by Stella Kaye

Created on: September 02, 2010

GATEWAY TO CORNWALL

Plymouth in Devon, UK is a modern city by the sea, built like Ancient Rome on seven hills. The pride of the West Country, it is the gateway to Cornwall. Marvellous picture postcard scenery will constantly surround any visitor to this region and thus they will find more than ample opportunity to take a wide variety of photographs.

There is the proximity of wild and unspoilt Dartmoor national Park, yet all the facilities the visitor would expect from a bustling city are still close at hand. The region is also blessed with more sunshine than the rest of the UK during the summer months, and its coastline is bathed in the warm waters of The Gulfstream.

With the famous Royal Albert Bridge, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1851, that carries the Great Western Railway over the River Tamar and its more recent companion, the suspension bridge of the 1960's, it is unlikely that any trip to the South West of England will not include Plymouth.

Although Plymouth is far from the capital’s main international airports of Heathrow and Gatwick, the train journey to the south west of England is an experience in itself. From London’s Paddington Station, the railway carries the visitor to Devon through some of the most pleasant parts of the country.  Any visit to Plymouth is worth it for this section of the London to Penzance line alone. Once the line leaves Exeter it follows the course of the River Exe as it flows down to the sea. Here one can see a flotilla of pleasure craft as the estuary broadens. The main line then runs parallel to the coast, tunnelling its way through the red sandstone cliffs of Devon. This is arguably one of the finest rail journeys in the country, marred only by the speed of today's trains.

Any visitor from the USA will no doubt be intrigued by the city of Plymouth long before their visit, purely on account of its history. In 1620 this is where The Pilgrim Fathers departed from when they sailed to settle in the New World. Any American with a British ancestry will no doubt be eager to visit the Barbican area of Plymouth to stand at the exact spot known as ‘The Mayflower Steps’. This is where the arduous sea journey which was to take them to establish a colony in Massachusetts (also to be named Plymouth) began.  

Although Plymouth itself does not have any beaches there is still ample opportunity for swimming. Summer 2003 marked the re-opening of the huge round pool known as Tin side pool on Plymouth

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