TV Locations and Other Options

Now, before I write this I have to confess I have never watched a single episode of Poldark and am only somewhat familiar with Doc Martin. However, I am aware that Cornwall provides the dramatic locations for both those series. There is actually a website that lists locations for Poldark and the village of Port Isaac is Port Wenn in the Doc Martin series. We did try, while we were in Cornwall, to see some of these locations. We drove across Bodmin Moor but, because of the rain, got no photos there. We did stop at Charlestown, just outside of Falmouth. Its harbour is used in Poldark and, while we skipped paying the 6 pound fee just to walk along the quay, we got plenty of photos of the quay and coastline there.

As we explored the "tin mine" coastline in western Cornwall, we knew several of those mines are also used in Poldark including the one called Levant.

There are other locations used by in Poldark but we didn't manage to track them down. Now, I have watched a number of episodes of Doc Martin so was looking forward to see Port Isaac which doubles as Port Wenn in the series. Now, to get to this village, you need to go down some pretty narrow Cornish lanes to get there. I had hoped to find a wider way into the village so ignored the Garmin's (Mindy) instructions. Finally, I had no choice and, as it turned out, we had to double back to get there. That delayed our arrival which probably led to the parking problem. We arrived around 11 am and by then the two village parking lots were chockablock full and, while there was another one about 1 km up the hill from the entrance to the village, neither of us felt we wanted to take the extra time to see the village so we drove on. Who knows, maybe one day I will get back there and make sure I arrive earlier in the day!

Our journey north continued and we skipped visiting Tintagel (of King Arthur fame). I had visited with my sister four years ago and with my mother many years before that. Once is more than enough. However, we had spotted on the map a village called Boscastle that had a "charming village" title on it. So, we went there. It was lovely! It is nestled in a deep valley and the little cottages and buildings are just, well, so Cornish!

We stopped here for lunch and then continued on crossing the border into Devon. We had time, and the weather was cooperating, to visit another one of England's iconic pretty villages, Clovelly. Years ago, donkeys carried good and people up and down the main street (interestingly enough called "Upalong Downalong"). This cobble-stoned street is treacherous for walking (especially in flip-flops). Thankfully, once you get to the bottom, there is the option of paying 2 pounds 50 to get a ride back up to the top! My friend walked it though.