3 Best Sights in Plymouth, The West Country

Consisting of a museum, galleries, and an archive, the Box opened in 2020 as Plymouth's state-of-the-art exhibition space dedicated to all cultural and historical aspects of the city. Local themes are explored in the linked Port of Plymouth gallery and the 100 Journeys gallery, which focuses on the city's long relationship with the sea and the various voyages that began from Plymouth (including those of Sir Francis Drake, Captain Cook, and various slave-traders). Both are designed to engage visitors of all ages. More than 3,000 natural history specimens are displayed in the Mammoth gallery, while, upstairs, the Media Lab provides visual images from the past. This level is also the best place to view the 14 giant wooden ship figureheads dating from the 1800s that are suspended above the café area, each with its own story told via interactive touchscreens. The art collection, including works by artists associated with the West Country such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Stanhope Forbes, and Barbara Hepworth, is currently dispersed throughout the museum, and there are regular temporary exhibitions upstairs and in the annex, a deconsecrated church.

By the harbor you can visit the Mayflower Steps, marking where the Pilgrims embarked in 1620. The actual steps no longer exist, but a granite block, the Mayflower Stone, marks the approximate spot, and there is a commemorative portico with Doric columns of Portland stone. Local historians believe that the true site is roughly where a Victorian pub, the Admiral MacBride, now stands. The Pilgrims had originally sailed from Southampton but had to stop in Plymouth because of damage from a storm.

At the Black Friars Distillery, Plymouth's most famous export, gin, has been distilled since 1793. You can purchase bottles of sloe gin, damson liqueur, fruit cup, or the fiery "Navy Strength" gin that traditionally was issued to the Royal Navy. Learn the full story on walking tours around the distillery, ending with a sampling in the wood-paneled Refectory Cocktail Lounge. The building originally housed a friary and was where the Pilgrims spent their last night on English soil in 1620.