This summer I went to England!
Last week I posted about Kew Gardens. In the comments @arisca91 mentioned a "garden castle" so today I thought I would blog about the one castle I saw!
St. Michael's Mount is a castle on an island in Cornwall, close to Penzance, England.
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This castle on and island is very similar to Mont Saint Michael in France.
In 1067, the monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel gave its support to William the Conqueror in his claim to the English throne. This he rewarded with properties and grounds on the English side of the Channel, including a small island off the southwestern coast of Cornwall which was modelled after Mont-Saint-Michel and became a Norman priory named St Michael's Mount of Penzance.1
It even has a causeway that you can walk on, to the island, at low tide or you need to take a boat at high tide. When we bought our tickets we also had to buy a boat ticket since it would be high tide.
We did both!
High Tide
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kBW-Jb3IWLU
Low Tide At low tide you can walk back on the causeway. It was really cool that you could see the path underwater from the castle. It is also a good thing my toes were "pretty in pink" for the picture!
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Breakfast
There is a cute restaurant called the Island Cafe, with outdoor seating where we got Tea and Scones, a pasty and a flapjack to share. On of my favorite foods while in England was scones with jam and clotted cream!
You can also enjoy and afternoon tea on the island. Maybe next time...
After breakfast we climbed up the hill. It was pretty steep. There are some legends of giants too. Below is a picture of the Giant's Well. There is a story about Jack the Giant Killer which reminded me of Jack and the Beanstalk.
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Fortification
The castle is well protected from attack as it is sitting at the top of the island and has a lot of cannons sourrounding it.
Home
St. Michael's Mount was the family home of The St Aubyn family since the 13th century.
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The Church
The church was built in 1135 and the rebuilt in the 14th century and restored many times through the centuries.
I really enjoyed sitting in this medieval church. Many people went through it on the tour and yet it still felt calm and peaceful. There were many beautiful stained glass windows and one of the workers pointed out to me that many had family scenes.
The statue below is of St. Michael, the patron Saint, that the church is named after.
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| The Garden | ||
| As much as I do enjoy historic houses I enjoy gardens even more! St. Michael's Mount has a beautiful terraced garden. You can get tickets to the castle or gardens or both. We did both. |
First, here is a look down at the gardens from the castle.
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Some close ups of the garden.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TAPQRvFWUVk
What a beautiful garden, especially the succulents.
Rest and Ice cream
The island has a lot of land and so we, like many other tired tourists, we had a nice little nap on the grass by the water.
We also had some ice cream from the food truck before shopping in the gift shop.
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If you are in Cornwall, especially Penazance I would highly suggest St. Michael's Mount! We were there for 5 hours (10am-2pm) and it was delightful.
Cost in 2025: It costs me £25 for a combination Castle and Garden Ticket. And £3.20 for the boat (each way, I only took it once). You can do just the castle or just the garden. For a first time visit I highly recommend both!
Sources and Links: 1 Wikipedia: Mont Saint Micheal
stmichaelsmount.co.uk National Trust: St. Michael's Mount Wikipedia: St. Michael's Mount