Land’s End and First & Last House, England
27 January 2020
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I became interested in seeing Land’ s End and the First and Last House when a friend mentioned them to me, and offered to drive down to Cornwall from London. I was intrigued and I wanted to visit to find out what made these landmarks famous and popular with tourists.
The First And Last House is a famous building at the most westerly point of mainland Britain. It is a small building, located on the cliff top. It has .grown in size over the years, The iconic Land’s End signpost is located just a short walk along the coastline.
As the name suggests, the First and Last House is the first house or the last house people came across depending on whether or not they were arriving or leaving England.
It was opened by a lady called Gracie Thomas who served travellers food and drinks. She also sold them a souvenir of their visit which was simply a piece local granite with “Land’s End” stamped on it.
It is always difficult, sometimes impossible, to take pictures without other people in it, especially at tourists spots. Land’s End and the First and Last House were no exceptions. Avoiding people was unavoidable. I did, however, manage to take some photos of the beautiful landscapes without anyone in the shots..
I must admit that I was a little disappointed when I visited the First and Last House. I was not entirely sure what exactly I had expected. It felt it should be somehow special for it to attract a large number of visitors. I think the attraction was not so much the house itself but the environment within which it was located. The view of the Atlantic ocean and of the coastline was spectacular.
You can’t visit the First and the Last House without visiting the iconic signpost that has been erected on the clifftop with “Land’s End” written at the top. The signpost points to different directions and includes the distance to the famous John O’Groats 874 direction which I presume was in kilometres. The information changes regularly.
The weather was not too good at the time of my visit in August. It was windy and a little wet. . But this is the British weather!! Nevertheless, I enjoyed the fantastic views and rugged coastline.
I was not surprised to find that there were shops, lots of places to eat and drink, and a Tourist centre. In fact, I would have been surprised if there had been none of these. I found the information and exhibitions, interesting particularly the information about the Cornish pastry.
As I I have visited the famous landmark of Land’s End, I will need to visit John O Groates to complete the end to end journey. Don’t get me wrong I shall not be trekking it!
Land’s End and First and Last House are both famous attractions because of their history, location, spectacular rugged coastline, stunning views across the Atlantic ocean, great walks, even on a wet, windy day. I feel sure they will both continue to attract tourists for the next 500 years!
Very interesting molly
Yes – it is very interesting. I enjoyed my visit very much.