Looe

Introducing Looe

The twin villages of East and West Looe stand on opposite sides of a broad river estuary, linked by a seven-arched Victorian footbridge, and there’s long been a sense of friendly rivalry between the two communities. In previous centuries Looe was a thriving shipyard and fishing port, but these days tourism has taken over as the town’s biggest industry. Victorian bathing machines rolled up to the water’s edge off Banjo Pier throughout the 19th century, and the small beach in East Looe is still a popular spot for sandcastle-building and sunbathing, although the town itself is almost invisible beneath a jumble of pubs, tearooms and bucket-and-spade shops.

The tourist office (262072; Fore St; 10am-5pm Easter-Oct, noon-5pm Mon-Fri & 10am-5pm Sat & Sun Oct-Easter) is in the Guildhall.

The Monkey Sanctuary (262532; www.monkeysanctuary.org; St Martins; admission £5; 11am-4.30pm Sun-Thu Easter-Sep), a popular attraction half a mile west of Looe, is home to some unfeasibly cute woolly monkeys and a colony of horseshoe bats.

A mile offshore from Hannafore Point is tiny Looe Island, a 22-acre nature reserve established by sisters Babs and Evelyn Atkins, who jointly bought the island in 1965 and lived and worked there for most of their lives. The island is now administered by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust; occasional boat trips travel there in summer from the quay in East Looe. Ask at the tourist office for details.

Last updated: May 12, 2010