The Best of Cornwall with Kids: Part III Tintagel Castle

THE CASTLE-BUILDER

A gentle boy, with soft and silken locks
A dreamy boy, with brown and tender eyes,
A castle-builder, with his wooden blocks,
And towers that touch imaginary skies.

A fearless rider on his father's knee,
An eager listener unto stories told
At the Round Table of the nursery,
Of heroes and adventures manifold.

There will be other towers for thee to build;
There will be other steeds for thee to ride;
There will be other legends, and all filled
With greater marvels and more glorified.

Build on, and make thy castles high and fair,
Rising and reaching upward to the skies;
Listen to voices in the upper air,
Nor lose thy simple faith in mysteries.

-  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When preparing my posts finding an appropriate quote is one of my favourite parts of the process. When thinking about Tintagel the ideas that were foremost in my mind where King Arthur, myths and legends, ruined castles and just how important our imaginations are in making the most of our days. This made finding a quote a little difficult but lead me to read lots of lovely poetry and I decided this was my favourite.

It is said that the Duke of Cornwall placed his wife at Tintagel for safe keeping during a time of war. In his absence, disguised by Merlin the great magician, Urther Pendragon father a child with this lady. The child grew to one day become King Arthur, leader of the knights of the round table. Whether this is the stuff of legends or based in some way on historical fact we shall never know. What I do know however is that, while little is left of the castle at Tintagel, the views of the windswept Cornish coast are breathtaking and awe-inspiring and we loved it here.

We chose the closest car park to the trail you take to reach the castle, paying three times as much, we later found out, than if we had parked a little bit further down the road.  You live and learn. It was quite a hike to reach the English Heritage ticket office and shop, a lot of it down steep sloping paths. It did seem quite easy on the way there but on the way back Rob was having to tow two complaining children, so perhaps buying tickets for the shuttle bus might have been a good idea.

After collecting the kids trail activity at the ticket office we walked along timber walkways that lead you over Tintagel Haven a lovely little sandy cove, home to Merlin's Cave. From here we climbed to a bridge and had the choice of turning left onto the mainland remains of the castle or right and climbing to the island headland to the remains of Earl Richards Hall built in the 1230's. We head off to the right planning to see that other side later, but as usual we ran out of time.

The steps leading to the castle where steep and very windswept so we made sure to have the kids as close to us as possible, which was sometime quite difficult as they were in their element here, running and climbing on everything. In comparison to a ruin like Corfe Castle, there is little left to see here in terms of buildings, but we used our imaginations and had a lot of fun.

I love the legend of Tristan and Isolde and so it added something to know that Isolde's husband, King Mark, made Tintagel his home in a castle predating Earl Richard's. I was able to stand and imagine that these tragic lovers perhaps once stood and looked out over the dramatic rocky cliffs.

The real draw card at Tintagel are these amazing views. I'm fairly sure the kids would say their favourite was the remains of castle, dark age houses and medieval chapel they climbed all over.  Of course thinking back to that day I am reminded of the more challenging aspects of travelling with children, "I'm the leader follow me"..."no I'm the leader".."Mum he hit me".."Mum she pushed me" . But hey you get that at home so we may as well be out and about and just make sure they don't play too close to a cliff.

We left Tintagel in the late afternoon, keen for fish and chips in Padstow for dinner, which I will tell you about another time. I'm sure we missed much in Tintagel town and the other side of the castle but we were satisfied with our two hour visit and would definitely recommend Tintagel, especially to people staying inland as it gave us an amazing first view of the Cornish Coast.