About Plymouth
With a history steeped in the maritime tradition, Plymouth has always traditionally been home to the Royal Navy’s fleet with a dockyard, which still today is responsible for looking after the UK’s nuclear submarines.
With 250,000 people living in Plymouth, it is a thriving city with a University that can boast to be the ninth largest in the UK today. Visitors to Plymouth will find a vibrant city with plenty of landmarks and tourist attractions to enjoy.
Historical sites worthy of consideration include the nearby Buckland Abbey a 700-year-old house in Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon, currently under the ownership of the National Trust. Its links to Francis Drake make it special to the hearts of many local Plymouth people.
Visits to the National Marine Aquarium along with its deep-water fish tanks, The Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, The Plymouth Pavilions and of course The Theatre Royal, will offer more interest and understanding of the area and city. Close by lies Dartmoor National Park, where you can explore miles of breathtaking terrain.
For something a little more pastoral why not take a walk through the Barbican’s quaint cobbled quayside in the footsteps of the Pilgrim Father’s? Here you will find art galleries, coffee shops and restaurants together with small independent shops. Or for something a little different, how about a visit to Plymouth’s Blackfriars Gin Distillery to sample the goods, first distilled back in 1793 for the Navy!
If you want to take to the water a tour of Drake’s Island, the Naval Dockyards and River Tamar is available by boat, and the scenes behind the Devonport Naval Base can be observed with special tours available to be booked. Plymouth boasts several cinemas, shopping centres and sports arenas if you are looking for recreational activities including indoor play centres at Jump and Drake’s Den, and a multiplex cinema and ten-pin bowling at the Barbican Leisure Park.
Plymouth offers a wide variety of places to eat from simple tearooms offering beautiful cream teas through to top table extravagance for those interested in cuisine. If you are visiting in August look out for the Flavour Fest, a showcase for the areas finest food and drink. With over 100 local producers demonstrating their wares, this free entry event is particularly popular.
With the largest centre in the South West of the UK, Plymouth boasts many independent retailers combined with high street names to offer an interesting shopping experience. The Drake Circus shopping centre is the main shopping centre offering an ideal shopping experience.