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

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

Saltash, Cornwall. The Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar was one of the engineering wonders of Victorian England and the final masterpiece of that astonishing engineer, Isambard Brunel. Completed in the year he died, 1859, it remains the main rail link between Devon and Cornwall. Brunel's problems were made exceptional by the Admiralty's insistence on clearance of at least 100 ft between it and the water level at high tide. The central pier, which was built within a vast cylinder, had to go down 80 ft below high-water level to reach solid rock. The cast-iron, sausage-like trusses were floated into position, then jacked up, one end at a time, while the piers were built under them. The first truss was so raised in 1857, the infinitely precise floating operation watched by a great silent crowd and conducted by Brunel himself from a platform on the truss, by means of flag signals. He was too ill to direct the raising of the second.

The best place from which to compare this bridge with the road one (opened 1961) is Saltash Quay, just South a place of pubs and plenty of life. The town's other most pleasant part is on the crest of the steep hill above. Here, in Alexandra Square, the council offices are characteristically slate-hung. Next door almost, the little, mainly Norman parish church has carved medieval roof timbers and a very fine early Tudor chalice. Beside it the cheerfully painted Guildhall is basically 17^th-century. A house nearby was the home of Sir Francis Drake's bride. Far older than Plymouth (it was incorporated in the 12^th century), and formerly a prosperous fishing port, apparently noted especially for its strong oarswomen, the town is becoming increasingly, and rather sadly, a Plymouth suburb.

One mile West on a hill-top, St Stephen's, basically 15^th-century, was the parish church till the mid-l9^th century. Beside it a pretty row of cottages — slate-hung, colour-washed and cement-rendered — forms one side of a nice square of what is now a separate and still unsullied little village.

About ¾ mile South West of it is Trematon Castle, home of Lord Caradon. Only its Norman keep can be seen from the road.

Ince Castle, about 1 mile West but about 4 miles by road, is a towered l6^th-century manor house. Its gardens are open occasionally.

The Tamar, rising some 50 miles North of Saltash in the bleak lands of the Hartland peninsula, is perhaps the grandest of all the West Country's rivers and marks much of the boundary between Devon and Cornwall. Beautiful, exceptionally rich in bird life — one of the few places frequented by the avocet — it was in the 19^th century the artery of great mining activity, the relics of which remain plentiful along the shores of its 8-miles long, many-armed estuary. In summer regular “study cruises” up the river go from Saltash Pier and others less studious from Phoenix Wharf, Plymouth.

Nearby cities: Plymouth

Nearby towns: Bickleigh, Callington, Liskeard, Torpoint

Nearby villages: Antony, Bere Alston, Buckland Monachorum, Calstock, Crown Hill, Devonport, Dousland, Egg Buckland, Elburton, Gunnislake, Horrabridge, Landrake, Manadon, Mannamead, Meavy, Newbridge, Pillaton, Plymouth, Plympton, Plymstock, Quethiock, Shaugh Prior, Sheviock, St. Dominick, St. Germans, St. Mellion, Tamerton Foliot, Turnchapel, Walkhampton, Wembury, Yelverton

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

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