Art Holiday Travel and Vacation information for Cornwall

"Cornwall - maritime County of England, forming its SW extremity; is bounded by Devon on the East, and washed on all the other sides by the sea; length, NE and SW, 75 miles; average breadth, 22 miles; coast line, about 200 miles; area, 863,065 acres, population 330,686. The South coast is much and deeply indented, and has some good harbours. The principal openings from West to East are Mounts Bay, Falmouth Bay and Harbour, St Austell Bay, Fowey Harbour, Whitsand Bay, and Plymouth Sound. Falmouth is one of the finest harbours in Britain. The indentations on the North consist of shallow bays with few or no harbours. The chief promontories are Land's End, where the granite cliffs are about 60 ft. high; and the Lizard, the most southerly point of England. The Isles of Scilly lie off Land's End, 25 miles to the SW. The Devonian range extends NE and SW, rising in Brown Willy to an altitude of 1368 feet. The streams are numerous, but small. The principal are the Tamar (which forms the boundary with Devon), Lyhner, Fowey, and Camel. There is much barren moorland, but the soil in the valleys is fertile. The prevailing rock is granite, of a grey or bluish-grey colour, which often rises above the surface in huge, rugged masses; clay slate also abounds. The tin and copper mines of Cornwall have been celebrated from remote ages, having been known, it is supposed, to the Phoenicians. Some of them are of very great depth, and have been carried beneath the sea. Silver, lead, zinc, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth are also found in considerable quantities. The fisheries, especially of pilchard and mackerel, are extensive and valuable. The county comprises 9 hundreds, the Isles of Scilly, 219 parishes, the parliamentary borough of Penryn and Falmouth (1 member), and the municipal boroughs of Bodmin, Falmouth, Helston, Launceston, Liskeard, Penryn, Penzance, St Ives, and Truro. It is entirely in the diocese of Truro."
From Bartholomew's Gazetteer 1887.

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.