East Cornwall

East Cornwall is the least visited part of the county, which makes it the best place to avoid the summer crowds. Launceston was the historic capital of Cornwall and still has the ruins of its Norman castle and a well-preserved town centre. The Tamar Valley, which forms the border with Devon, is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - the river and its tributaries cut through steep wooded hillsides, and the area has a strong horticultural tradition dating from the 19th century. Cotehele, a medieval manor house managed by the National Trust on the Tamar bank, is one of the best-preserved historic houses in the south-west. The south-east corner of Cornwall - the area around Looe, Liskeard, and the Rame Peninsula - is often overlooked but has some genuinely rewarding coast: the dramatic cliffs of the Rame Peninsula, the quiet coves east of Looe, and the walking country of Bodmin Moor's eastern fringe. East Cornwall does not have the surfing beaches of the north coast or the subtropical gardens of the south, but it has a more authentic, working character that the busier parts of the county have largely lost.