iKnow Cornwall
All Newquay Coast Accommodation
Newquay Beaches. View down on Tolcarne Beach 
Newquay Surf School Surfing Lesson. Learn to Surf at Newquay
Porth Island Scenes off Porth Beach, Newquay
Fistral Beach, Newquay Surfing - Magic!
St Agnes Beach - Surfing, Rockpools and Rocky Cliffs
Camborne Cornwall Mining Museum & Working Engine House
Cornish Mining Remains on the Great Lode Trail near Camborne
Cornwall Mining History - Explore it at Camborne & Redruth Mining MuseumsNewquay Perranporth St Agnes Camborne Redruth
The Newquay coast running down from Cornwall holiday surfing hotspot Newquay into Cornwall Mining heritage territory around St Agnes, Camborne and Redruth certainly offers a diverse mixture of Cornwall holiday activities. Starting with Newquay, of course, this is one of Cornwall's most popular beach holiday resorts, attracting a range of visitors including surfers, families and stag and hen parties! With it's nearby Newquay Airport it's easily reached too, and offers a choice of superb beaches, numerous holiday attractions including Newquay Zoo, and plenty of budget accommodation and holiday nightlife. Many of the UK's top surfing competitions are held here at Newquay.
The North Cornwall coast down from Newquay towards St Agnes has a much more laid back and cultural flavour. Move inland slightly to the Redruth and Camborne areas and you're in prime Cornwall Mining Heritage country, currently receiving much regeneration and offering a fascinating choice of Mining Trails. Good surfing beaches can be found down here at Perranporth and St Agnes, as well as a superb choice of folk festivals, particularly the Celtic Festival held annually at Perranporth.
Newquay & Newquay Airport
Newquay's evolution into the UK's ultimate surfing and holiday resort, with international surfing competitions held here, is a late 20th century phenomena. Newquay benefits from it's own Newquay Airport making it highly accessible to the home and international crowds pouring in for the surfing competitions. With it's 11 golden sandy beaches no less, numerous attractions including Adventure and water parks, Stag and Hen weekend activities, a choice of chic surfer bars, restaurants and surf schools, tons of B&Bs and cheap hotels crammed into the centre and Atlantic rolling waves guaranteeing prime surfing territory for both the experienced and beginner, you have in Newquay a superb British beach and surfing holiday. At the heart of Newquay's appeal are the magnificent 11 beaches which transform into one giant bay at low tide.
Enjoy rip roaring surfing on famous Fistral Beach (host of numerous surfing competitions) to low key, if crowded!, family fun on Towan Beach right near the town centre. Newquay offers a host of activities for families, but pulls in also couples, stag and hen dos, coastal walkers and fishing fans, as well as offering a variety of water sports and land sports as well as surfing including kite surfing, wakeboarding, power kiting, abseiling, climbing and land yachting. Outdoor sports enthusiasts are spoilt for choice. The first Fifteen Cornwall Jamie Oliver restaurant has opened here in Newquay (May 2006). Situated on Watergate Bay beach front, head down there for breakfast, lunch and dinners and great views of the Atlantic. More Jamie Oliver restaurants are on the cards for Cornwall, great news indeed! (weblink right)
Newquay Airport offers an quick and easy way into Cornwall and Cornwall's top surfing resort from and to all the major UK airports including Manchester Airport, Leeds Bradford Airport, Bristol and Cardiff Airports, Dublin Airport and Birmingham and London Stanstead Airports. Monarch are also now offering direct flights from Newquay to Malaga. Cornwall benefits from it's very own airline, Air Southwest, which provides the bulk of the flights around the UK, with BMI Baby taking on flights to Birmingham and Ryanair serving London Stanstead. Newquay is an airport which serves basically holiday makers, people on short breaks and weekends into the surfing resort, and business and travel inside the UK.
Newquay TIC, Municipal Building, Marcus Hill. Tel: 01637 854020
Perranporth
Perranporth Beach is most certainly one of those special Cornwall beached, loved by surfers for years, the oldest surf school on the North Cornwall Coast is here, and of real historical interest with it's Iron Age Hill top and Celtic history. Tin mining once predominated here, and the marks of it are still visible along the Perranporth coast. With sand dunes and caves, you're in Poldark Country here, location for the famous Winston Graham Poldark Series.
Tin Mining history, superb surfing, friendly holiday resort facilities, Celtic and Iron Age History and a Celtic Festival - it's all here in Perranporth. If you've time too detour off the B3285 between Perranporth and St Agnes to view 'Harmony Cot', the birthplace of acclaimed portrait artist of the late 1780s, John Opie. His work 'A Beggar Boy' is on display at Falmouth Art Gallery!
Perranporth Information Centre, Cliff Road, Perranporth, Cornwall. TR6 0DL.Tel: 01872 573368
St Agnes
St Agnes on the North Coast of Cornwall combines and interesting mix of activities from excellent surfing and family holiday beaches, to one of the best selection of Cornish tin mining remains in the UK, second to the Camborne and Redruth areas. St Agnes is an idyllic Cornish coastal spot, with ample holiday amenities and a low key surfing scene, yet not too overdeveloped. The area is particularly popular with walkers, and a number of trails criss-cross the area, including gentle arts and crafts trails taking in the craft wares of local artists up the famous stippy strappy run.
St Agnes is renowned for it's four stunning beaches which offer a range of adventure and water sports including surfing, boating, diving, fishing/angling and hang gliding. With it's cliffs lined with historic mine ruins, plus it's many rock pools, the St Agnes stretch of the North Cornwall coast has an appeal to young and old alike offering a superb beach holiday, or a historic journey into Cornwall's mining history with some superb coastal walking thrown in!
Find St Agnes Tourist Information Centre inside the video shop at 20 Churchtown, St Agnes, open from Mondays to Saturdays, 10am to 9pm, and Sundays 11.30am to 8.30pm. Tel: 01872 554150.
Camborne & Redruth
The history of copper and tin mining in the Camborne and Redruth area are intricately linked to the history of Cornwall itself, and indeed the development of mining internationally, as skilled migrating Cornish miners spread their knowledge throughout the world. Some big industrial and engineering names came out of this region, with one of the most famous being Richard Trevithick (1771-1833), who made the first beam engine. Trevithick is celebrated annually in Camborne at the end of April on Trevithick Day.
Redruth, like Camborne, is marked by it's mining history and is an integral part of the Cornwall Settlement Initiative. The town centre offers some fascinating civic architecture and mining remains including the huge Pednadrea Chimney which has stood in the centre of Redruth since 1824.
Numerous heritage mining trails criss-cross the area, taking in dramatic cliff top edge mining remains, and sites of particular interest such as Gwennap Pit situated just to the South of Redruth. Gwennap Pit bears the mark of both mining and Methodist heritage common in the area. Well worth a look, at Gwennap Pit subsidence resulted in the formation of a natural amphitheatre or open air preaching pit! This preaching pit is particularly famous because John Wesley used it and preached here no less than 18 times from 1776-89.
For all the details on regeneration afoot in the preservation of Mining remains and Mining trails in the Camborne and Redruth region check out the Cornish Mining World Heritage Bid website to the right!
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