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A Personal Tour of St Michael's Mount with James St Aubyn
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 18, 2025
Tourist guides tend to be written by people who have either spent time at the location, or have researched it in depth and I know this as a friend of mine has written one. But very few have the personal perspective that comes from calling the venue your home over many decades. That this guide is different in that respect is clear in the title given to it: “A Personal Tour of St Michael’s Mount”, given and written by James St Aubyn, who is the twelfth generation of the family to live here.
With a knowledge only he could provide, the guide takes you from the approach to the castle, through the gardens and in and around the living areas. Many parts of the castle are the family’s current residence and, with the island having been in the family for so long, many of the portraits on the wall have an ancestral connection to the author of the guide, which is unusual. This means that many parts of the guide have a personal touch rarely present, as he can refer to both current and formal uses of areas from his own memory.
What also helps is that St Aubyn writes in a very conversational style, so the guide reads as if he’s there giving the tour. Without knowing how his voice sounds, it’s a little difficult to imagine it directly, but the relaxed, if deliberate, language gives the guide yet another personal touch. This applies to the artefacts and decorations in the rooms as much as the tour itself, as he points out the things that he finds interesting and have that personal connection, not just anything and everything.
If there is one downside to the guide it is that it’s slightly narrow in scope, as there are elements around the port and the buildings at the base of the Mount that it would have been fun to have heard about from this personal perspective. But this is a minor quibble and perhaps says everything about how successful this guide is, in both form and style, that I am wanting there to be more of it and this is a decent memory to have from any visit to the island, as well as a useful support on the way around.
With a knowledge only he could provide, the guide takes you from the approach to the castle, through the gardens and in and around the living areas. Many parts of the castle are the family’s current residence and, with the island having been in the family for so long, many of the portraits on the wall have an ancestral connection to the author of the guide, which is unusual. This means that many parts of the guide have a personal touch rarely present, as he can refer to both current and formal uses of areas from his own memory.
What also helps is that St Aubyn writes in a very conversational style, so the guide reads as if he’s there giving the tour. Without knowing how his voice sounds, it’s a little difficult to imagine it directly, but the relaxed, if deliberate, language gives the guide yet another personal touch. This applies to the artefacts and decorations in the rooms as much as the tour itself, as he points out the things that he finds interesting and have that personal connection, not just anything and everything.
If there is one downside to the guide it is that it’s slightly narrow in scope, as there are elements around the port and the buildings at the base of the Mount that it would have been fun to have heard about from this personal perspective. But this is a minor quibble and perhaps says everything about how successful this guide is, in both form and style, that I am wanting there to be more of it and this is a decent memory to have from any visit to the island, as well as a useful support on the way around.
July 12, 2026
For a souvenir gift shop book, it does its job nicely.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews