Cornwall 2023 4: Looe

Continuing my mini-series about my long weekend in Cornwall with an account of the centrepiece of the visit, a family meal in Looe.

Welcome to the penultimate post in my series about my long weekend in Cornwall. This post deals with the main event of the weekend, although we actually visited the town of Looe twice, on the Saturday to pick up my nephew who had travelled to Cornwall with my aunt but could stay in Looe due to tghe fact that the house my aunt was staying on along with two of her sons, their wives and the two young children (one for each couple), and they had been told that only seven people could stay at the house, so he would be staying with us at Fort Picklecombe.

LOOE

Looe straddles a river, and is divided officially into East Looe and West Looe. Before the reforms of 1832 East and West Looe were separate parliamentary constituencies and each returned two MPs, so this tiny place had four MPs, while big cities such as Birmingham and Manchester had none. The bridge – there is only one – remains a very prominent landmark.

SUNDAY LUNCH

We had a table booked for 11 people at The Sardine Factory, a predominantly fish restaurant, for 12:00 on Sunday (the earliest possible booking at that establishment, arranged due to the babies daily routine – both would be having an afternoon nap immediately after the meal). We had a zoom call on the Sunday morning with various other relatives, then had to visit the allotment on the way to Looe, but we got there in good time and walked in unhurried fashion from the main car park to the restaurant, arriving a few minutes early. They opened on the dot of 12 and we were seated not much later. I found what was obviously going to be a good beer on the drinks list (it was indeed), though the food was less satisfactory at first glance (as someone who is not fond of fish I seemed limited to the burger, as the sirloin steak, which I would have liked to order, was ludicrously overpriced, causing me to rule it out. Then we were shown the specials, one of which was roast beef with all the trimmings and was priced far more sensibly than the steak. I therefore ordered that, and it was excellent.

AFTER LUNCH

While the babies were taken for their post-lunch nap my family group made a brief return to our car to pick up the pots that the plants we had transferred to the allotment that morning had been in (one at least, which I carried, was quite an expensive pot) to return them to my aunt. Then we visited the house where the others were staying for teas and coffees, which were accompanied by a home made gluten-free ginger cake. Then it was time to return to Fort Picklecombe.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

At the Sardine Factory (as you will see I took a good few pictures inside).

Cornish Winter Break 2: Looe

Continuing the coverage of my Cornish Winter Break with Looe and a brief mention of Rame Head.

INTRODUCTION

In my previous post I set the scene for what will be a series of posts about my festive season in Cornwall. In this one I will deal with the visit my parents and I made to Looe. I also take this opportunity to draw your attention to the fact that Phoebe is once again offering us all a chance to promote our blogs on her site – follow this link.

THE JOURNEY

We made this trip by car. There is also a rail route involving a change at Liskeard, which I may avail myself of on a future occasion. We parked just in East Looe (East and West Looe are linked by a bridge, which we walked across) and set out to explore. Here are some preliminary pictures…

P1290038 (2) — The first six pictures here were taken while in transit.

P1290043 (2) — This fort is of the same vintage as Fort Picklecombe where my parents have thier apartment.

P1290044 (2) — This was once a fine hotel – the sort of establishment in which an Agatha Christie story could be set – or one from either of Carola Dunn’s two series (it is probably more a DS Pencarrow setting, not least given its location, than a Daisy Dalrymple one, but neither would be absolutely out of place).

P1290045 (2) — The first picture from Looe itself.

EXPLORING LOOE

There were many interesting things to see in both East and West Looe, including a few bits about the area’s history, a lifeboat station (although not being afflicted by the kind of extreme tides that northwest Norfolk gets they have only a boat, not a hovercraft as well) and a new boutique distillery (only gin, apparently not very good stuff, at present, but they will ultimately be producing whiskey which may be of better quality in due time). During the summer months, when much more is open, the place must get very crowded indeed, so I was glad to see it at a time when one could actually see the place and not just a vast mass of bodies. This was a very satisfying first outing of my Cornish holiday.

P1290050 (2) — I always like this sort of thing.

P1290058 (2) — This was where we had our lunch – and it is a TARDIS like place – you would never believe looking at this frontage how much there is inside it.

P1290068 (2) — There is a tea shop on Norfolk Street, King’s Lynn that has a display a little like this one, but this is only the second of its kind that I have seen.

P1290077 (2) — …first of order of business for a new owner would be to get the roof replaced.

P1290100 (2) — I enjoyed this little monument (two pics)

THE RETURN JOURNEY

On the way back we visited Rame Head, where there is an old church and a coast watch station. This was a splendid way to end the day.

P1290121 (2) — Some pics from the return journey.

Cornish Winter Break 1: Setting the Scene

Setting the scene for a series of posts about my holiday in Cornwall.

INTRODUCTION

I spent Christmas and the New Year in Cornwall, staying at my parent’s place. In this post I set the stage for series of posts to come about the things I did while there. In addition to eight places of interest (some of which merit rather more than a single post, or indeed a single visit) I will also be describing the cooking of a meal for six, which will be accompanied by some general pictures from the vicinity of my parents place. In the rest of this post I will set out the order for the rest of the series as an appetizer.

LOOE

Definitely worth a visit if you are in that part of the world.

EDEN PROJECT

This is a truly astonishing place and one that will repay many visits. I will certainly be devoting more than one post to my visit there this holiday.

P1290257 (2) — The start of the trail through time.

P1290288 (2) — An addition to the project since my only previous visit – this building is devoted to the things we normally cannot see.

P1290413 (2) — Inside the Mediterranean Biome.

LANHYDROCK

Only a little of this place was open, and I hope to see more of it in due course.

P1290550 (2) — The gatehouse, once a hunting lodge before the big house was built.

FOWEY

The least impressive of the places we visited.

TINTAGEL

An extraordinarily scenic place, will be getting several posts in this series.

P1290954 (2) — I will be covering this bridge in detail – for the moment suffice to say that it is both superb and very necessary.

P1300013 (2) — This view from the heights of Tintagel is currently my desktop background.

P1300026 (2) — The sun prevented me from getting a really got picture of this view.

THE JAMAICA INN

This is well known to fans of Daphne Du Maurier and/ or Rosamunde Pilcher. We stopped there on the way back from Tintagel.

CHARLESTOWN

I enjoyed visiting this town, though as you will see when I post about it I consider it over-hyped.

THE MEAL

This was a success.

FALMOUTH

The last activity of the holiday – and talk about finishing on a high note. I will certainly be revisiting this town

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