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Cornish Farm Holidays
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Cornish Farm Holidays

West Cornwall



What to see and do in West Cornwall

Here are some of the many places you can visit when staying in west Cornwall on your self-catering or bed and breakfast Cornish Farm Holiday. Located throughout Cornwall our superb farmhouse and country cottage accommodation is perfect for making your holiday special.

Also check our pages on Cornwall's Gardens and Walking in Cornwall.

Our favourite beaches

Kennack Sands is a popular beach with rock pools for exploring. Facilities:- Parking, toilets, cafe, beach shop., no dogs allowed Easter to October.

Kynance Cove Some steep steps reach this picturesque cove with a pleasant sandy beach at low tide. Facilities:- National Trust parking 10 minutes' walk from the beach, toilets, cafe, no dogs allowed Easter to October.

Polurrian Cove A large and sandy beach. Facilities:- 20 minutes' walk from Mullion Cove car park, no dogs allowed Easter to October.

Poldhu Cove A popular sandy beach in a pretty location. Facilities:-Parking, toilets, shop, no dogs allowed Easter to October.

Praa Sands A huge sandy beach, popular with families and surfers. Facilities:- Parking, toilets, beach shop, cafe, restaurant, lifeguards, no dogs allowed Easter to October.

Perranuthnoe Sandy beach, although covered at high water. Facilites:- parking nearby, toilets, no dogs allowed 1st May to 30th September

 Porthcurno


Porthcurno
is a popular family beach with lots of soft sand. The beach shelves steeply, making the sea suitable for more experienced swimmers. Nearby, the secluded beach, Porth Chapel, is accessed by a short climb. Facilities:- Parking, toilets, cafe, lifegusrds in summer, no dogs allowed 1st May to 30th September.

 
Whitesand Bay
includes the popular beach Sennen, which leads to Gwynver at low tide. Both have lovely sand and are well-known surfing and bodyboarding beaches. Sennen Facilities:- Parking, toilets, resturant, cafe lifeguards in summer. Gwynver Facilities:- Parking. No dogs allowed 1st May to 30th September on both beaches.


Whitesand Bay

St Ives Bay  includes Porthgwidden, Porthmeor lifeguard) and Porthminster. Beautiful sandy beaches, which are good for surfing – and lots of rock pools for children to explore. Facilities:- Parking, cafe, shops, changing rooms(Porthgwidden), no dogs allowed 1st May to 30th September, Lifeguard (Porthmeor).

Hayle Towans Three miles of golden sand, popular with families. Facilities:- Parking, toilets, pub, surfing, lifeguards in summer, Dogs allowed on beaches in area at different time so please check.

Porthtowan A spacious sandy beach, popular with surfers and families. Facilities:- parking, toilets, beach shop, cafe, lifeguards in summer.

 Portreath


Portreath beach
is sheltered and sandy with shingle, rock pools and steep cliffs. Good for water sports. Facilities:- PArking, toilets, pub, cafe, shop, no dogs allowed Easter to October.

Places to visit and great days out

FlambardsThe Flambards Experience is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the south-west, and includes a theme park and outstanding undercover exhibitions: the Flambards Victorian Village, Britain in The Blitz and Memory Lane. There are thrilling rides, such as The Hornet Rollercoaster and the Canyon River Log Flume, as well as educational activities, including the Science Park and an opportunity to meet and hold some wild animals. Young children will enjoy the fabulous undercover soft play area. Helston.

National Seal SanctuaryNational Seal Sanctuary Set in the picturesque Helford estuary, the Seal Sanctuary at Gweek is Europe's leading marine animal rescue centre caring for sick seals and rescuing usually over 40 orphaned pups each season. Most are well enough to be released back into the wild after treatment, but others live at the Sanctuary. There are also Californian and Patagonian sea lions, otters, ponies and goats, and an adoption scheme is available for many of them. Gweek


Futureworld@GoonhillyFutureworld @ Goonhilly Visit the largest satellite earth station in the world. Journey through 200 years of international communications history and see how the massive satellite dishes actually worked. You can take a bus tour of the site and visit the multimedia visitor centre. Visit the oldest working antenna in the world, known as ‘Arthur', and now a Grade II listed building. Also try the Segway personal transporters: eco-friendly two-wheeled transport as used by US police forces and security services. Children's play area complete with Xbox 360 play zone. Near Helston.

TrevarnoTrevarno A recently restored garden with a bluebell valley, sunken Italian garden, bog garden, a serpentine yew tunnel, lake and Victorian boathouse. Buy some of their heavenly handmade soap, produced on the estate. Also visit the National Museum of Gardening, believed to be the largest and most comprehensive collection of garden tools and memorabilia in the country. Children's play area. Between Helston and Hayle.


HayleHayle Situated opposite St Ives Bay, the town was an internationally renowned engineering centre and an important port during the 18th to 20th centuries. Iron worked in the foundries was used to build London's Tower Bridge. Some fascinating industrial archaeology remains, much of which has been restored. As well as fabulous beaches you can visit Godrevy Lighthouse – the inspiration for Virginia Woolf's novel To The Lighthouse . The estuary is one of the most important feeding grounds in the south-west for migratory and over-wintering wildfowl and wading birds.

Godolphin HouseGodolphin House With spectacular views over west Cornwall, this atmospheric, 15th-century, colonnaded house is renowned by enthusiasts for its location in the Poldark television series. Inside are some fine examples of old furniture and tapestries. In the extensive grounds are Elizabethan stables, a medieval garden and more than 400 recorded archaeological features and mine ruins. Between Penzance and Helston.


St Ives
St Ives
Artists have been attracted to St Ives since the 19th century and it is now internationally known as an artistic centre, with numerous galleries and it's own branch of the Tate Gallery. At the hub of the town lies the harbour with narrow cobbled streets and fishermen's cottages around it. There are excellent restaurants, cafés and traditional pubs. In September the town holds a festival of music, literature, theatre and art. The lovely stretch of coast has clear waters and superb, sandy beaches.


Carn EunyChysauster
and Carn Euny ancient villages
Set on the side of a hill, Chysauster is an I ron Age settlement that was occupied almost 2,000 years ago. The type of stone-walled ‘courtyard house' here is found only on the Land's End peninsula and the Isles of Scilly, and the settlement is a fascinating exploration into Cornwall's ancient past. Near Penzance. The smaller but equally interesting settlement at Carn Euny has a corbelled chamber and a fougou (underground passage). Between Penzance and Land's End.


St Michael's MountSt Michael's Mount
Joined to the mainland at Marazion by a granite causeway, St Michael's Mount is accessible only by foot at low tide, or by boat at high tide. The magical island rises from the centre of Mount's Bay – acclaimed as one of the most beautiful bays in the world. It has a church, a medieval castle (home to the St Aubyn family for over 300 years), an exotic garden clinging to the steep slopes and an ancient harbour. Visit the shops, restaurants, castle and gardens, and see an audio-visual presentation on the history of the Mount. Near Penzance.


PenzancePenzance
The characterful town of Penzance surrounds a busy, working harbour, which shelters fishing boats, visiting yachts and, occasionally, tall-masted ships, known as ‘square riggers'. Galleries and a variety of unusual as well as popular shops can be found in the town, plus restaurants, cafés, pubs and music venues. Walk along the promenade or dip your toes in the sea or in the outdoor, art deco Jubilee Pool. Visit the subtropical Morrab Gardens in the town or Trewidden and Trengwainton Gardens
just outside. Enjoy the week-long festival of the arts – Golowan – at midsummer, culminating in the ever-popular Mazey Day.


Minack TheatreMinack Theatre
Carved into the cliffs, looking across Porthcurno to Logan Rock, the Minack is Cornwall 's world-famous open-air theatre. It was constructed in the 1930s by Rowena Cade in the style of a Roman amphitheatre and has the sea as its backdrop. A full and varied programme of performances takes place from May to late September, and the theatre and visitor centre are open daily. Porthcurno.


Porthcurno - Telegraph MuseumTelegraph Museum
In 1870 the most advanced technology of the day was used to connect the communication centre at Porthcurno to Bombay via an undersea telegraph cable. During the Second World War the centre was used to transmit secret messages around the world. It was then relocated to a bombproof, gasproof, underground building – now an award-winning museum. See working equipment, discover the Victorian Internet and hear about the secret communications that were sent from here during the War. Porthcurno.


Lands EndLand's End
As well as being England's most westerly point, Land's End has a variety of attractions and exhibitions, including Doctor Who Up Close, with props and costumes from some of the famous characters; Coast, an interactive exhibition; and The Last Labyrinth, a multi-sensory theatre show of myths, legends, smuggling and wreckers. Also visit the animals on the 200-year-old farmstead, Greeb Farm.

Geevor MineGeevor Mine Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Geevor is the largest preserved mining site in the UK. Until 1990 Geevor was a working mine and is now a museum, with many surface buildings and a guided underground tour through 18th and 19th-century workings. Through the tours you will have a glimpse of mining life and the people of the area over the centuries. The changing rooms are untouched since the mine closed, and create an evocative impression of the end of an era. Pendeen, near Penzance.