Pendrin Guest House is just a stones throw from the South West Coastal Footpath and approx a 10 minute walk from Tintagel Castle Ruins (which is accessed by the wonderful new footbridge).
The bridge spans a 190-foot gorge and features a gasp-inducing gap in the middle. This follows the line of the original route – a narrow strip of land, long lost to erosion – between the 13th century gatehouse on the mainland and the courtyard on the jagged headland, or island jutting into the sea. So significant was this historic crossing that it gave rise to the place’s name, the Cornish Din Tagell meaning ‘the Fortress of the Narrow Entrance’.
Tintagel Castle Beach & Merlins Cave is also a 10 minute walk away from us. Other attractions in the village include The Old Post Office which is a National Trust property, King Arthurs Great Hall’s where the story of King Arthur is told.
Trebarwith Strand is a lovely beach (Only accessible when the tide isn’t in) this is a perfect beach for surfing and is approx a 9 minute drive away but if you’re feeling energetic then it is a lovely 50 minute walk away on the South West Coastal Path.
A 25 minute drive away is the village of Port Isaac which is possibly better known as the fictional village of Port Went in the TV series Doc Martin. Port Isaac & the neighbouring Port Gaverne have many fabulous restaurants and pubs to grab a spot of lunch or an evening meal in.
Cornwall has a plethora of beautiful beaches one of which is Polzeath so whether you just want to sit on the beach & sunbathe or maybe try some surfing. Polzeath is is a 30 minute drive away from Tintagel.
Padstow is a around a 45 minute drive away, Padstow is a lovely quaint working fishing village and is of course home to many of Rick Stein’s restaurants, cafes & even a fish & chip shop. There is also the Camel Trail in Padstow where you can hire a bicycle and ride from here to Wadebridge (just over 5 miles) or maybe if you’ve eaten one pasty too many you could ride on a little further to Bodmin or even Wenfordbridge. There are also all sorts of boat trips the you can take from Padstow from a more sedate sea fishing trip to a slightly more exhilarating sea life safari.
Then you have Newquay with it’s miles of beautiful golden sands and many beaches which include Mawgan Porth, Watergate Bay, Lusty Glaze, Towan, Crantock & the world famous Fistral beach. All of these lovely golden sanded beaches can be reached in just under an hour. Newquay is a must visit place for all of you new & old budding surfers out there.
Perranporth & its 3 miles long beach face the Atlantic Ocean and is around 8 miles south west of Newquay. Perranporth boasts the UK’s only bar on a beach. The town’s modern name comes from Porth Peran, the Cornish for the cove of Saint Piran, the patron saint of Cornwall.
If you go further south you can find St Ives which is on the western shore of St Ives Bay, its harbour sheltered by St Ives Island (a headland) and Smeaton’s pier. Close to the harbour, in the old part of the town, the streets are narrow and uneven while its wider streets are in the newer parts of the town on rising ground. The town has four beaches: Porthmeor a surfing beach, Porthgwidden a small sandy cove, Harbour by the working port and Porthminster which has almost half a mile of sand. St Ives has an oceanic climate and has some of the mildest winters and warmest summers in Britain and Northern Europe. It is therefore a popular tourist resort in the summer, and also benefits from an amount of sunshine per year that is above the national average. The South West Coast Path passes through the town.
You also have Lands End where you can visit the most westerly point of mainland Cornwall & England slightly north of Lands End you have Sennen Cove which has another one of Cornwalls beautiful beaches
On the same peninsular as Lands End & Sennen Cove you can also find the Minack Theatre (an outdoor theatre cut into the cliff face) where you can watch a show or just visit their gorgeous gardens, and very near by Porthcurno & Pedn Vounder beaches which look almost tropical, Between here and the next Peninsular you have the fishing & seaside villages of Mousehole, Newlyn
If you head south easterly from here you will reach The Lizard and Mainland Britains most southerly point which is is near to Lizard Point. If you head north from here you will come to the delightful Penryn, Falmouth & The Roseland Heritage Coast.
Heading north from here again you will come to the lovely fishing village of Mevagissey where you can buy the freshest of fish direct from the harbour. In 1880 there were around sixty fishing-boats engaged in the mackerel fishery, and herring and pilchards were also important fisheries.There are currently 63 registered fishing vessels in the harbour worked by 69 fishermen.The harbour also offers tourist fishing trips and there is a regular summer passenger ferry to Fowey. Mevagissey lighthouse was built in 1896 to mark the south breakwater that protects the small harbour.
In South East Cornwall you will also find the delightful places of Fowey & it’s beach at Readymoney Cove, Polperro (below) & it’s tales of smuggling. Smuggling is understood to have prospered since Polperro developed as a port in the 12th century. It reached its zenith in the late 18th century when Britain’s wars with America and France precipitated the high taxation of many imported goods, making it worthwhile for the local fishermen to boost their income by the covert importation of spirits, tobacco and other goods from Guernsey and elsewhere. By the late 18th century, much of the success of the smuggling trade through Polperro was controlled by Zephaniah Job (1749–1822), a local merchant who became known as the ‘Smugglers’ Banker’.
You will also find the town of Looe on this coast. The town of Looe centres around a small harbour and along the steep-sided valley of the River Looe which flows between East and West Looe to the sea beside a sandy beach. Offshore to the west, opposite the stonier Hannafore Beach, lies Looe Island also known as St George’s Island, and historically St Michael’s Island is a small island nature reserve a mile from the mainland town of Looe off Cornwall, England.