Places of scenic and historical interest near Tintagel

View over the valley

View over coast

Up to the early 1900s, the village folk of Trewarmett would have picnics up here after Sunday School. Now it's a kind of forgotten Eden - hardly anyone ever goes up here any more so it's peaceful, full of wildlife and still a fantastic spot for a picnic, a quiet walk or just relaxing. There are wonderful panoramic views over the old engine house at the Prince of Wales quarry, Port Isaac Bay, Trebarwith Valley, Treknow and Tintagel.

For more information including directions from Park Farm see our page on Trewarmett Downs.

Jeffrey's Pit picnic area

Jeffrey's Pit is an old slate quarry at the bottom of Trewarmett Hill. There is a parking area in what used to be the quarry pit.

Above this on the left, a stream tumbles down the hillside through a grassy area with picnic tables under the shade of some large trees. It's a pleasant place to have a picnic or just relax with a book.

For more information, directions and some walks see our page on Jeffrey's Pit.

Engine house

A circular path leads through the old slate tips, past the quarry pit (now a lake with a small waterfall) and up to the engine house which has good views of the valley and coastline. The engine house is the only one preserved in North Cornwall. You can safely wander around inside (there are grilles covering the pit where the beam engine once was). The slate tips have been colonised by wildflowers. Wild honeysuckle, gorse, foxgloves and heather make an attractive scented floral display throughout the summer.

You can find more information including directions from Park Farm on our page about the quarry.

St Materiana church

View from Penhallic Point

The first church on the site was in Celtic times but a Roman stone now in the church bears the name of the Emperor Licinius which may be evidence that there was once a Roman camp nearby even before this. The current church was built in Norman times with the tower added in the late Medieval era. The church contains a Norman font bowl which is believed to have originally been from Tintagel Castle.

There are some nice short walks around here if you park at the church. You can either walk North along the coast path to Tintagel Castle (15 min) or South to Penhallic Point (20 min); there is an inland path back from Penhallic point if you prefer a circular route. Trebarwith Stand is another 30 minutes along the coast path from Penhallic Point.

For more info about the church and directions from Park Farm see our page about the church.

Tintagel castle

Tintagel Old Post Office

Tintagel castle (also known as "King Arthur's Castle") is perched on an island which was joined by a land bridge in the middle ages. The ruins that you see today were built in the 13th century by Richard Earl of Cornwall, though from coins and pottery fragments found at the site it is thought that before this the site might have originally been a Roman settlement and later in the early middle ages a Celtic settlement. There is speculation amongst historians that the site was a Summer residence for one of the Celtic kings, perhaps leading to the legends of Arthur.

Tintagel has a number of pubs, cafés and restaurants and some other interesting places to vising including King Arthur's Great halls and The Old Post Office - a 600 year old Cornish Longhouse set in cottage gardens built when Tintagel Castle belonged to the Black Prince.

For more information including directions from Park Farm by car and on foot see our page about Tintagel.

St Nectan's Glen

Rocky Valley was mentioned in travel books as a place of exceptional beauty as early as 1897. The river cascades through woodland before opening out into a canyon which meets the coast. A little way upstream in the hamlet of Trethevy is St Nectan's Glen - an area of verdant woodland. At the top of St Nectan's Glen is a 60ft waterfall known as St Nectan's Kieve.

For more information including directions see our pages on Rocky Valley, St Nectan's Glen and Trethevy.

Coast near Trevalga

The entire village of Trevalga is owned by Marlborough College - a public school in Wiltshire. It was left in trust so that the village and parish would remain unspoiled for future generations. Consequently there are a number of original old slate buildings that have remained unchanged for many decades. In 2010, the college was told that it was breaking charity law by owning a hamlet, and thereafter placed the entire estate on the market causing uproar amongst the tenants, and became know as "The Battle of Trevalga" featuring in the national news and a radio 4 documentary. The legality of the sale is being disputed by the Trustees and Tenants of the estate and the sale has been suspended until this is resolved.

The coastline around Trevalga is particularly spectacular with a number of rock stacks which provide homes for seabird colonies, including Long Island which is one of the last remaining atlantic puffin nesting places in Cornwall. On a headland next to coast path there is a rock arch known as The Lady's Window which you can walk through.

For more information including directions see our page on Trevalga.

Boscastle Harbour from the cliffs

The steep-sided valley of the river Valency forms a sheltered natural harbour at Boscastle. As well as being a fishing harbour, Boscastle was once a small port (similar to many others on the north coast of Cornwall) importing limestone and coal and exporting slate and other local produce.

There is a large car park with toilets, some shops and several old pubs with a lot of character and a cafe on the harbour in a former pilchard cellar. Boscastle's 50 year old Museum of Witchcraft is the largest of its kind in the world. It was badly damaged by the flood in 2004 but has been fully restored.

For more information about Boscastle, see our Boscastle page.

Arthur's stone

Camelford is the local market town; what is now the library was once the Market House where in the early 1800s a wife could be bought for 2-3 shillings! Camelford has a couple of old pubs with plenty of character including the 800 year old Darlington Inn on the market square.

On the way to Camelford (coming from Park Farm), is Slaughterbridge - a very old settlement which is said to take its name from two battles which took place nearby during the Early Middle Ages. Here, beside the river is a 6th century memorial stone known as "Arthur's stone" inscribed in Latin and Celtic script commemorating a Celtic chieftan. Legends link the stone to the Battle of Camelan where the tales say Arthur slay Mordred and was himself fatally wounded.

For more information see our page on Camelford and Slaughterbrige.

Delabole slate quarry

England's oldest slate quarry (the first printed records of a slate order date from 1314), Delabole Quarry was once the deepest man-made pit in the world. Delabole slate is noted for its uniform colour, durability and imperviousness to rain making it popular for roofing. There is a visitor centre (open Mon to Fri 8am - 4:30pm) with some interesting historical photos including the Duke of Windsor (then Prince of Wales), plummeting down the tram line into the quarry! Guided tours of the quarry are available at 2pm daily, Mon-Fri from the start of May to the end of August.

More info

• Wikipedia page on Delabole
• Delabole quarry website
• Photos of Delabole on the TintagelWeb site

Cheesewring near Minions

Bodmin Moor is 80 square miles of moorland from which a number of granite tors rise - Roughtor and Brown Willy being the most well known. Bodmin moor has over 200 Bronze Age settlements and many prehistoric stone barrows and circles. There are a number of old coaching inns lining the old "great Cornish Road" which ran across Bodmin Moor - a number are still working pubs which serve food and real ales (some brewed locally from springwater drawn from the moor).

For more information see our page on Bodmin Moor.

Port Isaac harbour

Port Isaac is a pretty fishing village with narrow winding alleys running down the steep hillside to the harbour and is used as the setting for the TV series "Doc Martin". Port Isaac was a busy coastal port from the Middle Ages to the mid 19th century where cargoes like slate, coal and timber were shipped in and out. The economy was also heavily based around the pilchard trade and the sheds where the women cleaned and salted the pilchards now house the fish merchant and tiny aquarium. There are plenty of places to eat with a number of pubs, bars and restaurants all serving food.

For more information see our page about Port Isaac.

Fisherman's cottages at Port Quin

Port Quin is a tiny cluster of fisherman's cottages around a sheltered inlet. There is a small National Trust car park and a slipway which is ideal for launching kayaks at high tide which can be hired nearby. Just up the hill to the left of the beach there is a stile onto the coast path which leads to Doyden Point with its cliff-edge folly (built in 1830) and then on to Lundy Bay.

For more information see our page about Port Quin.

St Kew's restored window

St Endellion lies on the B3267 just past the turning to Port Isaac. There is a music festival here every Easter and Summer. There is a farm shop on the left just before you reach St Endellion. The nearby village of St Kew has a pub with a good reputation for its food. St Kew also has an interesting church with a restored medieval window and a stone inscribed in Celtic script from period of King Arthur - see our page on these villages for more information.

Bude Canal

In Victorian times, Bude was a popular seaside resort and many of the Victorian buildings remain. Possibly inspired by the sandstone being quarried in Bude and heated in lime kilns, the Victorian inventor who invented limelight built his home here (grandly named Bude Castle) which is now a heritage centre.

In more recent times, Bude has become famous for its Jazz Festival in August. There is a Tourist Information Centre in the main car park.

For more information see our page about Bude.

Pencarrow house and gardens

Arbour at Pencarrow

For nearly 500 years, Pencarrow has been the family home of Molesworth-St Aubyns and they still live there today but open the house and gardens to the public. The house is set in 50 acres of gardens which were designed and laid out by the Radical politician, Sir William Molesworth and contain just about every possible species of conifer that can be grown in England plus hundreds of varieties of rhododendron and camelia. There is a cafe/tea room in what is thought to be the old washhouse serving Cornish fare.

More info

• Satellite map of Pencarrow House
• Pencarrow House website
• Wikipedia page on Pencarrow House

The Camel Trail near Bodmin

The Camel Trail is 17 miles of disused and resurfaced railway line running alongside the River Camel from near Wenford Bridge to Padstow via Bodmin and Wadebridge. It passes through some lovely woodland before emerging in the Camel Estuary. Being virtually flat it's a good place to cycle or for a leisurely walk. You can park at Padstow, Wadebridge or near Poley's bridge. There is a birdwatching hide not far along the trail from Wadebridge (in the Padstow direction).

More info

• Wikipedia page on the Camel Trail
• Leaflet on the Camel Trail
• Article on the Camel Trail in The Mail

Launceston castle

Launceston is the site of an ancient monastery and was the county town of Cornwall until 1835. In the 11th century, Launceston Castle was built shortly after the Norman conquest and still dominates the surrounding landscape - perched on top of a large, natural mound and is open to visitors. There is a local history museum in Lawrence House and the Launceston Steam Railway runs along a 2.5 mile route through riverside meadows.

For more information see our Launceston page.

Padstow Harbour

Padstow is a pretty port town in the Camel Estuary. Padstow was notorious for ships being swept onto the Doom Bar - a sand bar after which the local beer is named. There is still an active fishing fleet at Padstow and the National Lobster Hatchery is based beside the car park. In Summer, short cruises are available to the offshore islands which have colonies of seabirds; there are also fishing trips and boats for hire. There are plenty of small shops, cafés and restaurants in Padstow as well as the well-known the restaurants and café run by Rick Stein. Being a port town, Padstow also has plenty of old pubs.

For more information see our page on Padstow.

The gardens at Lanhydrock

Lanhydrock is a large country mansion near Bodmin set in nearly 900 acres of grounds. The house was built in the early 17th century but was devasted by a fire in 1881. Therefore much of the present house was rebuilt in Victorian times but some parts of the original 17th century house are still present.

Lanhydrock is now owned by the National Trust. The house has 50 rooms that are open to the public. There are impressive Victorian formal gardens and also plenty of walks along paths that lead through woods down to the banks of the River Fowey.

More info

• Satellite map of Lanhydrock
• Wikipedia page on Lanhydrock
• National trust page on Lanhydrock

River Fowey

At the Golitha Falls National Nature Reserve, the River Fowey cascades through a pretty valley covered in a mixture of ancient woodland and a beech avenue. The route is across Bodmin Moor so you may want to stop at one of the pubs on the way back or combine a visit with a walk on the Moors - see our Bodmin Moor page for more information.