North Cornwall: St Agnes.
tide times | parking | local info
fine art prints available on request.
South of Newquay on the North Cornish coast lies a historic and unspoiled village, surrounded by coast paths that treat you to wild and far reaching views over the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There’s a thriving community and small, secluded coves and beaches that will stop you in your tracks. It’s also an area rich in history with the mine shaft of Wheal Coates and ruins of the mining industry dotted around the landscape.
This is a village that sticks true to it’s values and supports independent businesses and invests time and effort into the community. The official parish of St Agnes stretches 10 miles inland and also covers Porthtowan beach, Mithian (thought to be one of the oldest villages in Cornwall), Mount Hawke and Blackwater.
Also, confession time, I was delighted to visit Poldark country having enjoyed a bit of Aidan Turner on Sunday nights! Winston Graham who wrote the original Poldark books lived in the area and St Agnes inspired the series of books.
The Village.
Parking in the main village car park (by honesty box) you can head on down to the main high street where I highly recommend a coffee from The Sorting House Coffee co. Sitting outside in the sunshine while friendly locals fussed over Monty was a lovely way to spend 20 minutes or so. Carry on down and you’ll stumble across some lovely shops, I stopped in one to buy a card and box of chocolates to send as a gift to a friend just come out of hospital and then headed over to the post office where I popped in to send them off. Then carrying on down I headed to St Agnes Bakery where I was spoiled for choice for goodies. I came out with a couple of scones and a pastry for the beach.
St Agnes Beach/Trevaunance Cove..
You can either walk down a pretty path down to St Agnes Beach/Trevaunance Cove (the same place) or you can drive on down and park in the beach car park with the honesty box (there is also pay by card parking at the pub but it’s pretty steep). Here you can pick around this gorgeous place, walking down to the water and then heading to the left of the bay and checking out the epic views from the cluster of residential buildings there. Find your way out to benches, take some breaths and then tackle the stairs up to feel on top of the world. This is a special place where ghosts of tin mining past echo and views across the water and land are generous.
Trevellas Cove.
Once you’ve had your fill head on back up to the village to grab a crab sandwich from Shellfish Beach Deli because the next stop is the astoundingly beautiful Trevellas Cove. It’s a short drive out of town and its a bit hairy for larger vehicles (I had trouble getting back up the sharp, uphill corner) but worth a careful drive. It’s a fairly long narrow road so be prepared to reverse up to let people pass. Alternatively you can park in the car park on Wheal Kitty Lane and walk down. Parking in the little lay-by as Trevellas is a car only car park (enforced by a very narrow entryway) head on down the footpath and enjoy the pools of water streaming down off the land into the sea.
This is a place for rock pooling and texture gazing as well as enjoying a splendid crab cob (or roll for you southerners!) while taking in the beauty of this place.
Wheal Kitty.
Don’t miss the opportunity to mosey around on the top of St Agnes, there’s much wildlife to see here from rare birds darting about to heathers and wild flowers. Not to mention the remnants of Wheal Kitty - first documented in 1758 this old mine was once a thriving copper, tin and iron mine. Access it by either climbing to the right of Trevaunance Cove or drive on up Wheal Kitty Lane and find the free car park there (height restriction in place but you can also park at Wheal Kitty Workshops if you are eating/shopping there..
If you’re feeling peckish after all the exploring head on over to Canteen which is opposite sustainable clothing store Finisterre which is well worth a look, also where Surfers Against Sewage is based.
It so happens my timings meant I watched the sunset here on this beautiful elevation point and it was a moment - one that I was truly in and appreciated with my whole heart.
