Images :Bodmin Moor

Bodmin Moor stretching for 30 miles

Stretching for 30 miles through the heart of the County of Cornwall is Bodmin Moor, an area of bleak desolate, but beautiful high moorland. Bodmin Moor. Windswept granite tors, surrounded by lush countryside. Valleys lined with beech wood, a picture in autumn. Rivers tumbling over granite boulders. Golitha Falls on the River Fowey, the surrounding woodland a blaze of bluebells in spring. Beautiful villages such as Altarnun, many with their own church . Isolated hamlets with stone cottages. Great walking country, but unlike Dartmoor without many Public Rights of Way.

Bodmin Moor-an area rich in prehistoric remains

Bodmin Moor is an area rich in prehistoric remains, stone circles, megalithic chambers and standing stones, dotted with the relicts of an industrial past. At the eastern edge of Bodmin Moor is the mysterious Dozmary Pool, linked to the legend of King Arthur and Excalibur. Nearby is Jamaica Inn, Dapne Du Maurier's novel of the same name, with its roaring log fire providing a warm welcome to travelers for centuries.

Bodmin Moor-tin and copper mining

In the heart of the former 18th Century tin and copper mining belt is the village of Minions. Walk along the disused mineral railway and climb up to Cheesewring. Huge weathered slabs of granite perched precariously upon one another. Look down on the remains of Wheal Jenkins Stamping Houses, and the workings of South Phoenix United Mine. Follow the line of the Liskeard and Caradon Railway as it winds its way around Caradon Hill. Cornwall's World Heritage.

On a clear day wonderful views to the South Coast and East into Devon. Also near to Minions are the Hurlers. Three ancient Stone Circles dating from 2500 to 1800 BC, One circle is well preserved. A few miles away is Trethevy Quoit, the remains of a Bronze Age tomb. Carnglaze Slate Caverns.

South is Siblyback Lake, providing drinking water, but also an important recreational resource. Fish for rainbow or natural brown trout. Have tuition in windsurfing or canoeing or dinghy sailing from the Watersports Centre. Take a walk to the Dam, or for the more energetic the 4 mile long walk all around the lake.

Villages, scattered and isolated, such as Altarnun, with its church often quoted in tourist brochures as the 'Cathedral of the Moors'. The view down the main street across the arch bridge to the Church has little changed in over a hundred years, with the war memorial the only addition to what is still a picture postcard view. On the South side of the Moor villages such as St Cleer and St Noet.

The present church of St Anietus dates from the 15th Century and is best known for having some of the most impressive 16th Century stained glass not only in Cornwall but in England . Though restored some 300 years later in 12 of the windows the glass is original. In the Churchyard you may notice several Ancient Celtic Crosses, whilst high in the tower what appears to be a dead tree is in fact the branch of a oak tree replaced every Oak Apple Day , a reminder of the times when the village was firmly Royalist.