St Michael's Mount

Looming up from the waters of Mount's Bay is the unmistakeable silhouette of St Michael's Mount, one of Cornwall's most iconic landmarks. Set on a craggy island connected to the mainland by a cobbled causeway, there's been a monastery here since at least the 5th century, but the present abbey largely dates from the 12th century. After the Norman conquest, the Benedictine monks of Mont St Michel in Normandy raised a new chapel on the island in 1135, and the abbey later became the family seat of the aristocratic St Aubyns (who still reside here).

It's now under the stewardship of the National Trust. Highlights include the rococo drawing room, the original armoury, the 14th-century priory church and the abbey's subtropical gardens, which teeter dramatically above the sea. You can walk across the causeway at low tide, or catch a ferry at high tide in the summer from the little town of Marazion, three miles from Penzance.