Townhouse style in lovely Tavistock

Tavistock is an award-winning market town in West Devon. A fascinating mining heritage, a great choice of independent shops and a taste-bud-tingling farmers' market.

Browns Hotel in Tavistock offers contemporary townhouse chic in the heart of Tavistock, and currently has good prices on offer starting at £70 for a double room including breakfast.

>>> Browns Hotel, Tavistock

>>> simplydevonandcornwall.com homepage

Tavistock Feature

We have a new Tavistock feature page on simplydevonandcornwall.com

Tavistock is a great (award-winning) market town in West Devon. Lots of independent shops, an award-winning Farmers' Market, great walks, and nice places to eat, drink and stay.

>>> Visit our Tavistock feature page

>>> Hotels in Tavistock

>>> simplydevonandcornwall.com homepage

BBC Antiques Roadshow to visit Morwellham Quay

BBC One's ever popular Sunday evening programme ANTIQUES ROADSHOW will be filming for its 32nd series at Morwellham Quay, near Tavistock on Thursday 25th June. The doors open at 9.30 am and close at 4.30pm. Some of Britain’s leading antiques and fine arts specialists will be on hand to offer free advice and valuations to visitors, who are invited to raid their attics and bring along their family heirlooms, household treasures and car boot bargains for inspection by the experts.

People with large pieces of furniture or other big items can send details and photographs of their objects to: antiques.roadshow@bbc.co.uk. It may be possible to arrange to look at the item in advance and organise transportation to the venue.

>>> More info on Morwellham Quay near Tavistock

>>> Visit simplydevonandcornwall.com - the insider's guide to Devon and Cornwall

>>> Hotels in the Tavistock area

Christmas hotel deals

Maybe it's because of the "credit crunch", but there are some great hotel deals in Devon and Cornwall this Christmas. We've hand-picked a few especially good deals for you below (and the prices shown are for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, for two people):

Browns Hotel in Tavistock (lovely townhouse hotel in the centre of the award-winning market town of Tavistock) - £100 per room - click here

Jurys Inn in Plymouth (modern city-centre hotel, close to the historic Barbican area of Plymouth) - £45 per room - click here

Imperial Hotel in Torquay (large resort-style hotel, perched on a headland overlooking the sea on the outskirts of the "English Riviera" town of Torquay) - £93 per room - click here

Porth Veor Manor hotel in Newquay (small hotel on the outskirts of Newquay, with easy access to the wonderful sandy beach at Porth) - £59 per room - click here

This is just a small selection of some of the great deals available at Devon and Cornwall hotels this Christmas. For a much wider choice - click here

http://www.simplydevonandcornwall.com/ - the insiders' guide to Devon and Cornwall

Stay in luxury at the Old Tavistock Railway Station

We had the pleasure today of a "sneak preview" of new luxury holiday accommodation which has been created from the historic old railway station in Tavistock.

The station building itself has been beautifully preserved and restored, and now incorporates three spacious and unique luxury self-catering units.

Each of the three units has its own character - there's the Refreshment Hall, the Porter's Office, and perhaps best of all the Ticketing Hall - complete with original features including the ticket-office hatch!

The Old Tavistock Railway Station is in a quiet, elevated spot (no trains these days!) within easy walking distance of the charming and award-winning market town.

Click here for more information and on-line bookings

Morwellham Quay

Morwellham Quay is an award-winning, evocative museum and visitor centre in the heart of the newly inscribed World Heritage Site and Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Just four miles west of Tavistock the historic port, mine workings and Estate, border the beautiful River Tamar. Amidst towering cliffs and gently rolling farmland, a lost world lives again.

So that's the official description. But we reckon this is one of the nicest tourist attractions in Devon - mainly because it is so low-key and uncommercial. You can pay if you want to experience things like the underground mine train. But it's completely free if all you want to do is wander around this remarkable heritage site. The mini hydro-electric power station, powered from the Tavistock canal, is worth a visit if nothing else. And there are miles of lovely walks around the site and along the River Tamar.

For more info visit http://www.morwellham-quay.co.uk/

Rail plans for Tavistock

There are some very interesting plans afoot to bring the railway back to Tavistock. The Kilbride Group is proposing to reinstate the old railway line from Bere Alston to Tavistock, which would potentially provide an hourly rail service from Tavistock into Plymouth, with a journey time of about half an hour.

For those who regularly commute from Tavistock into Plymouth, this would provide a much-needed alternative to the congested road trip into the city. And of course it would also give Tavistock a welcome tourism boost.

And perhaps most importantly in the context of the climate-change debate, it would have the potential to dramatically reduce the number of cars trips between the Tavistock area and Plymouth. Let's hope that local and national government recognise that this is a real opportunity to divert a small slice of the income generated from road tax and fuel duty into sustainable public transport.

For more information visit http://www.kilbridegroup.com/tavistock/