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An Introduction to Cornwall

Cornwall is the westernmost part of England. It is a beautiful peninsula where you will find dramatic countryside dotted with ancient stone walls and granite-built farmhouses framed against a colourful canvas of gorse and verdant countryside dropping sharply down rugged cliffs to the sea below. Sea is all around and there are many beach resort in Cornwall.

Derelict mine engine houses can be seen throughout the Cornish landscape from Land’s End to Gunnislake. These are witnesses to a time when the hills echoed to the din of an industry which drove the industrial revolution, and once dominated the tin and copper markets of the world. Innovators Richard Trevithick, Humphrey Davy, Goldworthy Gurney and numerous others gave the world everything from the railway engine to the safety lamp at this glorious point in Cornish history.

The coast road from the famous resort of St Ives to Lands End is particularly attractive.

Britain’s best coastline - great variation from sandy family resorts to wild majestic cliffs, with intricate inlets, sheltered coves and picturesque fishing villages; masses of family attractions, some great gardens, a fine choice of places to stay in Cornwall’s magnificent coastal scenery is its greatest attraction. Readers like the south coast best - very sheltered and at its most gently picturesque, especially east of the Lizard Point, with plenty of interesting villages and little coves, winding estuaries and creeks rich in bird life, and boat and fishing trips from virtually every harbour

There are some dramatic cliffy stretches here too, interspersed with fine sandy beaches, especially west of the Lizard. Prime places for an uncomplicated family beach holiday are around the attractive North coast town of St Ives, and between Padstow (appealing combination of fishing port and resort) and lively Newquay (Cornwall’s biggest resort, increasingly a surfing centre). This stretch is an almost continuous line of resort developments, with plenty of family attractions nearby. From the county’s great choice of enjoyable places to visit, the Seal Sanctuary at Gweek and friendly animal centre at Trecangate both have a disarmingly uncommercial appeal.

Paradise Park in Hayle and the Dobwalls adventure park are very entertaining for children, while the excellent Flambards theme park near Helston has a happy knack of delighting adults too. Monkey World near Looe and the Goonhilly satellite station also have a very wide appeal. The lush almost subtropical gardens at or near Caerhays, Madron, Mawnan Smith, Mevagissey, Probus and Trelissick, spectacular in spring, are rewarding at any time. Cotehele, near Calstock, is Cornwall’s most lovely house, and Lanhydrock House, Trerice, Antony House at Torpoint and the fairy-tale castle on St Michaels Mount off Marazion are also well worth visiting. More characteristic of Cornwall, though, is its charming profusion of quiet stone-built villages and delightful unspoilt country churches. Cornwall also has a very different much wilder side. The coast west of St Ives has rugged stretches of windswept empty moorland clifftops, with a hinterland exceptionally rich in well preserved visible archaeology - Bronze Age burial chambers and standing stones, Iron Age hill forts and village sites, ancient stone crosses.

Small rather withdrawn-looking granite villages and farmsteads among wind-beaten pastures give this western part a rather clannish feel, almost like the more nationalistic parts of Wales; but though visitors are clearly seen as outsiders, the locals are far from unfriendly. Another stretch of wild grandeur is up towards Devon, North of commercialised Tintagel - towering precipices, dramatic surfing beaches and much completely unspoilt seaboard, with no development, little car access, just wildlife, wind, waves and the occasional walker. Port Isaac and Boscastle are the pick of this part’s few settlements. Away from the sheltered south east, the inland parts are largely treeless, with rolling pasture and moorland. Windswept Bodmin Moor is the county’s most untouched inland area. Some other parts have been left with a surprisingly industrial face by the defunct mining industry: the linked towns of Redruth, Pool and St Agnes are reminiscent of some towns in the industrial North.

In the more exposed spots the towering alloy propellers of the new windfarms are becoming a striking landscape feature. There’s an excellent choice of distinctive places to stay in. Generally, good dining places are most easily found in the south (plenty of fresh local fish), rarest in the west. The Isles of Scilly are ideal for a really quiet and relaxing holiday, with Penzance the quickest jumping-off point. In high summer don’t even think about a short break in Cornwall. It’s so (justifiably) popular then for long holidays that the battle of getting there, jammed narrow roads, parking problems and the crowds at the most popular places can make a short break more of a frustration than a pleasure. But if you are there then, for a longer holiday, it’s surprisingly easy to escape the crowds that go with the big family attractions, honey-pot fishing villages and famous beaches. With 500 miles of coastal walks here, much of the land owned and beautifully preserved by the National Trust, you can always quickly escape into solitude.