Easter in the Tamar Valley: The undiluted mangle

By Paul Clements 1058AM GMT twenty-four Mar 2010

Previous of Images Next The thespian segment surrounding the Tamar, with the low gorges and copper mining features, was directed towards an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1995 The really old Pannier Market in Tavistock has great dilettante cheese, cakes and preserves

Why go?

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For a spur-of-the-moment Easter family break, one that"s packaged with sufficient out-of-the-ordinary outside activities to zap the kids" energies and concede frazzled mums and dads to waylay a small still time during the longest week end of the year. According to a Cornish yarn, the Devil did not dauntless head opposite the stream Tamar, that all but chops Devon off from the beside county, for fright of culmination up as a stuffing in a pastie. Now, how"s that for a Easter conversation-starter in the car?

West of Dartmoor and using south to Plymouth, the Tamar outlines a healthy point during the strenuous debate down to Cornwall at that to set down for the night. The thespian surrounding area, with the low gorges and copper mining facilities such as engine houses and H2O wheels, was directed towards an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1995. Strange, then, that the Tamar Valley is all but ignored in guidebooks, warranting hardly a footnote in Lonely Planet"s Devon, Cornwall and Southwest England. This at slightest guarantees the monumental open view is unspoilt.

Travel by…

… if not car, afterwards sight so prolonged as the network isn"t on strike. First Great Western (08457 000 125; firstgreatwestern.co.uk ) operates regular, approach services from London Paddington and Reading to Plymouth, where the scenic Tamar Valley Line pootles ascending to Gunnislake. The 40-minute float gives an windy general outlook of the hollow as the two-carriage sight wends around ridges, by prettified, time-locked stations, and over the fantastic Calstock viaduct.

Prosaic but practical, Air Southwest (0870 241 8202; www.airsouthwest.com) flies to Plymouth from London Gatwick and multiform alternative informal airports, from 98 return.

Stay at…

Hotel Endsleigh (Milton Abbot, Tavistock, PL19 0PQ; 01822 870000; www.hotelendsleigh.com), a Grade I-listed fishing board built for Georgina, Duchess of Bedford, that is right away a house pet plan of interior engineer Olga Polizzi. In her care, the 16-room skill retains the dry Regency chintz but with combined country-house cosiness. Room 8 has handpainted wallpaper depicting bucolic scenes of peacocks and butterflies. There are rows of Wellington boots for exploring the hotel"s 108 acres, and teenage girls will be fascinated by the Shell House, a regretful unsteadiness lined with pleasant shells. Staff will additionally prepare for lessons in kestrelling, clay-pigeon sharpened and horse-riding. Doubles from 200.

Get even closer to inlet on Old Solomon"s Farm (Latchley, Gunnislake, PL18 9AX, 01822 833242; www.oldsolomonsfarm.co.uk), a operative 15th-century farmhouse with sheep, geese and a accessible Border collie in motion the 50 acres. Couples can graze in the converted Apple Loft, that has the own yard garden. From 32 per chairman per night.

Spend the morning…

Flying by the air at Treesurfers (0845 459 4632; www.treesurfers.co.uk), a family-run aerial attack march in Gulworthy that"s set among treetops teetering on the hollow precipice. Show your dauntless side on the mettle-testing march of wire bridges, zip wires and overhanging obstacles. The culmination freefalling from a 40ft tree platform, trustworthy usually to a breakwire is not one to be taken lightly, nor the adrenalin flog simply forgotten. All-day passes, 30.

For thrills on terra firma, try mountain-biking downhill at up to 40mph around Gawton Mine. Newly minted white-knuckle trails pass by unenlightened woodland as piece of a mining birthright refuge project. Day passes, 5, accessible from Dartmoor Cycles in Tavistock (01822 618178; www.woodlandriders.com)

Have lunch at…

The Horn of Plenty (01822 832528; www.thehornofplenty.co.uk), a nation road house grill whose potion walls suggest fantastic hollow views down to the Tamar. The menu, by acclaimed internal cook Peter Gorton, is uninformed and regional; salmon is a speciality, held from the stream nearby. Three courses, 26.50.

Spend the afternoon…

Revisiting scenes from English story at Cotehele House in Saltash (01579 351 346; www.nationaltrust.org.uk), one of the best-preserved Tudor homes in Britain. If your house aren"t simply taken with Gothic furniture, tapestries and armour, pack them off on a boat debate from Cotehele Quay (01822 833409; canoetamar.co.uk); twenty-two per person.

Shop for…

Lovely internal produce. The really old Pannier Market in Tavistock (Tuesday-Saturday; 01822 611003; www.tavistockpanniermarket.co.uk) has great dilettante cheese, cakes and preserves, and batch up on stoneground flour from the operative watermill at Cotehele. Pick up surprising plants at the Garden House nearby Yelverton (01822 854769; www.thegardenhouse.org.uk), a desirable hothouse built around the hull of a Gothic vicarage.

Dine out at…

Hotel Endsleigh (see above), whose slab walls safeguard no interruptions from mobile phones whilst guest take a break in panelled dining bedrooms lined with family crests. The use is formally reverential, the menu tasty and anniversary (leg of lamb, braised pig cheek), and most appropriate discriminating off with an tricky gummy toffee pudding. Ask for the window list unaware the croquet lawn. Three courses, 40.

Worth the event is Gidleigh Park in Chagford (01647 432367; www.gidleigh.com), where senior manager cook Michael Caines has defended dual Michelin stars for a decade with his innovative, complicated European menu that uses the excellent internal ingredients. Highlights of the 95-a-head à la grant embody Cornish duckling with smoked bacon and cabbage, and Devonshire ros veal with extended beans and morels.

Spend the subsequent day…

Tiring them out for the debate home. Only the really dauntless will cruise wild-swimming at this time of year, but Lydford Gorge is as great for a fresh walks as a dip, with multiform tranquil pools dotted along a three-mile oakland trail.

In season, penetrating anglers should take full value of the Tamar, that is deliberate the most appropriate salmon and sea fish stream in England. For plunge into hire, permits and internal information, try Tavistock Trout Fishery (01822 615441; www.tavistocktroutfishery.co.uk)

At all costs avoid…

The traffic-choked A38.

Further information…

Visit www.tamarvalley.org.uk and www.tamarvalleytourism.co.uk