Cornwall's Hidden Gems Deserve Better: Our City Break UK Falmouth Fiasco
And your impressions so far? Well I mean slightly disappointing in that respect. Hi I'm Justine, the nerdy half of the Breakaway Bravehearts. And today, Darryl and I are in Falmouth, Cornwall.
Trying out something new for us, City Break UK walking tours. We've never tried a self-directed app style tour before, so we were really looking forward to exploring this picturesque town in a unique way. But if you haven't guessed it already from the title of this video, this experience didn't exactly live up to expectations. So we didn't even make the 500 points.
This video will follow our usual format , the first half being a walkthrough of our experience on the day, the second half being our in-depth social tourism review using our BB Stars. If you want to know more about the criteria of each star, check out the social tourism guides video link that has just popped up on your screen and of course click and subscribe so you get more of our reviews, but for now stick with me to the end of this video, so you can see why our scavenger hunt in Falmouth hasn't made it on our list of recommendations. First things first, let's talk about the app. To start with there are a few different names to get used to. The website is City Break UK, the company is Cluecation, the tour is called "A hidden gems self-guided tour and treasure hunt", and then the actual app is called Loquiz. We chose the Cornwall game and paid our £25 for 7 day access.
The app download was easy enough and we read the frequently asked questions in advance, so we knew it would use up a lot of battery power, and we loaded it on both of our phones. Our research also told us that Cornwall enjoys around 1,540 hours of sunshine each year. Making it one of the sunniest regions in the UK. Sadly the 24 hours we had in Falmouth won't be counted in that cherry statistic as our early August day was grey and "mizzly" as the locals would say. But we can't blame the app for that so we just wrapped up warm and set off for our first stop. We took the bus into "the Moor" which gave us easy access to Falmouth Centre and seafront.
It also happened to be the first destination on the treasure hunt. So one destination on the list ticked off already. We've just arrived at "the Moor", and that was one of them. So this is "the Moor"? This is known as "the Moor", yeah. The app didn't tell us anything about this area, but I looked it up later. It is called "the Moor" because it is reclaimed marshland.
It is essentially just a roundabout so we weren't entirely sure what treasure was to be found here. The app simply shows you that you've gained five points as soon as you're in the area. And that's pretty much it. But there was another destination close by that sounded exciting, so we clicked on that to find the route which takes you to a kind of Google Map style location map. We have just to our right when we go here, we have Jacob's Ladder. So the roundabout is here. We have to go here.
So down there. Okay? Yes. Very simple to use. Where is Jacob's Ladder? They sent me Jacob's Ladder. Must be here. Okay, simple for most people to use.
Okay. There we go. So now we know, from a, from a... Okay. From an ability, or accessibility point of view... as you can see there is very little chance of getting up here unless you are fully mobile, but this is called a ladder so one does have to expect to uh climb.
City Break UK do say on their website that while at least 70% of their challenges are accessible to all some destinations are unsuitable for wheelchairs or mobility scooters. We just happen to stumble on the first one straight away. It definitely was a climb. But I was excited, expecting to see quite a view of the city from the top. Okay interestingly, I think this is as
far as you have to go. Umm. There's more up there. Yeah. Yeah... However. We've already got it. So what happens? You just get a point or something. Five points. Does it give you any information? Uh no. So it doesn't tell you... I'm puffed. Doesn't tell you what it's about, why it's
called Jacob's ladder or anything like that? Not that I can see. It's not very exciting. You can see over the rooftops. Yep. So we got our five points, but we really weren't sure what we were looking at and we seemed to be standing very close to people's houses. We decided to keep going. Maybe there was more to see up the top or maybe a plaque with information. Let's continue up on the, on the ladder and just see. But as you can see, look. We're coming back here. Which is this here, okay.
Well there we go. We're at the top of Jacob's Ladder. Okay. That's it. So this first stop gave us a double disappointment. Firstly there was nothing here to see and secondly there was no information provided. I had hoped that something called "a hidden gems and treasure hunt" would require some kind of searching for clues or activity to take part in, or at least some information about each destination. Nothing. We made it to the top of Jacob's ladder and um... Impressed?
Well. I mean, we are just following something here. Aren't we? Yeah. So we'll see what the next one brings. We remain positive. Yeah. To be fair when I looked up Jacob's Ladder on Google there wasn't much to learn.
Basically there are 111 steps and it was built by a businessman who wanted to link up his businesses and his houses. Okay. So much for stop number one. But there were plenty more destinations on the app. Next up is the Falmouth Art Gallery which was just across the street back in the Moor, So that's on here as well. Gains us five points. Okay so, it does say a little bit of information. mhm. It says the Falmouth Art Gallery, the award-winning Falmouth Art Gallery is family friendly and free. The gallery has a vibrant and ambitious exhibitions program. It usually stages thematic shows
featuring selected works from the gallery's collection hung alongside loans from artists Museum collections and private lenders. This means that the three exhibition rooms are constantly changing and there is always something new and exciting to enjoy. So that's what was written about it. I have a feeling when I press on here, it might access, yeah, as soon as you press on to where you are i it brings up the actual website and everything as well. So that's pretty cool. From the app point of view. So yeah let's go and take a look. The gallery is on the small side,
but is free to enter and does have a good selection of local artists. On the day we visited, there was an exhibition called "Ammeth" which is the Cornish word for farming. A range of different types of artists had given their take on Cornwall's rich farming heritage, while also touching on environmental concerns. I was particularly tickled by Georgia Glendale's humorous piece "the worm forgives the plough" This is a musical composition by Seamus Carey.
Apparently based on the emotions and BMI of some wriggly earthworms. The description certainly made me [Music] smile. So we did enjoy our quick stop at the art gallery and it could possibly be called a Hidden Gem but in terms of the app, I have to say that there was nothing that City Breaks UK had added to our day that we wouldn't have got from a quick things to do in Falmouth search on Google. But the day was young and there were a few more hidden gems to find. Falmouth is a port.
In fact, its harbour is the third deepest natural harbour in the world. It's been the starting or finishing point of many important sailing achievements and is even home to a sea monster "Morgawr", Sea Giant. There have been many documented sightings over the years of the long necked sea serpent. Similar in appearance to the famous
Nessie of Loch Ness. But Legend says the Morgawr favours hot Summers, So this wasn't a day for us to go monster hunting. Just as well because our City Breaks UK app told us nothing of this interesting legend of the port. Nor about the port itself. We stumbled across an artistic dedication to the city's servicemen but this hadn't made it into the app either. Okay it came through and it was just like one of the 20 things out of the 65 things you can do in Falmouth. This is a completely different thing. That is nothing to do with this at all.
Oh, it's come up with Flushing Ferry which is where we are now. So it's not even about this Memorial? Nope. It's just a wharf. A wharf with the boat. Yeah. There you go. Flushing Ferry. That's what it is. The Flushing Ferry. It was a fairly nice wharf, I guess. I've seen better. I've seen worse.
The harbour view was lovely and I'm guessing on a sunny day it would be a great place to stop and watch the world float by as you tried some Cornish ice cream. It's made from Cornish clotted cream, from Cornish cows, on Cornish farms. And this is my delicious way of introducing you to the Cornish language.
Cornish, Kernewek is part of the Celtic language family. The language was almost lost completely, with many claiming that the last native speaker was Dolly Pentreath, who died in 1777. But there has been a revival over the past couple of decades and now it can be proudly seen in shop windows used in local news and television and even taught in daycare centres and schools.
I love this. A language is so important to a culture and a community, so I'm going to keep popping Cornish words on screen for you even though I have absolutely no hope of pronouncing them correctly. I'm also going to keep giving you info about Cornwall.
Again no thanks to the app. By this stage we were hungry, so we had a choice to make. The obvious lunch would of course be the Cornish pasty but having been advised by a local that the best Cornish pasty can be found in Praze am Beeble we had already sampled them.
Fun fact about this crimped edge. Traditionally, it was never intended to be eaten. Pasties were a standard meal for a Tin miner who often had arsenic on their hands, so the crimped edge served as a handle that was then thrown away. But today because we're on the seaside. We opted for Falmouth fish and chips. Mushy peas? No. I know the answer to that! The restaurant we ordered from was obviously popular and had quite a queue. They offered vegan options as well and gave
full information about the ingredients. It was well worth the wait. Apparently award-winning. Want to give it a try? That fish is really good! Got to be done. Mmmhm, And I'd have to say on par with kiwi fish and chips. Our lunch break with was on the waterfront right next to the next stop on our treasure hunt.
The maritime museum. Being an important port, Falmouth has plenty to share regarding Maritime history. Cornwall has over 300 recorded shipwrecks off it's coast. The museum even has a display of treasures recovered from some of these wrecks, however, we chose not to enter the museum. Having spent our day's budget on the app and the Fish and Chips the app does let you know in advance that entry prices are not included, of course.
But I feel like it's another missed opportunity. If there was an incentive, such as a discount code or a voucher we might have been more inclined to enter. Again, this is one stop that would have come up on a quick "what to do in Falmouth" Google search. So having paid 25 pounds for the app to tell us to go to a fee paying Museum was a little disappointing. But there were still three more stops on the treasure hunt so we kept on moving. Okay we to next? We're going that way towards a monument, as far as I can see.
It's called The Killigrew Monument. Killigrew, Killigrew or Killigrew? You don't know do you? I don't know. And the problem is because this thing doesn't have any sound or voice aaactivation. You don't know? Yeah. How to pronounce each thing.
So this will be the monument I'm guessing. Oh gosh someone's decided to tent. So Killigrew Monument. Let's find out. It just says it's number 30 on the list of number 65 things to do here in Falmouth. What does it say? Not a great deal. And we just continue from there. Maybe there's some information on the other side.
Let's go and have a look. So once more no info from the app and it stopped us at the side of the monument without the plaque meaning we would have missed what turned out to be my favourite story of the day. This is hilarious. He never stated specifically the purpose of it. Basically he built this thing and nobody knows why. Oh look position he engaged in piracy and spent some time in Fleet prison in London with his son John for looting a Spanish ship.
Maybe, he wanted to hide something. Oh my G-d. There is definitely treasure under this this could be the ultimate prize. Dig under the Killigrew for some treasure. He doesn't mean that folks, please do not try this at home. So after reading this plaque it seems like this monument here behind me is dedicated, uh well actually nobody knows why or why he built it, but they think it's dedicated to his family - including his wife who was a pirate and she murdered some people. So he built a pyramid personally we think there's treasure underneath. I think there's treasure underneath.
I mean to say, a mystery monument dedicated to a murderous female pirate what could be better. Another missed opportunity here for sure but three more stops on our app. We didn't really plan well and ended up zigzagging across town through the crowds, but the next two stops took us to the quieter end of Falmouth. Our destination was Packet Quays where we found a small park with a lovely view.
Well it's a lovely spot, um, again to just sit, enjoy the view, have what Falmouth has to offer - which, if you just look out there it's beautiful, lovely, beautiful Cornish Port. As we sat and looked across the bay we reflected on our purchase of City Break UK Falmouth Hidden Gems Treasure Hunt / Scavenger Hunt And your impressions so far...? Well I mean ... you're going to these places ... I guess it's,
it's helping you get to certain places but those places - that when you get there there's not a great deal to learn from them. So slightly disappointing in that respect. There are some that are seem to be a little bit out of reach unless you're going on a boat road, ride or something like that I'm guessing, 'cause there's the out to water. Well where we going now - the direction - there's very little now being offered up.
But we had saved the best for last and had one more big destination on our Treasure Hunt. There were buses we could have taken but we actually enjoy walking because we get to see different parts of a city, so we didn't mind treking across town again. We got to see the other side of the port and a bit of greenery. I think we have to go down. Really? That say public foot path there so I guess we go there.
But you're not going to look at the map, you're pretty confident? Uh ..yes. We're now in the middle of a field but Darryl swears we're going the right way. We're on a public foot path. Let's find out where we are.
Africa apparently. [laughter] No, we didn't walk to Africa it was the fabulous Pendennis Castle built by Henry VII. This is another great English heritage site that we had been looking looking forward to visiting. As luck would have it, that afternoon we discovered that they were setting up for one of their annual Medieval Festival events. We decided that simply couldn't be missed so
we booked ourselves tickets for the next day and managed to meet and interview one of the performers, Rob Sim, who was celebrating 40 Years of fire breathing and entertaining. We've dedicated a whole video to the castle, Rob's performance and interview, so make sure you subscribe now and hit the notifications Bell to get the alert when that video goes live. So that was it our day trialing a self-directed tour using City Break UK. We made 500 points? Sadly not, no we didn't make 500 points, we've just made five more points on our 460 points. So we don't pass go and collect 10 quid? No we don't, sadly not .We get as far as Pendennis
Point and then there's no other point. [music]. Pendennis point, what does it have to say? This is one of the 14th of the 65 things to do in Falmouth. You can probably guess our final verdict, but first let's go through the Social Tourism criteria to see how it stacks up. Social Good The app had plenty of opportunity to provide us with learning and understand of Falmouth's history and culture through its quiz feature. While we were near the waterfront a bonus popped up on the app giving us triple points on Cornwall quiz questions. Points tripled, oh we got points tripling for the next 30 minutes, so what is that all about? Darryl enjoys the challenge of games like this, so we headed down to the seaside to learn more about Cornwall or so we thought... Which very famous kids' film was
filmed at the Headland hotel in Newquay? Famous kids' film...? What is the collective name for the upright granite stones protruding from the ground in Bodmin Moor? Actually the questions were a little frustrating because if you didn't know the answer already, then you had no chance of getting it right. They weren't related to the places we had been to and we had to skip several (or google them). Finally we found a few that we knew. Okay in the 1900s, half of the world's what came from Cornwall? Tin It's got to be tin right? Yes we got another 60 points, woohoo! We got a question of the iconic Tate Gallery, is in which Cornish town? Oh, St Ives? Yes well done.
Okay here's one for you what is the most southerly point on the Cornish mainland? Is that Lizard? Yes... is wrong! What?! The correct answer was "Lizards Point" not The Lizard Point. Honestly I didn't find the quiz added a lot to my knowledge of Cornwall. This could have been a chance to teach some Cornish language, connect with Cornish culture and encourage interaction with staff or volunteers at locations. Instead it was more like a random list of fun facts with no real sense of connection to where we were in actual time and space.
The next point on this Star is about creating connections between travellers and locals. The website does make it clear in advance that this app is not really designed for that, so of course we weren't expecting much human interaction. But Darryl is a chatty bloke, who likes people, so he used the quiz as an opportunity to meet the locals. One question we were stuck on was about a Cornish slang word Oggy, [Are you guys Cornish? No.] So we asked around Have you heard the word Oggy and what it might mean? Oggy? Yeah. No. Have you just been called an Oggy, have you, by somebody?
Sadly most of the people we met weren't actually Cornish, which is one reason this tour also will not be awarded the point for originality. This point on the star is where we try to promote activities or destinations that help spread the load of tourism, preventing the negative aspects of over tourism which some cities are now suffering from. We had some very interesting conversations about this with locals we met around Cornwall. However none of them wanted to go on record about their views, one person telling us "people get very angry about it" It seems that some people now consider Falmouth to be overrun by tourists and they say this has changed the city for the worse, cutting locals out of real estate and making what used to be small community get togethers (such as the oyster festival) into pricey commercialised events.
But others say, if it wasn't for the tourists, locals wouldn't have jobs and couldn't afford the housing anyway. So I guess now is an important time for Cornwall to think about balancing the pros and cons of using tourism as an industry. Another opportunity sadly missed by the City Break app is the chance to promote underrepresented population groups or lesser known cultures. The question about Oggy was the only quiz question related to the Cornish language, and it isn't even a Cornish language word - just slang. So this is a real shame and we can't award that point either.
Finally the last point on this star is for volunteer activities that tourists can take part in. The app was not designed for this and they don't offer any information in this area at all. Treasury. The next star is all about the money.
The company that owns the app, Cluecation Limited, is registered in England and Wales and seems to be run by a sole owner based in Oxford, so I guess you could say that profits are remaining in the UK, but not necessarily going to the locals and the destinations that each of the tours take place in. There wasn't any information on their website or the company registry about any staff they employ, but they are filing company reports regularly so presumably they're abiding by UK tax laws. Accessibility. The frequently asked questions for City Break states 70% of the locations are set on well-maintained paths pavements and roads. Other than Jacob's Ladder, we can confirm all the other locations we went to in Falmouth were accessible by wheelchairs. City Break UK also makes it clear that their Hidden Gems Tours may be unsuitable for the visually impaired.
But one thing we did find, that City Break hadn't included in the app, was a beautifully sculptured handrail which leads into the disabled access entrance to the Art Gallery. It was designed in 1997 by Christopher Pollack, a partially sighted student at Falmouth College of Art. The railing incorporates sections of Braille. We thought it was a fabulous experience for visitors to the Gallery. The next two points on this star I'm let go as not applicable in this case . The app doesn't touch on LGBTQ+ issues (another missed opportunity to be honest as Falmouth has an excellent reputation in this area) nor does it feature eating options. It's just not its purpose. The final point - social perspective - I am giving a white point.
There was no social perspective presented because there was very little information presented at all, but this is definitely a place where the app could have done more. And that goes for the first point on the next star: Relationships, which is all about how much fun we had. I'm giving it my dodgy transparent gold point here.
Yes we did have some fun. It was Falmouth that provided the fun, not necessarily the Treasure Hunt app. Darryl did enjoy watching the points add up, but it would have been much more enjoyable if you had to do a little bit more than just stand in a place to get a point. There really was very little interaction other than the quiz and that wasn't as much fun as it could have been. The third point is also getting the transparent gold because while the website is easy to use, and the app is simple to download, it is also not what we would expect in terms of quality and content. Particularly on the quiz - the words
were sometimes very hard to read. The text colour blended in with the background colour. So we will not be awarding the point for value for money. For 25 pounds we expected a lot more information and interaction. Honestly as I've said before a simple
Google search would have given us all these locations for free. So the final point - did it deliver what was expected or promised? Actually, no, the website made it sound much more exciting and we were disappointed. The final star: Sustainability.
This star isn't going to look so healthy either. The website doesn't mention any commitment to sustainability goals, but to be fair it's not an area they are necessarily impacting. But I do feel it's another area where they've missed some opportunities. Of course as an online app, no resource wastage was created (other than electricity usage) but what has not been mentioned by the app is that Falmouth is dedicated to improving its environmental impact, and the city has a sustainability plan and a green tourism initiative. This includes providing recycling options for visitors and a great public transport system. The app does include the shop Unwrap, as one of the points on the treasure hunt ,which is a plastic free shop with a zero waste policy.
So I can award a point for that But I will make the last point transparent as the app is neither promoting nor discouraging high impact activities. So there you have it: our Social Tourism review of the City Break UK Treasure Hunt in Falmouth. Sadly this is one activity that isn't on our list of recommendations. Never mind, you win some you lose some And our next activity was definitely a win. We really enjoyed the Medieval Festival at Pendennis Castle, so we hope you will join us there! Until then, Happy travels everyone!
2024-08-16 10:22
