My intention today is to make a day trip from my Truro base. I have decided to make a trek to the nearby town of St. Austell – just one train stop away – to explore the town a little, and then head to the beautiful and picturesque seaside village of Mevagissey.
St. Austell
You may have heard the name St. Austell from their famous beer and breweries, located here. Visitors to St. Austell can actually tour the brewery if they wish but, not being a beer drinker, that didn’t really strike me as something I’d be interested in doing.
St. Austell is an old market town and was, for many centuries, an important mining centre. In the mid-18th century, china clay was discovered in the area and this became its mainstay, although that production has since almost died off. St. Austell currently has a population of about 20,000, which includes the outlying areas.
There’s really not much that St. Austell can offer to the tourist, but its biggest draw would have to be the famous Eden Project, located outside the town. The Eden Project is currently the world’s biggest biodomes.
This morning I went to the Truro train station to catch my train to St. Austell… here it comes now:
I arrived at St. Austell in under 15 minutes. I wandered around a bit outside the train station…
… and then wandered into the downtown. To be honest, St. Austell is really not all that pretty and there’s not a lot to look at – even the town guide told me that at the train station! I saw these buildings, though, which had a lot of character and are being prepped for a restoration. They look like something you might see somewhere in Italy, perhaps, and they would make great subjects for a black and white photo project:
The prettiest thing I did see in St. Austell, though, was the Holy Trinity Church in the centre square of the town:
A few more shots from wanderings around the town:
Having gleaned about all I could from St. Austell, it was time to move on the place that I really wanted to see: Mevagissey.
Mevagissey
Mevagissey is a coastal village, fishing port and civil parish in Cornwall, five miles south of St. Austell. The parish population at the 2011 census was 2,015. I had heard and read about how charming this little port is, so I definitely wanted to pay a visit.
In St. Austell, I found the number 24 bus to Mevagissey and boarded. It was an interesting ride through a nicely forested area, and a very friendly local shared the ride with me, chatting all the way (people here are awfully friendly, by the way):
I reached the little village in under 15 minutes, and here is what I found:
The sun was setting and I sadly realized my time in Mevagissey was at an end. I really enjoyed this place; it was calming and very photogenic.
I found my way to the bus stop to catch the number 24 back to St. Austell and, as fate would have it, I ran into the same friendly local who had accompanied me from St. Austell to Mevagissey earlier in the day. We shared the bus ride back to St. Austell, where I then caught my train back to Truro for the night, returning to the Merchant House Hotel.
I leave you with the last thing I photographed in Mevagissey:
That’s it for today!
Over and out from Truro in Cornwall.
Such an interesting area to take photographs. Again, the old church is one of my favourites – lovely shots!