Landscape
Landulph Parish
Landulph parish comprises the village of Cargreen and the rural parts of Landulph, situated on the banks of the river Tamar. It is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, surrounded by Duchy of Cornwall land, and with Pentillie Castle and its 2000 acre estate to the north. It lies next to the adjoining parishes of Botus Fleming, St Mellion and Pillaton.
Tamara Coast to Coast Way
28th October 2025
A new long distance path opened in July 2023 – it follows the Tamar from Plymouth to its source and then onto the Cornish-Devon north coast border. The route is 87 miles long and is divided into 7 stages using some existing paths on both the Cornish and Devon banks. One of the challenges for the designers of this path have been the limited crossing points in the lower reaches of the Tamar. At Calstock the main route crosses from Devon to Cornwall using the train! (But this has now been replaced by a foot ferry).
Tamar Valley NL website and the Tamara Way
Coombe Corner
Members of the Parish Council's LCG have become official Cormac volunteers with responsibility for the corner of land between Coombe Drive and Coombe Lane. Amanda Marks had already planted up an old dinghy to create a space for pollinators and increase biodiversity by creating a wildlife corridor to her nearby garden.This has been very successful.
The Rainforests of Landulph
28th October 2025
Steep, deep green and secret – that’s how temperate rainforests are imagined. Landulph is lucky: ours are easy to find and easily accessible. Landulph has all the ingredients needed for a rainforest to flourish; a warm south-westerly prevailing wind keeps our temperatures comparatively high throughout the year. We have a notoriously high rainfall, keeping our multitude of springs running through most of the year. You can find seepage from those springs almost everywhere from the high ground down towards the watercourses. Those watercourses have cut deep hollows into the ground and if the greenery in those hollows has remained untamed for a long time, there’s the chance for a rainforest to grow.
Here in Landulph, we have several forests, all slightly different (that’s `forest’ in the old sense of `wild place’ rather than of acres of serried commercial conifers). In this account I focus on three widely varying sites, all of them easy to get to and inspect.
The smallest is in the hollow lane ascending from the Coombe towards Salter Mill. Clearly a steep hill cut down to help horses over the brow, the sides are near vertical, the west rough rock and soil and cloaked with thick moss. Pennywort, small ferns and other tiny plants grow here, courtesy of the water and nutrients dripping down the sphagnum-like moss.
The second and most unusual is on the Tamar foreshore. You’ll find it as you head South from the playing field towards Neal Point. It stretches for no more than a couple of hundred yards, so there’s no need for wellies; just aim for the last of any ebb tide. The tides have undercut the cliff along here. Water runs down much of the face from the fields above, in rivulets or in steady drips. Strands of ivy and bramble hang down in mid-air and there are patches of algae (these plant-names are approximate: I’m not a botanist!) in orange, sulphurous yellow and a harsh green. Best of all for me was finding a patch of what looked like minuscule watercress, close-growing and with perfect leaves the size of a pin-head. I didn’t taste it, nor did I try the water, clear though it looked. The air in this close space is stuffy and a degree or two warmer than elsewhere. It can be creepy.
