Bed and breakfast availability
Falmouth b&b, guesthouse and hotel accommodation

Visit Falmouth and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Falmouth, Cornwall. Suddenly the stillness of the wooded creeks turns into a fairly typical resort. Its setting is magnificent; its harbour is claimed to be the third largest natural one in the world; it also claims the most temperate climate of any resort in Britain. Its port, though less busy than once, remains Cornwall's largest, occasionally welcoming tankers of up to 90,000 tons. It is the county's largest single town.

Its development was late and rapid. When Sir Walter Raleigh landed here in c. 1590, it was a hamlet with a manor house and Pendennis Castle, built c. 1543 to protect (with St Mawes Castle across the strait) the existing ports of the Fal estuary Truro and Penryn; and although Raleigh advocated its potential in high places, not till 1664 did it become a parish or till 1670 have a quay. Yet in 1688 it was chosen as a Mail Packet Station, and by 1827, 39 ships were delivering letters all over the world from it. This heyday ended in 1852 when its mail duties were transferred to Southampton and Liverpool. Like Plymouth's its port's usefulness declined with the coming of steamships, to which the westerly winds beating down the English Channel were a small problem. However, soon after the railway reached it in 1863 the first tourists came.

The town still presents two very different aspects. On the south side of its peninsula are the beaches and public gardens overlooked by large 19^th-and early-20^th-century hotels and villas. On the north side are the harbours and docks backed by the mainly 18^th- and 19^th-century buildings of its shopping centre and narrow streets on a hillside. The long main street, running parallel to the river and one row backs, contains most that is historically interesting. The 1662—5 Parish Church of King Charles the Martyr is one of the few so dedicated anywhere and also one of the few of that period in the West Country. Near the Customs House, towards the south-west end of the Street, is an old brick chimney called the King's Pipe where contraband tobacco used to be burned. A little further on is the l7^th-century manor, Arwenack, built on the site of the Tudor original. Leading from the main square, are 111 steps known as Jacob's Ladder.

Pendennis Castle can be approached by Castle Drive, which circles the headland. The castle's main action was in the Civil War when, under the command of the 70-year-old Sir John Arundell of Trerice and Lanherne, it for five months withstood a Roundhead siege.

Off Melvill Road is the very pretty and well-kept Fox Rosehill public garden. All Saints' Church in Kilhigrew Road, built mainly 1887—90, is a large and interesting example of the work of the architect R. D. Sodding.

One of the shortest of many worthwhile boat trips from Falmouth is to flushing across the river. Said to have been founded by Dutch families before Falmouth existed, it is extremely pretty, with rows of coloured and white cottages that seem, in their simplicity and uniformity, quite Dutch. It is popular with yachtsmen. Some l½ miles North East of it, Mylor church is beautifully sited close to the shore of a creek that was once a royal dockyard, now a yacht anchorage. It has a strange, thin tower, splendidly coloured cast window and Elizabethan pulpit.

Two miles North, on Restronguet Creek, is the Pandora Inn, one of the oldest pubs in Cornwall. Built as a friary in the 11^th century, it has been a pub since the 14^th century. It is said Captain Bligh of Bounty fame was once its landlord.

Nearby towns: Helston, Penryn, Redruth, St. Mawes, Truro

Nearby villages: Budock Water, Camborne, Carnbrea, Chacewater, Constantine, Coverack, Creed, Crowan, Cury, Feock, Flushing, Gerrans, Gunwalloe, Gweek, Gwennap, Helford, Illogan, Kea, Kenwyn, Manaccan, Mawgan, Mawnan, Mullion, Mylor, Nancekuke, Perranwell, Philleigh, Pool, Porkellis, Porthscatho, Portreath, Probus, Ruan Lanihorne, Scorrier, St. Anthony, St. Clement, St. Day, St. Keverne, St. Martin, Stithians, Tregoney, Troon, Tuckingmill, Veryan, Wendron

Have you decided to visit Falmouth or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:

• a Falmouth bed and breakfast (a Falmouth B&B or Falmouth b and b)
• a Falmouth guesthouse
• a Falmouth hotel (or motel)
• a Falmouth self-catering establishment, or
• other Falmouth accommodation

Accommodation in Falmouth:

Find availability in a Falmouth bed and breakfast, also known as B&B or b and b, guesthouse, small hotel, self-catering or other accommodation.