we were inside.

Just time then, to take a quick look around the shops (again from the inside) before heading off to our final stop and bed for the next three nights – The Alverton Hotel.

The Alverton Hotel – Truro

The Alverton Hotel has a long history going back to 1830. It’s a Grade II listed building and there’s a detailed timeline HERE. In short, it was once a Convent – in 1883 – but they were a small Order called ‘The Epiphany’ and because of their small number, the Nuns eventually moved out in 1984 when it was converted to a luxury hotel.

Before it became a Nunnery it was built as a family home to one William Tweedy, a Banker of Truro Vean. It has also been a Bank itself.

The Bank has long gone, and these days it is a proud four silver star hotel and boasts two AA-rosette award-winning restaurant, gorgeous private gardens, a relaxing bar and terrace plus 51 individual and fully equipped bedrooms.

Only one 3.5 kW EV Charger though!

3.29pm: We finally made it to the Hotel after quite a lot of traffic congestion leading to its entrance. It’s a big hotel and lucky us, when we eventually found a parking space, we were about as far as it got from Reception. To add to the fun, it was now raining even harder. With the help of one of the staff, he directed us to what he thought was the EV charging point, only for me to discover, it was just a good old fashioned domestic 13a socket. OK it would have done, but would have been very, very (very) slow!

Luckily, the same member of staff then pointed us to the proper location – a 3.5kW untethered flavour, but it was currently connected to another car. Luckily, it was freed up within the hour and we were soon plugged in, and soaking up the required 6Β½ hours of needed juice (luckily, all completely free of charge!)

4.15pm: We were soon checked in, and whilst Ann unpacked, I got us up-and-running on the interweb. We’re staying in the newer part of the hotel that looks like it was originally the stable block. The room is comfy and rather snug, but it has everything we need including the sort of bath that really needed a lifeguard at one end because of its dimensions!!

Evening Meal

6.45pm: Tonight, we tried out the Hotel’s main restaurant.

It had an OK-ish menu, choice-wise…

Sea Bass Risotto for me!
Cheese Board to share

…but it was all delicious – and where the carafe of RosΓ© wine helped it along!


Tomorrow? It’s a less active day! Just one on our list – we’re heading for The Lost Gardens of Heligan. Hope we can find it on the Sat-Nav!!

10.00pm: Nighty-night reader. See you tomorrow!

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