2 miles — 6 minutes by car
Mousehole
A granite village around a harbour the size of a courtyard, and the best Christmas lights in Cornwall.
Mousehole is small, tight, and almost entirely built of granite. The harbour empties at low tide and fills again twice a day. In December the village strings its harbour lights across the water, and people drive from the other end of the county to see them.
Park at the top of the village and walk down; the lanes are not built for cars, whatever your sat-nav believes.
Practical
- Getting there
- 6 minutes by car along the coast road, or a 40-minute coastal walk from Newlyn
- Best for
- Harbour swimming, lunch, the Christmas lights (December)
- From the house
- Chywoone Hill, Newlyn — 2 miles — 6 minutes by car
Also within reach
A walk downhill — 10 minutes
Newlyn
Britain's biggest fishing port by value of catch, and the reason the painters came.
6 miles — 15 minutes by car
St Michael's Mount
The island castle at Marazion, reached on foot across the causeway at low tide.
9 miles — 20 minutes by car
Porthcurno & the Minack Theatre
Turquoise water below granite cliffs, and an open-air theatre cut into the cliff above it.