1. PORTHCURNO BEACH – Cornwall – turnrightoutofportsmouth

And so back to my favourite place in the world, Cornwall 🙂

Porthcurno is near Lands End in the South West corner of the county. On the day we went to Lands End it took us about 7 hrs to get there from Marazion (about 15 miles away…) as we kept going down the little lanes (we also found the delightful Lamorna Cove and took a walk along the cliffs there).

South West Path at Lamorna

Lamorna Cover, Cornwall

Porthcurno is home to the Telegraph Museum as the 1st transatlantic cable emerged onto this beach. The cable hut still stands at the mouth of the beach – although you can’t go into the hut you can see through the windows.

There is a large pay and display car-park available which is where the toilets are situated; there’s also a café and beach shop on the other side of the road.

This narrow road takes you up to the village of Porthcurno itself and then onto the famous Minack Theatre. We bought tickets and returned for a performance of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which was absolutely brilliant, but be warned – if you visit for an evening performance make sure to wrap up warm. Think about what you need to keep warm, then double it and take a blanket for good measure. A thermos of hot drink would also help!! As would a cushion and perhaps one of those ‘instant chairs’ (for back support).

The beach itself is accessed by a 5 minute walk through the woods from the car-park. Be careful when going down the stones steps onto the beach – I managed to stub my toe (which took several weeks to heal..)

Soft sand, shelving fairly steeply into the pristine turquoise water. Fairly secluded but with plentiful space. The bay around the corner, Pednevouder, is a naturist beach, so take care not to mix them up!

So a visit to South West Cornwall, in my opinion, is not complete without a visit to Porthcurno Beach (and the Minack Theatre and Lamorna Cove while you’re at it!)

For more information on this area of Cornwall click here.