ONE of the biggest treats I had when visiting my grandmother in Plymouth as I was growing up — aside from the saffron cake and clotted cream — was a trip to the Hoe, climbing Smeaton’s Tower lighthouse, and visiting the aquarium.

The Hoe, of course, was the scene of Sir Francis Drake’s famous bowls match, finished before defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588 while the nearby Sutton Harbour, part of Plymouth’s Barbican, is where the Pilgrim Fathers finally set sail for America after putting in so that the Mayflower could be repaired.

However, my trips to the south west have since tended to bypass Plymouth’s attractions in favour of smaller coastal attractions, so I was delighted to get the chance to revisit.

We arrived at the Number One guesthouse in Lockyer Street later than expected on a Friday night because of holiday traffic but we were soon welcomed and shown our spacious, well-appointed room.

Taking a quick stroll to the Barbican we ate at the Thai House in Notte Street, which turned out to have been voted the best Thai restaurant in Devon.

Well fed and looking forward to returning there, we then peered into a few pubs, popping into the Dolphin Hotel, which has so far avoided the relentless trend for modernisation.

In fact, it was was once a happy sketching ground for artist Beryl Cook, she of the buxom figures and risque nightlife scenes, and has plenty of brews from Cornwall and Devon on tap.

What was the fish market across the road from the Dolphin may now be a glass-fronted Edinburgh Woollen Mill but, with a handful of fishing boats still in Sutton Harbour, there are still hints that this is a working port as well as a marina.

The next morning, after a top-notch full English breakfast at Number One, we were soon back at the Barbican for a tour of the Black Friars Distillery in the unmissable building where Plymouth Gin has been made since 1793.

Taking up a guided tour of what was built as a monks’ refectory in the 1430s, having housed a Victorian still for generations, proved an education.

Our guide, Pippa, took us on an entertaining journey through how gin is made and how the distillery has survived turbulent times, not least the Blitz bombing which flattened so much of Plymouth.

Now taking advantage of the return in the fashion for drinking gin, it’s hard to believe that in the 1990s gin was only distilled twice a year there and the business nearly folded.

The basic tour costs £7 while the connoisseurs’ version we were lucky enough to go on involves tasting and comparing five of the big-name gins. A voucher entitles participants to a G&T in the distillery’s own bar — once a town hall — which is well worth a visit even if you don’t want to go on a tour.

Lunch was a fish, scallop and chip treat at RockFish in Rope Walk, only a stone’s throw from the National Marine Aquarium.

The aquarium of my childhood is now being used for research purposes, this one having opened in 1998, and is clearly thrilling new generations of children who were enjoying looking at the tiny and fragile starfish, seeing the amazing pistol shrimp which can fire deadly sonic shots, or seeking out familiar species from Finding Nemo such as the clown fish.

The size and shape of some of the tanks is mind-boggling, with their inches-thick curving walls.

But it’s the species inside, such as sharks, bass and rays swimming by, above and around you, a conger eel or lobster lurking in the rocks or a flatfish wriggling itself into the sand which are soon the only things catching the attention.

Star of the show is loggerhead turtle called Snorkel, who was found stranded on a Cornish beach by a dog walker in 1990. Despite being nearly blind, and having to be treated for epilepsy, she makes an impressive and uplifting sight cruising around, ruling the roost in her tank.

FACT FILE

  • Bruno Clements was a guest of Number One, Plymouth, which has free parking and wi-fi. Double rooms are priced from £74 including breakfast. Call 01752 212 981 email info@numberone-plymouth.co.uk
  • A family ticket for the National Marine Aquarium (two adults, two children), is £43; £14.75 per adult, £10.75 for child aged 4-15; £11.50 seniors and students. Day tickets enable free visits for a further 12 months. Visit www.national-aquarium.co.uk
  • Details about the RockFish restaurant at therockfish.co.uk, the Thai House at www.thethaihouse.co.uk and the Plymouth Distillery at plymouthdistillery.com

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  • Snorkel the loggerhead turtle at the National Maritime Aquarium