Polperro

Polperro is a fishing village on Cornwall’s south coast, known in Cornish as Porthpyra, tucked into a deep narrow valley near Looe. Cars are banned from the inner village - park at Crumplehorn car park at the top and walk about half a mile downhill to the harbour, or take the tuk-tuk service that runs Easter to October.

Around 13 registered fishing boats still operate from the harbour - trawlers, netters, and hand-line mackerel boats unloading at high tide. The Heritage Museum of Smuggling and Fishing overlooks the harbour from a former pilchard factory, open daily Easter to October. Displays include rare 1930s archive film of pilchard fishing and traditional “knitfrocks” - knitted jumpers with family-specific patterns once used to identify fishermen lost at sea.

Smuggling peaked in Polperro in the late 1700s. Zephaniah Job (1749 to 1822), a local merchant known as the “Smugglers’ Banker”, controlled much of the trade in spirits, tobacco, and salt. Willy Wilcox Cave at the harbour edge is still pointed out as a former contraband store.

The Net Loft on Peak Rock at the harbour mouth is a Grade II-listed building, originally a fishermen’s chapel dedicated to St Peter built in 1391. It was later used for storing seine nets, and was restored by the National Trust in 2015 to 2016. Ebenezer Gallery, in a former chapel, shows work by the East Cornwall Society of Artists.

The South West Coast Path section from Polperro to Looe covers about 5 miles one-way through Talland Bay - allow 2.5 to 3.5 hours. The village sits within the Cornwall National Landscape and the Gribbin Head to Polperro Heritage Coast. The Blue Peter Inn, built into the cliffs by the harbour, is the main pub.