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eat in or take away. I like Rick Stein’s tv programmes and follow them avidly, but to be brutally
honest I tried his fish and chips and I can get better at my local takeaways. They were also very
expensive. Maybe I caught them on a bad night, but a food operation purporting to be top class
shouldn’t have bad nights.

Port Isaac

Has been an attractive fishing village since the early fourteenth century. Its narrow, winding streets
– one is so narrow it’s called “Squeezy Belly Alley” – are lined with old white-washed cottages and
traditional granite, slate-fronted Cornish houses, many of which are listed as of architectural or
historic importance. From the Middle Ages until the middle of the 19th century, Port Isaac was a
busy port handling various imports and exports, including coal, timber, pottery and Delabole slate.
In fact the name Port Isaac is derived from the Cornish Porth Izzick meaning the ‘corn port’. After
the advent of the railways, it became principally a fishing port.

Its major claim to fame, however, is that it is location for the tv series “Doc Martin, starring Martin
Clunes.

Redruth.

You can get Cornish pasties all over Britain but there’s nothing like the real thing made in
Cornwall. Redruth is the home of this tasty treat, made originally as a meal for the tin miners who
worked in local mines. The town is now part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
World Heritage Site.

Mining in Cornwall

Cornwall is famous, not just for Cornish pasties, but more importantly for its mining history. The
region had a wealth of minerals – tin and copper mainly, but also silver, arsenic and zinc. Mining
probably started as early as the Bronze Age about 4000 years ago – copper and tin are integral
components in bronze – and ended in 1969 when the last working tin mine closed.

The result is a rich history that can be explored in the Cornish Mining World Heritage Area of
which Redruth is a key part.

One place of particular interest on this part of your journey would be East Pool Mine. At the very
heart of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site sit two great beam engines, originally powered by
high-pressure steam boilers introduced by local hero Richard Trevithick. Preserved in their
towering engine houses, they are a reminder of Cornwall’s days as a world-famous centre of
industry, engineering and innovation. The pumping engine is one of the largest surviving Cornish
beam engines in the world, and the restored winding engine can be seen in action daily. East Pool
Mine, Illogan Highway, Pool, Redruth.

Another is King Edward Mine Museum in Troon, near Camborne, which specialises in the history
of Cornish mining, telling the story of how the mine has survived for 100 years. In the tin
processing mill machinery can be seen in action just as it would have been in the early 1900s.

Bideford

Bideford Be there, if you can, for the Mining and Pasty Festival in September.

The town was once the principal sea port for Devon, Sir Richard Greville gained a charter for the
town from Queen Elizabeth 1 in 1575 and built a strong trade with the American colonies,
especially the importation of tobacco. Greville was famous for having commanded the ship