Cornwall - Part Two

We awake to very grey and rainy skies this morning, nothing like the weather we have experienced so far here. Today we are going to St Michaels Mount near Penzance. We have breakfast and start the drive in drizzling rain, as we get closer the rain intensifies but determined we keep going. Well by the time we get there the rain is pouring down and there is a howling wind that makes even seeing St Michael's Mount almost impossible. We sit in the car and watch as a couple of busloads of people get off and start to make there way to the island. The wind is so strong that umbrellas are of no use at all. Peter got out of the car to see what it was like and he got back in very quickly as he could barely stand against the wind.

            

                             


















We make a decision that we will go back to Newquay as while we have come all this way the experience wouldn't be very pleasant at all. I can do rain and I can do wind but when the two are put together with the wind driving the rain straight into your face it isn't something I would have enjoyed. Sometimes these things happen on holidays.

We drive back to Newquay and the rain does start to ease, we do a bit of shopping and have some lunch and Peter goes to pick the car up from where we have left it parked. As I walk back to our B&B the sun starts to come out and we decide we will give St Michael's Mount another go. It was all we had planned for the day anyway and it is only just over 40 minutes drive away.

What a good decision that was when we get there, it is almost sunny. We aren't in time to do the causeway walk to the island although there are lot people doing it still but they will get their feet wet for sure as the tide comes in the causeway goes under water. We go across to the island on one of the boats that do regular trips back and forth.

This is 3 hours after we left.

Again another magnificent site which has been in the one family since 1659. An impressive line of owners if I must say so.

The island itself was created when the Cornubian Batholith was formed following the cooling of magma resulting from the collision of tectonic plates. The batholith is the granite spine, that runs most of the length of Devon and Cornwall. As the ages went on the Mount would have been home to all manner of people through the Bronze Age, Early Iron Age through to the dark ages and then in c1080 the Mount was granted to Mont St Michel and work began on building a church under the authority of Bernard Le Bec of Mont-St -Michel. It then passed through a variety of hands with the last clergy on the Mount pensioned off in 1548. In 1659 the Mount was purchased by Colonel John St Aubyn from the son of Sir Francis Bassett and it has been in that family ever since. It has been a major spiritual centre, a military stronghold, a thriving port and a much loved family home.

In 1954 the 3rd Lord of St Levan (don't ask me how all this Lord stuff happens as I have no clue) gave most of St Michael's Mount to the National Trust but retained a 999 year lease for the St Aubyn family to live in the castle together with a licence to run the visitor business on the island.

The family still live there amongst all the tourists but they do have a private residence attached to the castle. As you walk through there are personal mementos and photos everywhere. There is still a church on the island in which as a 3 month old, the present owner of St Michael's Mount James St Aubyn was christened.

         


It has a marvellous history which I have only briefly touched on. As you walk through the rooms it is a very different experience from yesterdays castle, as this is still a living breathing castle with a family living in it. It is not a ruin and has all genuine furniture and decorations which would definitely need a lot of upkeep. There are guides in every room who, if you have any questions will happily answer them. Each room has it's own unique history and objects in it. The Blue Drawing Rooms which were created in 1756 were delightful and one of the things I noticed was a picture of the current family with the Queen and Prince Phillip who paid a visit recently. They have brass outlines of their feet in the walkway near the harbour. So funny to see things like this throughout the castle.

As you go through you get the sense that this really is a much loved home. Outsied the exit door are some cannons captured from a French frigate during the Napoleonic War and these guns were fired at the wedding of James St Aubyn's daughter's wedding celebrations. How special would that be?

All in all a great place to visit! I can assure that none of the above photos do this place the justice it deserves but hopefully you can get some idea of what I have been talking about.