Falmouth Holiday

 Half term family holiday. Not much wargaming to be done and no wargame shops found (not much time to be fair with 2 kids) but did do some exploring of Falmouth harbour old defences. First up a trip to the National Trust site  St Anthony Head. 

Had a lovely walk and explore where we located the observation post for the battery.

Stunning views of the sea and coast line. Slightly up the hill was the battery it's self

The building was closed which houses the magazine but you could still climb up and see the 2 weapon emplacements. 

Next up we were looking for some military places to visit (well me and my dad were,  the wife,  my mom and kids not so much), we found Cornwall at War museum but it was to far a journey for us . My wife the legend that she is found Predannack Anti Aircraft and Museum . Normally it's only open on Saturdays but as it was bank holiday they had an open day on where they would be firing the anti aircraft gun. There was also some re-enactors there also.  We popped down and had a lovely afternoon, the kids got to handle a brown Bess musket and see lots of WW2 weapons. They even got to move what I believe is a bofars anti aircraft gun.

The big gun (sorry I have no idea what type  ha ha ) was impressively loud when fired though I didn't record it .

The small arms display was good entertainment.

I know the top video wasn't quite small arms . Now the museum it self is clearly just starting up (why it's only open Saturdays) but the volunteers were super friendly and the place has loads of potential ! If you are down Cornwall walk it is definitely worth checking out their Facebook to see if they are up to anything. The link is here if you want to have a look. 

We also had an explore of the area behind Pendennis castle on an evening where we discovered what we believe to be old gun emplacements right on the headland (exactly opposite across the bay the battery we saw at St Anthony Head).

Next up was Pendennis castle it's self! The pirates were there on the day we went so we got to see some musket, pistol and cannon firing to which was also a bonus!

The Tudor fort at Pendennis Castle

A most definitely not Tudor gun 

Half Moon battery this was added in WW1 I believe

Inside the Tudor fort was a room with cannons pointing all around for a great defence

We had a great day exploring the castle grounds and seeing the various batteries from different ages . You could really see how this fort was integral to the defence of Falmouth. 

We also got to see a Navy Wildcat helicopter I believe training at the mouth of the harbour which was very cool!