8/3 (Monday) – St. Mawes and Trelissick Gardens, Cornwall

After some long sightseeing days we decided it was time for an easier day.  First order of business was a short walk to the end of town and our little peninsula.

Many of the houses had lovely gardens (this is England after all).

At the end of the peninsula was the St. Mawes Castle. 

Inside the castle they had a few displays of life in the castle during the Tudor period.

Across the bay you could see Falmouth and it's Tudor castle, Pendennis.

and we had good views of the St. Mawes Harbor...

and back to the town.

Then we drove a few miles outside of town to Trelissick Gardens.  We had driven by them several times and had seen the sign plus some lovely walls and a tower.  The tower turned out to be the water tower for the gardens

There were lovely wide lawns,...

Phyllis and Jim enjoying the lawn and beds.

long colorful planted flower borders,...

and dozens of large hydrangea bushes in bloom.  Gorrrrgeous!!!. 

While walking through the gardens we saw views across the river to a magnificent stately home.  A sign on the walk gave the name as Tregothnan.  Subsequent research revealed that it is the home of the Viscount of Falmouth and home of the first tea plantation in the United Kingdom.

Jim and Mary, both avid gardeners, were both inspired to go home and see if they could reproduce some of the gardens (only with drought tolerant plants…is that possible?).

The estate included a large manor home with lovely views of the Fal River and a conservatory. 

We also wandered through much of the home.  It had a lot of the original furnishings, making it particularly interesting.

Nearing the end of our self tour, Paul wandered into the kitchen...only to discover the staff who informed him that the home was not open for visitors.  So they shooed us out.  But we had still been able to see most of the rooms.

After a rest at our hotel we headed out for dinner only to discover that the race (as part of the week-long festival) was set to take off from directly in front of our hotel.  So we waited for the start.  Directly behind the runners was a mob of young kids, ready to start their own race.

This evening we had dinner reservations at The Idle Rock, a sister hotel right on the bay.  The food was awesome and we had a grand last dinner together as Jim and Phyllis were headed back to London the following morning.