Hello Tintagel, Good to see you!

The lovely village of Tintagel sits on the Atlantic coast of England, United Kingdom. The village itself is surrounded by green pastures and fields, rolling hills which fall ever downwards towards the sea and the cliffs separating the Atlantic ocean from those same fields of countryside-England. The vibrant green fields make a stunning counterpoint to the sparkling blue ocean and sky. It's a very beautiful location.

There's much to see in the area and simply driving through the surrounding countryside is enjoyable however most people are there for one thing; Tintagel Castle.

Below you can see some of the coastline showing the cliffs, ocean and green fields I mentioned above. It's a fairly rugged coastline with steep cliffs and coves rather than beaches although there are a few small ones. We walked through those fields, on a National Trust coastal path, the breeze brought with it the salty scent of the ocean which mixed with the many wild flowers and more earthy scent of the pastures. It was a perfect morning for a walk and we made the most of it, and the views. You can see my wife doing just that in the right hand image.

It is thought the site of Tintagel Castle was probably occupied in the Roman-period of England's history due to a large amount of artefacts dating to that period having been found on the site although no signs of a Roman structure has been found to date. The area was settled in the early medieval-period, and it is thought to have probably been one of the seasonal residences of the regional king of Dumnonia. A castle was then built there by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall in the 13th century, the later medieval period. It fell in to disrepair and then ruin at a later, unknown, date.

Below you can see some of the ruins. My wife is, conveniently, pointing out some with her finger. You can also see a narrow bridge between the mainland and the island where the castle was constructed. Obviously it's not the original bridge.

The image below shows a closer image of that same area in which you can see some of the walls of the original castle and the pedestrian bridge from the mainland. It's also a good image to show Merlin's Cave which is the cave opening on the left in the image below. Merlin is said to have been an adviser and magician for the legendary King Arthur and Tintagel Castle is linked (if somewhat romantically) with the legend of King Arthur.

This long association with the King Arthur legend apparently goes back to the 12th century however in modern times there is no hard evidence that the castle and King Arthur have any tangible link at all. It makes for a good story and gets the tourists there though so why not continue the legend?

We spent the better part of a day exploring Tintagel, the castle, village and surrounds even walking up to St Materiana's Church, which lies on the cliffs above the village and castle ruins. It's an uphill walk but is worth the effort (it's not a hard walk) as the views are spectacular. The church itself was created around the 11th-12th century, yep, it's old!

Below are a couple of images from the church area with the left one showing the wildflowers which pretty-much covered everything with the castle area just visible in the distance and the right side is part of the church and graveyard with Tintagel village in the distance.

If you're heading to Tintagel keep in mind it's a busy place with loads of tourists. My suggestion would be to get there early which will mean you'll get a car park easily (use the public car parks and don't forget to get a ticket). You'll get to explore the small high street area with relatively few others around and will have a chance to grab a coffee or Cornish Cream Tea. My suggestion is the the cream tea...When you get there and have one you'll know what I mean. After your snack you'll be ready to visit the castle which you'll need to walk to. There is a Land Rover shuttle system but take the walk, you will not regret it.

You can also take the walk on that coastal walk I mentioned above. It will take you around to Barras Nose Headland and amazing views. You can also walk down to the area adjacent to Merlin's Cave on the trail. The walk is relatively easy however there are some reasonably steep grades and I would suggest sturdy shoes. It is probably also wise to wear layers as you may get warm and then cool depending upon your location on the trail. That's weather specific of course. The length of walk is really your own choice. The actual trail is part of the South West Coast Path which is a 630 mile (1013km) coastal walk beginning in Minehead in Somerset along the coast of Devon, Cornwall and ends in Poole Harbour, Dorset. It is a reasonably challenging trail however is quite rewarding I'm told.

Besides the walks, church, views and castle you may be interested in visiting the Old Post Office as well. The building was constructed 600 years ago and is now a museum with a quaint cottage garden behind. This former farm house has had many purposes the last of which was as a letter-receiving office in the 1870's. It's now open to the public and is worth an hour of your time. You can see my image of it below.

Our time is Cornwall was very special for a few reasons. Firstly because I can trace my family history back to around 1450 Cornwall and I felt at home there, secondly because we spent a a week of our time there with some special friends we met on a cruise in Vietnam back in 2013 and lastly because it's simply a lovely place to be.

Tintagel is one of those places you walk around and smile. It's just quaint and really nice. I'm sure on a bad weather day it would be miserable but we got a good one and as we were there early got to experience it before the tourist crowds (which wasn't all that bad anyway). We enjoyed a Cornwall cream tea in the early morning then an amazing Cornish pasty for lunch. The walks were beautiful, the views even better and over all the day was very enjoyable.

If you find yourself in Cornwall you need to get Tintagel on your list of things to do. A day should be plenty of time there and it's a relatively easy drive from other nice places nearby so it won't take you too far out of your way. We came from Boscastle which is another lovely spot which I will write about sometime. There are hotels in Tintagel as well of course.

Thanks for making it this far, I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of Tintagel. I have some 150 images from there and the immediate surrounds but I don't want to bore you too much. You'll have to get there yourself to see it.