We had been travelling around the southernmost bits of Cornwall.
It was all planned so that we did the journey in short hops making the most of the countryside but never overstretching ourselves with more than a few hours in the car.
Often the route took us down small country lanes so narrow that in places it was impossible to see how two vehicles could pass each other.
The tall hedges and overhanging trees added to the magic of these lanes, but then with little warning we would be out in the open with the coast ahead of us and those stunning views of wide sandy beaches, rough grey jagged cliffs and the expanse of the sea.
The plans had been simple, book a couple of Travel Lodges on the way down and then treat ourselves to two up market country hotels.
Travel Lodges are by and large all the same, cheap cheerful and often next to an industrial site, which proved to be the case with our two.
But country hotels are different; usually they have character and history and can be quite enchanting.
So it was with the first we stayed at.
Trengilly Wartha Inn is set in a peaceful valley in the heart of the countryside close to the Helford River.*
It is a rambling old property with at its core an 18th century cottage which from the late 1940s had been added to by a series of owners.
Now I can be practical but I doubt that I would have been able to take the original small building and with a leap of faith think about transforming it into a paying concern.
The 18th century cottage had consisted of three rooms with a ladder giving access to the upstairs, and a lavatory of sorts in the barn where the animals were kept.
The early modernisation and additions were carried out with the help of German prisoners of war and each successive owner added and adapted the place.
The three fields which once provided a meagre living as a market garden are now a mix of open land, lake, and stream with wild flowers everywhere.
Not that this is in any way an outrageous advert for the place but a reflection on how an old building can be adapted, change its use and ensure its survival.
As the current owners are the first to admit while some Inns have a rich and romantic past theirs did not even acquire the title Inn until recently.
But that makes it no less an interesting place and one which I rather think will prompt me to dig deep into its 19th century past, tracking its agricultural residents and placing them in the history of this bit of Cornwall.
And all of this as well as a very pleasant place to say with a most helpful and welcoming hosts which only leaves me to add that the translation of trengilly wartha means settlement above the tree's.
Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson
* Trengilly Wartha Inn, www.trengilly.co.uk
 |
| Wide sandy beaches, rough jagged cliffs and the expanse of the sea |
Often the route took us down small country lanes so narrow that in places it was impossible to see how two vehicles could pass each other.
The tall hedges and overhanging trees added to the magic of these lanes, but then with little warning we would be out in the open with the coast ahead of us and those stunning views of wide sandy beaches, rough grey jagged cliffs and the expanse of the sea.
The plans had been simple, book a couple of Travel Lodges on the way down and then treat ourselves to two up market country hotels.
Travel Lodges are by and large all the same, cheap cheerful and often next to an industrial site, which proved to be the case with our two.
But country hotels are different; usually they have character and history and can be quite enchanting.
So it was with the first we stayed at.
Trengilly Wartha Inn is set in a peaceful valley in the heart of the countryside close to the Helford River.*
It is a rambling old property with at its core an 18th century cottage which from the late 1940s had been added to by a series of owners.
 |
| The peaceful valley in the heart of the countryside close to the River Helford |
The 18th century cottage had consisted of three rooms with a ladder giving access to the upstairs, and a lavatory of sorts in the barn where the animals were kept.
The early modernisation and additions were carried out with the help of German prisoners of war and each successive owner added and adapted the place.
The three fields which once provided a meagre living as a market garden are now a mix of open land, lake, and stream with wild flowers everywhere.
 |
| Trenggilly Wartha Inn |
As the current owners are the first to admit while some Inns have a rich and romantic past theirs did not even acquire the title Inn until recently.
But that makes it no less an interesting place and one which I rather think will prompt me to dig deep into its 19th century past, tracking its agricultural residents and placing them in the history of this bit of Cornwall.
And all of this as well as a very pleasant place to say with a most helpful and welcoming hosts which only leaves me to add that the translation of trengilly wartha means settlement above the tree's.
Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson
* Trengilly Wartha Inn, www.trengilly.co.uk
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