I'm looking for recommendations for a southwest UK location that would serve as a base for daytrips for a week in September or October. Travel by car is OK, but would opt for bus or train if it was available and convenient. Thinking about renting a cottage for a week.
Penzance is one obvious place. What's better?
IMO Penzance is less than ideal as a base as it is so far down the county and would add uneccessary travelling time if some of the places you wanted to visit were, say, in Devon or Somerset.
Yes Penzance would not be a good choice. A reasonable compromise would be Okehamption in north Devon just on the northern edge of Dartmoor. Cornwall is actually pretty long and you don't want to be at the very end, which Penzance is close to being.
Some of the very best pubs in the UK are in the "West County". Get the latest copy of the Good Pub Guide and study it (really). www.thegoodpubguide.co.uk
I would drive. Having said that you need to be a confident driver in the narrow lanes of Devon and Cornwall. BUT it IS a great part of England. You MUST get off the major roads to really see it.
Also, don't miss Glastonbury in Somerset. I love that place-it is very special.
BTW, Devon (especially north Devon) is probably the most "quaint" part of England. WAY better than the Cotswolds. You are likely to run into far fewer tourists there too. In my four trips there, I don't think I ran into one American. Devon is fabulous walking territory too.
Jeff, Linda, thanks for the advice. I lived west of London about 20 years ago and agree that Penzance is way too far out there to serve as a base for all the southwest.
I spent many weekends, armed with an Ordnance Survey map, tooling around the backroads of the southwest. Mostly getting lost and finding my way out again. Great fun.
At this point, I'm not so sure I want to deal with the need to book and find a new hotel/B&B every day. Hence, the notion of basing myself someplace. Penzance is in the mix because it's at the end of a train route. I've also thought about starting there, driving north along the coast and then eastward into Devon and Dorset, then swinging south and west back to Penzance for the train back to London. At the rate I travel, I'd spend two weeks on it.
As you are including Dorset in the mix Okehampton or somewhere else not far from the A30 road would be good. At that time of year you are not battling with the holiday traffic. If you were fairly central you could go east, west, north and south from there for your trips.
My choice would be to settle in to a cottage within walking distance to a town or village for the week. I would also use a car unless there was a direct train service. A week is not long for such a wide (to us small islanders!) area and so important to save travel time.
Unfortunately my trips down there have seen us staying somewhere on the coast and not doing very much travelling around. So unable to recommend places to stay but I think you are spoiled for choice as far as pretty places go.
We used Mevagissey as a base from which we took many day trips. One of which was Cheddar Gorge so a trip to Glastonbury is not a stretch. That said, we saved Glastonbury for another trip when we were able to give it the time it deserves. Mevagissey is on the sea, we liked it very much and plan to go back. Cute shops, nice pubs and some very narrow streets.
