St Mawes & the Roseland

St Mawes is a harbour village on the tip of the Roseland in south Cornwall, looking across the Carrick Roads to Falmouth. St Mawes Castle, built by Henry VIII as a companion to Pendennis Castle opposite, is the most complete of the Henrician coastal forts. A year-round passenger ferry connects the village to Falmouth across the water.

The castle sits right on the waterfront. The harbour is a working one, and the ferry is the easiest way to visit Falmouth without driving. The restaurants here punch well above the weight of a village this size: the Hotel Tresanton and the Idle Rocks are both excellent, and there are several good cafes and pubs along the waterfront.

The Roseland itself is one of Cornwall’s most unspoilt areas - a patchwork of lanes, farms, hidden creeks and subtropical gardens. St Anthony Head lighthouse, the gardens at Lamorran House (open on occasional charity days) and the church of St Just in Roseland (set in what John Betjeman called “the most beautiful churchyard on earth”) are all within a few minutes’ drive. The coast path around the peninsula is relatively gentle compared to the north coast, with sheltered coves, wooded estuaries and views across the Fal.