Week in the West Country

Glad I chose the hottest week of the year to escape the city, and what was meant to be 3 days in the countryside turned into a week. Even though I’m now back in London and meant to be making new jewellery to sell, I know that online sales slow down in summer and I do have other areas of my life to attend to as well. So I’m uploading some of my pics of Cornwall and Devon.

My search in the Tamar Valley and Cornwall for a good location to buy a property is not entirely unrelated to this blog and my interest in copper, as Cornwall by the early nineteeth century was the greatest producer of copper in the world.


The affect of copper mining on Cornwall was drastic, demand for the metal was high with the industrial revolution, and prices were good with little competition from elsewhere in the country. With the discovery of huge deposits of copper abroad in the mid 19th century, the price of copper fell and by this time the best Cornish deposits had been mined out. No copper mining is carried out today.



Gunnislake Clitters Mine was a large copper mine located near Gunnislake in the Tamar Valley in East Cornwall. I stayed in Gunnislake for 3 nights and took the hourly bus into Tavistock through some of the most beautiful countryside I’d ever seen. I decided I couldn’t live in Gunnislake because it was too quiet with just a couple of pubs, a post office and a shop selling garden gnomes. It would have also been too big a contrast after living in central London, plus I was constantly out of breath walking up and down those steep hills.



Tavistock in Devon (3.5 miles from Gunnislake on the Cornish/Devon border) is unlike any town within the Cornish mining district. The dramatic remodelling of much of the medieval town by the 7th Duke of Bedford during the mid-19th century was achieved with profits from his mines, whilst a substantial proportion of the mining workforce was housed in model cottages built within the town. I actually went to view one of the 19th century miners’ cottages down by the canal in what I consider to be one of the prettiest locations in Tavistock.



It was just a short walk from the main shopping area, following a wonderful river walk, and I am still hoping another property will soon be available for sale in this area as the cottage I saw was just too tiny, especially the kitchen. Being a grade II listed building you can't just extend anything without planning permsission.




Lostwithiel was not far from Gunnislake by train, and had a few more shops. To me it was a quiet village but I was told by the Tourist Office that it should be called a town. I went to view a delightful early 19th century cottage here that I’m still considering buying, but the only drawback is that it doesn’t have a garden. Having adored Tavistock as a town to live in, especially as there is an indoor craft market where I could sell my jewellery, I was undecided between the two locations.



Throughout the 14th century Lostwithiel was the Capital of Cornwall.
It is surrounded by wooded hills and is known for its antiques shops and auctions.
Lostwithiel felt more like a community where everyone knows everyone else, and it has its own charms. I thought it would be too quiet for me at first but after the first day, and especially after my walk along the river to Coulson park and the Nature Reserve, I decided to keep this location on my shortlist.




It also has a train station, which Tavistock doesn’t have, so it is easy to get around the county to see other interesting places or to shop in the nearest big town.
I’m finding it really hard right now to concentrate on anything other than finding myself a home in the west country, with room for a studio.