St Just

St Just is the most westerly town in mainland England, sitting on a high granite plateau in west Cornwall about a mile inland from Cape Cornwall - the only cape in England. The town has a working market square with independent shops, two pubs and a medieval playing place known as the plen-an-gwary. The cliffs between St Just and the sea form part of the UNESCO Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, including the Crowns engine houses at Botallack.

The mining heritage here is among the most dramatic in Cornwall. The cliffs between St Just and the sea are riddled with old mine workings, many of them part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The coast path from Cape Cornwall - the only cape in England - runs south past Botallack and the famous Crowns engine houses, perched impossibly on the cliff face above the crashing sea. This stretch of path is not to be missed, particularly in late afternoon light when the old granite buildings glow against the dark Atlantic.

Cape Cornwall itself is a rugged headland owned by the National Trust, with views to the Brisons rocks and across to Pendeen Watch lighthouse. The Levant Mine and Geevor Tin Mine, both open to visitors, tell the story of the men and women who worked these extraordinary cliff-face mines. St Just is proper, raw, end-of-the-land Cornwall - no twee gift shops, no harbour-view restaurants, just honest granite and Atlantic wind.