Tremayne Quay
Almost exactly two hundred years ago, Trelowarren, which has been the home of Cornwall’s Vyvyan family since the time of Henry VII, acquired Tremayne House, as the Trelowarren Dower House. This acquisition also giving the Trelowarren estate access to the Tremayne woods and quay on the Helford river. Tremayne Quay as we know it today, plus a boathouse and a carriageway leading to the Quay, were constructed in 1847 by Sir Richard Vyvyan, in preparation for a visit to Trelowarren by Queen Victoria. What is now the track to the Quay, which is roughly a mile in length, winds down through unspoilt ancient semi-natural and plantation woodland running alongside the Helford River. Some of these woods, notably the mature Beech plantation in the valley at the head of the Creek, were also created by Sir Richard specifically to impress the Queen. Unfortunately for Sir Richard, the Royal Barge never sailed up the Helford to Tremayne Quay, and the visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert never actually took place. However, Royalty did eventually land at Tremayne Quay in 1921, when Queen Victoria’s grandson, Edward, Prince of Wales, disembarked to visit to Sir Courtenay and Lady Vyvyan at Trelowarren.
As in mediaeval times, the Sessile Oak in the Tremayne woodlands was managed as coppice for the charcoal and tannin trade. The process of coppicing involves cutting trees on a rotational basis, leaving them, once cut, to sprout again with shoots from around their base and then returning to them a few years later when they have produced sufficient new growth to cut them again. The wood was burnt in kilns to produce charcoal for smelting tin and also for burning lime to produce fertilisers. Like many Cornish Oak woodlands,Tremayne woods would have been a hive of activity right up until the 1920s with bodgers and wood folk managing the woods. Today, the woods are better known for their beauty and tranquillity, as well as the abundance of estuarine birds and woodland flora which can be spotted along the way. Tremayne Quay, the woods and the boathouse were bequeathed to the National Trust by the Vyvyan family in 1978. The Quay, today an idyllic Helford River location on the upper reaches of the river, is one of very few public quays with public access right down to the river. As the Listing by Historic England states, this is a particularly complete and well built quay situated in one of the most beautiful stretches of the Helford river.
This series of nine Caches, placed by kind permission of the National Trust, can be found on, or close by, Sir Richard's Trelowarren carriageway, which today allows public access to Tremayne Quay. Any decription indicating LH or RH position or direction assumes to be facing downhill. Six of the Caches are small camo’d Petling tubes, and one is a camo'd Bison tube. There are also a couple of larger plastic containers which, when placed, each contained a TB. Most Terrain and Difficulty is no higher than 1.5, with only a couple of higher ratings, as the main reason for placing the series is really the walk through the woods and the visit to Tremayne Quay itself. Where the very tall and mature woodland impacts on the accuracy of some of the Co-ordinates, the Cache Name and Hint should help. Timing a visit around the time of high tide, plus a picnic or a barbecue on the Quay or the Campsite, having “yellow smilie’d” the Caches, is just another enticement to enjoy the walk and the Quay as much as we do.
Unless otherwise indicated, none of the photo images included on the Cache Webpages are intended to be Spoilers.
This first Cache in the series is a traditional hide, just inside the gateway.