A bit of Culture
Marazion is well served with galleries, art shops and studios, complementing other excellent galleries in Penzance, Newlyn and St Ives ,as well as top class museums and theatres.
Minack Theatre
Box Office+44(0)1736 810181
The Minack Theatre at Porthcurno (pictured above), is a truly outstanding venue with a stunning backdrop of the ocean and coast. A visit to marvel at the building of this masterpiece or even better – to see a performance must surely rate as a highlight of a visit to SW Cornwall.
The theatre is used from June to September for a full summer season of plays, produced by companies from all over the UK and visiting companies from across the world. The theatre is open for visitors all year (£4.00 entry – free car park).
Charlestown Shipwreck & Heritage Centre
Quay Road, Charlestown, St. Austell, Cornwall PL25 3NJ
(tel: 01726 69897)
Charlestown will be familiar as the Poldark Harbour and is the home to several historic tall ships. The Shipwreck Museum houses varied exhibitions reflecting village life in Charlestown, it's history, shipwrecks and the once thriving China Clay industry. The exhibition shows a tremendous range of maritime history dating back to 1715 and one of the largest underwater diving equipment collections in the country, including various suits used for treasure seeking and naval purposes.
Discovery Quay, Falmouth, Cornwall TR11 3QY
(tel: 01326 313388)
Staying on the nautical theme – The National Maritime Museum in Falmouth has a range of exciting exhibitions and events planned throughout 2019, including Titanic Stories, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Pirate School. A major exhibition TITANIC STORIES examines the stories of the Titanic’s most momentous sinking on 15 April 1912, re-appraising many of the myths, controversies and assumptions that sill linger around one of the most well-known historic events of the 20th century. Working in collaboration with private collectors from overseas and national museums in the UK, TITANIC STORIES presents rare and never-seen-before objects, as well as retelling the personal stories of many of the survivors, victims and descendants of the Titanic disaster, including those from Cornwall.
The Porthcurno Telegraph Museum
Eastern House, Porthcurno, Penzance, Cornwall, TR19 6JX
(tel: 01736 810966)
The first transatlantic and other telegraph cables were laid from Portcurno in the 1800’s. This outstanding museum charts the history of telegraphy and early ‘wireless’ technology and highlights it’s important communications role during WW2.
Tate St Ives
Porthmeor Beach, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 1TG
(tel: 01736 796226)
Tate St Ives Tate St Ives is undoubtedly Cornwall’s best known gallery, situated in a glorious location overlooking Porthmeor Beach.The Tate not only shows the best of C20 art in the areas and atmosphere in which it was created, but also has changing exhibitions of the best of contemporary Cornish art.Since the Tate’s opening in 1993 many more galleries have sprung up around St Ives, supporting its long artistic tradition.
Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden
Barnoon Hill, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 1AD
(tel: 01736 796226)
Visiting the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden is a unique experience that offers a remarkable insight into the work and outlook of one of Britain’s most important twentieth century artists. Sculptures in bronze, stone and wood are on display in the museum and garden, along with paintings, drawings and archive material.
Penlee House Museum and Gallery
Penlee Park, Penzance, Cornwall TR18 4HE
(tel: 01736 363 625)
Small visitor attraction of the year 2011/12 - a gracious Victorian home converted to create a first class gallery and museum within an attractive park in central Penzance. The gallery celebrates the rich cultural artistic heritage of the Newlyn School and Lamorna Group artists, whilst the museum houses artefacts up to 6,000 years old charting the history of Penzance and West Cornwall and its rich fishing, farming and mining heritage.
BODMIN Jail
Discover life behind bars as an 18th Century prisoner in the heart of Cornwall. Explore the many cells and features that make your visit to the Jail a fun and educational adventure, and just a little bit scary! Bodmin Jail was originally built for King George III in 1779; the Jail you see today was built with the help of the prisoners who brought 20,000 tons of granite from Bodmin’s Cuckoo Quarry. Visitors can wander through the depths of the Jail, over five levels, and browse creative exhibits depicting penal life in Victorian Cornwall. Be sure to visit the Execution Shed; a fully restored, 4.5mtr deep, Victorian hanging pit. This is the only hanging pit in the UK and the site of the last man executed in Cornwall. Marvel at the building’s unique design, architecture, and engineering; from the inspired heating and cooling systems constructed to keep the Jail environment comfortable, to the striking carved wood paneling and period features of the Old Chapel; now housing our popular Governors Hall restaurant.
Geevor Mine
Geevor mine closed in 1990 and is now an award winning attraction and world heritage site set on the magnificent north Cornwall coast. Discover ancient mining techniques and follow the time production process from ore to ingot. Go underground into an ancient drift and experience for yourself the conditions endured by miners up to 300 years ago.
Poldark Mine
Visit the heritage museum and explore the only underground tin mine open to the public. See an original Cornish steam beam engine pumping water from the shaft and discover fascinating facts about the ancient tin mining industry.
Wheal Martyn China Clay mining experience
Two Victorian clay works and acres of woodland see how china clay has been mined and processed over the last 250 years. Vintage commercial vehicles and modern mining techniques and Cornwall’s largest working waterwheel.
Bodmin & Wenford Steam Railway
Discover the excitement and nostalgia of steam travel with a journey back in time on the Bodmin & Wenford Railway, Cornwall’s only full-size railway still operated by steam locomotive. Not strictly a museum, but a living and working train station and line with steam trains and vintage rolling stock. Great fun for the enthusiast and for exploring 13 miles of wooded track taking in sights and sounds of the evocative bygone age of the steam train.
Rosamunde Pilcher's books
Adapted from article by Olivier Vergnault
We all know how much German love Cornwall and tend to be keen sightseers who enjoy their coastal walks in the shoulder months away from the busy summer holiday crowds. While Germans represent only about 3% of all visitors to Cornwall - the same numbers as American tourists - they tend to stay in the county for longer and spend more, especially in our pubs and quaint fishing villages and harbours. According to Visit Cornwall
The special affection the Germans hold for Cornwall stems in large part from seeing it in its full glory on their weekly TV adaptations of Rosamunde Pilcher's novels. The series feature big scene setting shots with drones showing Cornwall is a real place – not a studio image. That's what a lot of German visitors come to see. They want to see where it was filmed.
Since 1993 the German television broadcaster ZDF has created more than 111 Rosamunde Pilcher films. Many of the scenes for these films have been shot on location in Cornwall and images of the beautiful Cornish landscape have been beamed into the homes of millions of German viewers on Sunday evenings ever since. "We like to shoot here because we can find the sea, very charming landscape and it is what she describes in her books, in her short stories and that's what we want to see and what people, our audience in Germany wants to see," says Marco Serafini, one of the directors on the Rosamunde Pilcher TV.
Marazion is ideal to stay as a base to explore Rosamunde Pilcher’s Cornwall being on the doorstep for St Michael’s Mount – which appeared in TV versions of The Shell Seekers and Coming Home.
Other locations within 20km of Marazion include:
Lelant, St Ives – birthplace of Rosamunde Pilcher.
Penzance and Land’s End – seen in 1998 film adaptation of The Shell Seekers, and in adaptations of Summer On The Sea and Looking To The Horizon.
Mousehole and Lamorna – the setting for film adaptations of The Empty House, Snow in April, Another View and Voices in Summer.
Bonython Estate – located on the Lizard Peninsula, the German adaptations of The Prime of Life, Summer Awakening and Never Kiss A Lawyer took place here.
Church Cove at Gunwalloe and Mullion Cove were also used.
With new episodes filmed every year, the Germans' love affair with Cornwall is set to continue.