Experience the best of Cornwall

Cornwall occupies the far south-west of England, with the sea on three sides and the River Tamar marking most of the Devon border. At Land's End the cliffs mark the most westerly point of mainland England, and the Lizard peninsula is the southernmost point of mainland Britain. St Michael's Mount, a castle on a tidal island, is reached by a causeway at low tide, and Tintagel Castle, on the north coast, is tied by legend to King Arthur.

St Ives drew an art colony to its harbour and beaches, and Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden keep that tradition alive. The Eden Project fills a former clay pit near St Austell with domed greenhouses, and the Lost Gardens of Heligan lie close by. Engine houses from the tin-mining era stand on the cliffs near Botallack, part of a World Heritage mining landscape, and the South West Coast Path follows the entire shore.

The Cornish pasty, with its crimped edge, is the county's emblem, and clotted cream, saffron buns, fresh crab and fish from Newlyn, and Cornish Yarg cheese wrapped in nettle leaves complete a Cornish table. The Gulf Stream keeps winters mild, gardens flower early, and the surf at Newquay and along the north coast is at its best in autumn.