Cornwall Trip: Day 6 St Michaels Mount and Glendurgan Gardens

St Michaels Mount

Glendurgan Gardens

Angie:

We went to St Michaels Mount and Glendurgan Gardens today. These are both part of a National Trust which takes over and maintains old historic homes and gardens that would otherwise have turned to ruins, and they open up these sites for public viewing. We happen to have a National Trust membership, so this was the first time we got to use our passes. St. Michaels Mount was an island castle. The causeway (path) to get there floods as the tide comes in, so we had to plan our visit accordingly. Luckily I was smart enough to note the tide times for everyday of our holiday. Near the parking lot there was a playground we stopped and had lunch.

After lunch we drove to Glendurgan Gardens. There was a couple of cool things there like a giant multi-person swing and a picturesque fishing village, which apparently the National Trust rents out some of the homes to tourists. The main attraction was a hedge maze. My kids LOVE mazes. Ray and I were so proud that we beat the kids out of the maze this time!! Neil got very frustrated because he never completed the maze. He kept going in circles, but after 45 minutes of him trying we had to start moving on because Misty was getting bored. We enjoyed some more ice cream after we made our way back to the entrance.

Ray:

In our previous adventures to Normandy, France we went to a place called Mont du St Michel. This time we visited a place called Saint  Michael's Mount. The french island Mont was a monastery. The English island Mount was someone's castle. Both were remarkable and very similar. Though, the mount did not have as many stairs as the monastery or Tintagel; it did have a great view of the ocean and surrounding lands.

After the great views of the castle on an island, we went to get lost in another hedge maze (another of our favorite family pastimes). This one was one of the largest we've been too and was in the center of a large family botanical garden. Near the maze was a children's rope swing set (built in the late 1800's). It was a pole with six ropes with handles hung on a bearing set wheel. If an overgrown child such as yours truly was so inclined (and I was), that overgrown child could easily run fast enough to get swung around the pole while hanging on the handles of these ropes. So I did. It was great enough that I even convinced Angie to try. As a set of bragging rights, for the first time Angie and I were able to beat Neil through the maze.