Saltash

Saltash is the first town you reach when crossing into Cornwall over the Tamar, and its identity is bound up with the two bridges that dominate its waterfront. Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge, completed in 1859, carries the railway across the river in a single sweeping span — it’s a masterpiece of Victorian engineering and one of the most recognisable landmarks in the county. The modern Tamar road bridge runs alongside it, and the contrast between the two says something about how things were built then versus now.

The town itself is a working community rather than a tourist destination, with a high street running steeply down to the waterfront, a handful of pubs and cafes, and views across the Tamar to Plymouth. Saltash has been a crossing point for centuries — the medieval ferry operated here long before Brunel arrived. The waterfront area around the old Mary Newman’s Cottage (reputed birthplace of Sir Francis Drake’s first wife) is worth a wander, and the small Ashtorre Rock garden gives peaceful river views.

The Tamar Valley, stretching north from Saltash, is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and offers excellent walking, cycling and kayaking. The valley was once intensively mined for copper and arsenic, and the industrial remains add character to what is now quiet, wooded countryside. Plymouth is literally across the bridge for shopping, restaurants and nightlife, while the Rame Peninsula to the south is one of Cornwall’s best-kept secrets.