St Mabyn

St Mabyn is a small village in north Cornwall, about 4 miles east of Wadebridge and a similar distance north of Bodmin, in the upper Camel Valley. The parish church is dedicated to St Mabena, a 6th-century Celtic saint, and has a 15th-century tower. The village has a pub (the St Mabyn Inn) and a village hall; the nearest shops and services are in Wadebridge or Camelford.

The surrounding farmland is typical of inland north Cornwall - rolling pasture and arable land broken by hedgerow-topped banks and small streams feeding into the Camel. The Camel Trail, the popular cycling and walking route that runs from Bodmin to Padstow, passes through Wadebridge about 4 miles west. Rock and Polzeath on the north coast are about 10 miles north-west, and Padstow is around 11 miles.

St Mabyn is a practical base for exploring the quieter inland parts of north Cornwall without the summer traffic of the coastal villages. Bodmin Moor is accessible to the east, with Blisland village about 5 miles away. Holiday accommodation in the parish is mainly converted farm buildings and cottages spread across the agricultural land around the village. The Pencarrow estate, a Georgian house with 50 acres of formal and woodland gardens, is about 3 miles south and opens its gardens from March, with the house, cafe and shop following from the end of March, through to the autumn. Local lanes are quiet enough for cycling, particularly the route between St Mabyn and Blisland across the rolling farmland.