Travelling to Cornwall

We spent a few days in Cornwall last week - these are a few pictures from the trip down (and a couple on the way back).

We travelled on Sunday heading down the A303. At Ilminster we left the new (well 1988) by-pass and headed into the town in search of a coffee but being Sunday nowhere was open and all the good folk were in church. Ilminster takes its name from the river Isle and the church of St Mary’s which is known as The Minster. Its distinctive colour come from the Hamstone (a Jurassic limestone from Ham Hill in Somerset).



The old Market building is built of the same stone.

Afterr Ilminster we travelled via Exeter to Ipplepen , a village between Newton Abbott and Totnes to visit the mother of a friend. We had forgotten what a wonderful view she has from her garden. On the horizon to the left is the church of St Andrew and to the left in the distance the hills of Dartmoor.



From here it was back onto the A38 and around Plymouth, entering Cornwall on the Tamar Bridge with the marvellous Royal Albert Bridge built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1859 to the south.



When we came back we stopped for lunch in the village of Queen Camel off the A303west of Wincanton (King Arthur's final battle took place in the surrounding area according to the village website). What it does have is a splendid looking church (St Barnabas)...



...and a very nice inn ; The Mildmay Arms is named after Sir Walter Mildmay who owned Hazelgrove House and the Queen Camel estate from 1556 and whose family retained it until 1929. Well worth a short detour from the A303.