Sights in Cornwall
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Pendennis Castle
Perched on the promontory of Pendennis Point, Pendennis Castle was constructed from 1540 to 1545 by Henry VIII as one of a chain of fortresses designed to defend the British mainland from Spanish and French invasion. Falmouth's deepwater harbour made the town a key strategic asset, and Pendennis was built, along with its sister fortress of St Mawes, to defend the harbour and the entrance to the Carrick Roads.
During the Civil War, the castle was engaged in a five-month siege under the command of Captain John Arundell of Trerice, and later became a defensive gun battery during WWII. These days the guns have fallen silent, but you can still experience a taste of Tudor warfa…
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Barbara Hepworth Museum & Sculpture Garden
Barbara Hepworth was one of the leading abstract sculptors of the 20th century, and a key figure in the St Ives art scene, so it seems fitting that her former studio has been transformed into a moving museum. The studio has remained practically untouched since her death in a fire in 1975, and the adjoining garden contains some of her most famous sculptures.
Hepworth was known for her use of geometric shapes and striking mix of natural materials and sculpted metal; many of her pieces show a fascination with pagan or primitive motifs, inspired by her fascination with Cornwall's prehistoric monuments. Works to look out for amongst the shrubs include the harplike Garden Sculp…
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Truro Cathedral
Plonked like a neo-Gothic supertanker in the heart of town, the three-spired Truro Cathedral dominates the city skyline from every angle. Built on the site of the 16th-century parish church of St Mary's (part of which now forms the cathedral's South Aisle), the new cathedral was a massive technical and financial undertaking for its architect John Loughborough Pearson.
Although the foundation stones were laid in 1880, the building wasn't completed until 1910 - the first new cathedral to be built in Britain since St Paul's. The cathedral's famous features include its collection of Victorian stained-glass windows (including ones dedicated to Cornish mining and the Methodist …
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Eden Project
The giant biomes of the Eden Project - the largest greenhouses in the world - have become one of Cornwall's most celebrated landmarks. Tropical, temperate and desert environments have been recreated inside the biomes, so a single visit can carry you from the steaming rainforests of South America to the dry deserts of Northern Africa.
There's an education centre, constructed according to the Fibonacci sequence, one of nature's most fundamental building blocks.
In summer the biomes become a spectacular backdrop to a series of gigs known as the Eden Sessions (artists have included José Gonzalez, Goldfrapp and The Magic Numbers) and from November to February Eden transforms …
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Tate St Ives
There's no shortage of art galleries to nose around in St Ives, but the stunning Tate St Ives is the centrepiece. Hovering like a white concrete curl above Porthmeor Beach, the gallery is every bit as impressive as its sister institutions in London and Liverpool.
With its curving galleries, plate-glass windows and glittering white walls, the gallery's design evokes its natural seaside surroundings; its fantastic collection of modern art is especially rich in works by artists connected with the St Ives School. Terry Frost, Naum Gabo, Patrick Heron, Ben Nicholson, the potter Bernard Leach and the naive Cornish painter Alfred Wallis are all represented, alongside several st…
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St Michael's Mount
Cornwall's best-known historical landmark is undoubtedly St Michael's Mount, an island abbey connected to the mainland at Marazion by a cobbled causeway and completely cut off at high tide.
The first church was believed to have been founded on the island in the 5th century, although most of the present-day abbey is derived from a 12th-century chapel constructed by the same Benedictine monks who built Mont St Michel off the Normandy coast. The mount became an important place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages, and briefly served as a fortress during the civil war. Since 1659 the mount has been the home of the St Aubyn family and has been open to the public since 195…
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Statue of Humphry Davy
At the top of Market Jew St is a statue to Penzance's most famous son, Humphry Davy (1778-1829), the pioneering 'chemical philosopher', amateur poet and fanatical trout fisherman. Davy was responsible for an astonishing number of scientific advances: the discovery of six new elements (including potassium, sodium and strontium), the invention of the miner's safety lamp, and the use of nitrous oxide (or laughing gas) as a medical anaesthetic.
He also penned reams of amateur poetry and befriended some of the 19th century's best-known Romantic writers, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, although whether it was Davy's amateur verse or his ready supply of chemical narcotics tha…
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National Maritime Museum Cornwall
Falmouth's illustrious seafaring takes centre stage at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, situated on the town's heavily redeveloped dockside. The museum houses one of the largest maritime collections in the UK, second only to its sister museum in Greenwich in London. At the heart of the complex is the huge Flotilla Gallery, where boats dangle from the ceiling by slender steel wires, while suspended walkways wind their way around the collection of yachts, schooners, punts and canoes.
Other highlights include the Set Sail exhibit, which tells the story of nine groundbreaking boats, and the Lookout, with a 360-degree panorama of Falmouth Bay. The museum even has its own…
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Minack Theatre & Visitor Centre
Surely the world's most spectacularly located theatre, the Minack is carved into the cliffs overlooking Porthcurno Bay. The visitor centre recounts the story of Rowena Cade, the indomitable local woman who originally conceived the theatre and oversaw it until her death in 1983
From the original production in 1929, the Minack has grown into a full-blown theatrical venue, with a 17-week season running from mid-May to mid-September - though aficionados always bring umbrellas and blankets in case the British weather should take centre stage. The centre is closed when there's a matinée.
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Egyptian House
As with Truro and Falmouth further east, Penzance's wealth was founded on the import-export trade, and most of the town's Georgian and Regency town houses were built for the merchants and sea captains who once plied their trade out of the harbour. The best examples can be seen along Chapel St and Queen St; look out for the extraordinary Egyptian House.
The Egyptian House looks like a bizarre cross between a Georgian town house and an Egyptian sarcophagus and was originally built for a wealthy mineralogist, John Lavin, as a geological museum.
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Town Beaches
The town beaches of Great Western, Tolcarne and Towan are nearly always crammed to capacity with windbreaks and beach tents thanks to their proximity to town. Things are usually quieter along the coastline at Lusty Glaze and Porth, while surfers haunt the ever-reliable waves of Fistral, England's most famous surfing beach, and the location for the annual Rip Curl Boardmasters surfing festival.
Despite the summer crowds, all the town beaches offer decent facilities and great swimming, plus beach lifeguards throughout the season.
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Newquay Zoo
More wild beasties reside at Newquay Zoo, 10 minutes' walk along Edgcumbe Ave, or a quick (and mortifying) trip aboard the tourist choo-choo. The zoo's resident population ranges from red pandas, sloths and penguins to great-horned owls and an African lion called Connie; latest arrivals include red-fronted macaws, two ruffed lemurs and a litter of impossibly cute baby marmosets. Budding David Bellamys can play keeper for a day for around £85.
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Bedruthan Steps
A few miles east of Watergate Bay are the stately rock towers of Bedruthan Steps (sometimes called Carnewas), a haven for sea birds and an irresistible challenge for the county's rock climbers. Though the beach practically disappears at high tide, Bedruthan is always a spectacular spot for a clifftop stroll, and there's a small National Trust café where you can seek shelter when the Atlantic wind gets up.
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Maenporth Beach
A couple of miles further along from Swanpool Beach is Maenporth Beach, trammelled by cliffs and a fine spot for some sheltered swimming. There's also a small beach café selling drinks, snacks and ice-creams. All of Falmouth's beaches are accessible from the coast path, or you can catch the X89 bus from town. There are car parks at Swanpool and Maenporth, but they fill up quickly in summer.
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Georgian Mansions
While the lucrative shipping trade moved to Falmouth, Truro turned its attentions to mining and manufacturing, and the town enjoyed a huge financial boom after the arrival of the railway in 1859. Fine Georgian mansions and grand town houses sprang up to accommodate Truro's industrial magnates; the finest examples can be seen along Falmouth Rd, Strangways Tce, Walsingham Pl and Lemon St.
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Swanpool Beach
A pleasant half-hour stroll along the headland is Swanpool Beach, backed by a small inland lagoon and nature reserve, populated by grebes, coots, kingfishers and mute swans. All of Falmouth's beaches are accessible from the coast path, or you can catch the X89 bus from town. There are car parks at Swanpool and Maenporth, but they fill up quickly in summer.
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Spirit of the West
Newquay is surrounded by several other family-friendly attractions that'll entertain the kids and have the parents reaching for the hipflask. Weirdest of all, at Spirit of the West near St Columb, dodgily dressed Cornish gunslingers shoot it out around a gin-u-wine Wild West theme park, stables, saloon and all. Yee-ha, pardner. Weird.
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Gyllyngvase Beach
Falmouth is blessed with a trio of town beaches. Most popular is Gyllyngvase Beach, a flat sandy beach backed by the funky Gylly Beach Café. All of Falmouth's beaches are accessible from the coast path, or you can catch the X89 bus from town. There are car parks at Swanpool and Maenporth, but they fill up quickly in summer.
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St Ives Museum
Housed in a pierside building variously used as a pilchard-packing factory, laundry, cinema, sailors' mission, and copper mine, the St Ives Museum is a typically haphazard local-history museum, with artefacts ranging from shipwreck salvage to photos of famous St Ives artists and a replica of a Cornish kitchen.
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Penlee House Gallery & Museum
Penlee House Gallery & Museum has a fine collection of paintings by artists of the Newlyn and Lamorna Schools (including Stanhope Forbes, whose 1922 work On Paul Hill was purchased by the museum in 2006), alongside more contemporary work. The lovely landscaped gardens are also worth a stroll.
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Huer's House
On the headland between Towan and Fistral stands the 14th-century Huer's House, a lookout once used for spotting approaching pilchard shoals. Until they were fished out in the 20th century, these shoals were enormous: one catch of 1868 netted a record 16.5 million fish.
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Crantock
If the town beaches are too hectic, you'll find more elbow-room further afield. Three miles southwest is Crantock, sandwiched between the twin headlands of East and West Pentire, and backed by grassy dunes and the fast-flowing River Gannel.
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Lemon Quay & Back Quay
Until the 18th century Truro was a busy port, but suffered a serious setback when the river became clogged by silt. These days Truro's old quays exist only in name, including Lemon Quay and Back Quay, both near the Hall for Cornwall.
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St Ives Society of Artists
The St Ives Society of Artists - one of Cornwall's oldest and most influential artists' collectives, founded in 1929 - still has its gallery in a converted church on Norway Sq, with a separate 'Mariners Gallery' in the former crypt.
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Blue Reef Aquarium
Back towards town, the Blue Reef Aquarium on Towan Beach is home to some weird and wonderful underwater characters, including jellyfish, seahorses, octopi and rays. Several tanks are open-topped so you can touch the fish.
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