Lands End Accommodation

A Choice of Family Attractions at the Land's End Experience, Land's End

Kids Slides and Rides Aplenty at the Land's End Experience, Land's End

Making the most of your location - Family Pubs & Restaurants, Land's End

Land's End Views - take the walk from Land's End to Sennen Cove

Kids Play Areas at the Land's End Experience, Land's End Cornwall

The Sublime Sennen Cove Family Beach near Land's End

Gentle Family Surfing at Sennen Cove Beach near Land's End

Cornish Mining Remains near St Just, around Levant Mine

Lands End Tourist Information Cornwall St Just Whitesand Bay UK

Iconic Lands End offers a mix of welcome (to some) family attractions, Britain's last pub and all the west, combined with an RSPB centre and a dramatic coastal landscape - take the coastal walk from Land's End to Sennen Cove for the best of it. Moving along the coast to St Just and upto Zennor you're back in prime Cornwall mining territory. Take time to view Geevor and Levant mines, both dramatically set right on the cliff edge. St Just pubs - don't miss that real ale, and Zennor is both a picture postcard village with a renowned folk museum. Those on the hunt for Cornwall pre-historic sites and megaliths will feel at home. Check out two of the best preserved Cornish ancient villages at Carn Euny and Chysauster.

St Just Tourist Information Centre, Market Square, St Just, TR19 7HX. 01736 788165. Opening times are from 1 May to 30 September, Mon to Fri (inclusive) 10am to 5pm, Closed for lunch from 1pm - 2pm. Saturday 10am - 1pm.

Lands End Experience & Sennon Cove Surfing

The Land's End Experience, consisting of numerous attractions orientated particularly around families, has certainly received it's fare share of criticism, and considered by some as a blot on the landscape of what is the end of the British mainland, with a stunning rugged coastline and sublime coastal walking to be had from the Land's End headland to Sennon Cove. A tad tacky it may be in places, with Britain's most south westerly pub and John o'Groats 874 miles and all the rest. However, it's extremely popular, very well kept and the kids love it, which can be a welcome break and relief to families.

The complex is fully equipped with parking, a choice of shops with everything from Cornish Sweet shops to daa, the First and Last Shop. Tongue in cheek indeed. There's a very good choice of family restaurants with burger bars, pasty parlours and family pub restaurants galore. Attractions have a leaning towards all things King Arthur and Maritime. Check out the kitsch 'Relentless Sea', 'the story of mankind's struggle to win a living from the bountiful but unforgiving sea'! Hey ho, it'll raise a smile from the adults, and the kids love a bit of storytelling. The 'Wreckreation' Adventure Play Area is always crowded with kids, and very popular. also on-site is an RSPB Wildlife discovery Centre, and it's easy to hook into one of the many stunning coastal walks which are well mared with colour themes green and red - perfect for families. Well behaved dogs on leads are also welcome on the complex.

Check out the Land's End Experience weblink right for full details. Open every day from 10am. Family saver tickets are available. The Land's End Experience also hosts a number of outdoor concerts in the peak season, with a good choice of cover bands if that's your bag. It's also the venue for numerous themed days such as the Cornwall Air Ambulance Day, or RNLI events with local acts participating. Check the website for details.

St Just & West Cornwall Mining History

The area around and including the small town of St Just is prime Cornish mining territory, with numerous mine remains including the striking coastal mines of Greevor and Levant. The small town of St Just is a superb example of a classic small mining settlement, with public houses, hotels, and distinctive terraced mining cottages. Well worth a stop to view some of the historic buildings here, and move inside the superb selection of historic pubs, including the Miners Arms, the Star Inn and two pub inns - the Commercial Hotel and the Wellington Hotel - fine real ales and some good home cooked food in all of these. If you're exploring Cornwall's mining heritage in this are, St Just is a superb base at the heart of this historic mining area.

Fascinating mining remains worth visiting in this area of West Cornwall include Geevor Mine & Heritage Centre at Pendeen (see website right), and stunning Levant Mine right on the coast. The St Just mining region is starting to open up brilliantly to the public, with guided walk leaflets available and more - check the St Just Heritage website right for more details. Geevor Tin Mine is particularly special as it's the largest surviving tin mine sites in Europe. It only closed recently - in 1991, hit hard by the international tin price crash in 1985. During the 1980s around 400 people worked here at Geevor. Geevor is now run by the charity Pendeen Community Heritage (the council pulled out a whilte back!) run by local people, many of whom have relatives who worked here and no doubt wish they still did. The emphasis now is on preservation of the mining heritage for future generations, and they rely on visitor support and donations - so do give generously if you can. Geevor is an excellent centre, with demonstrations on tin extraction, a cafe and shop on-site, an extensive mineral collection and lots of information on the social and oral history of mining communities in the area. Highly recommended on the Cornish Mining Heritage trail.

North of St Just on the coast is Levant Mine which makes a striking picture set right on the cliff's edge (superb coastal walking around this Pendeen coast area!). Here at Levant sits the oldest beam engine in Cornwall, dating from 1840 and still in it's original house - magic, plus thanks to local volunteers it's working again. The pumping house here dates from 1835. Rich in both copper and tin, Underground tours are available. Check the National Trust Levant weblink and the Cornish Mining World Heritage site right for more details. A 35 minute film on Levant, one of the larger copper mines, is inclusive in visits. Tel: 01736 786156.

If you thought Levant Mine was perched on the cliff edge then wait till you see Botallack Mine just south of Levant. The Crowns Engine Houses at Botallack look like they may drop in the sea any moment. The diagonal shaft sunk here between 1858 and 1862 runs right out into the ocean. Also at Grade II listed Botallack Mine is a Count House, wonderfully preserved, Mine managers would meet here at account reckoning times. There's also a preserved arsenic refining works here - one of the finest in Britain. Check the Cornish Mining Heritage weblink right for more details. Find many more mining remains in this area at Kenidjack Valley features also on the superb Cornish Mining Heritage website.

Zennor & Zennor Folk Museum West Cornwall

Zennor on the coast between St Ives and St Just is a delightful ancient Cornish granite village with a renowned folk museum digging deep into the social history of the area. It's a pretty base is Zennor, with a great budget backpacker centre and a scattering of pretty B&Bs - walkers will love the coast path around here too and it's easy to walk to St Ives! It's a popular base for birdwatchers too, and artists have flocked here for years to paint the landscape. Cornwall's equivalent to Devon's Clovelly indeed.

The Wayside Museum and Gift shop in Zennor is internationally renowned, with a huge collection of artefacts dating from 3000BC right upto the 1950s. The museum is housed in a 16th century Miller's cottage and the complex includes a granite watermill and beautiful gardens. Inside there's a collection of rare Bronze Age stone tools and 12 themed areas no less.

Open March, April and October from 11am to 5pm, 7 days a week, and from May to the end of September from 10.30am to 5.30pm, 7 days a week. Scenic bus rides run regularly from St Ives and Penzance in peak season. Elsewhere in Zennor village take time to view the Church of St Senara and not the Mermain pew with it's own legend of the Mermaid of Zennor.

The Wayside Museum & Bridge House Gift Shop, Zennor, nr St Ives, Cornwall TR26 3DA. Tel: 01736 796945.

Pendeen Watch Lighthouse

Built in 1900, this lighthouse was much needed indeed to warn ships of off shore rocks and of the protruding Gurnard's Head further up the coast near Zennor. Designed by Sir Thomas Matthews, a Trinity House Engineer and built by Arthur Carkeek, of Redruth, the headland had to be flattened here before Pendeen Lighthouse could be erected.

It went electric in 1926, and was fully modernised and made automatic in 1995. Pendeen received a new fog signal and detector in 1996 too. Well worth taking time to view on your walks along this superb stretch of the South West Coast Path.

Pendeen Lighthouse, along with the Lizard Point Lighthouse, has a visitor's centre, making it particularly worth a visit to find out more about lighthouse history and the long standing lighthouse company Trinity House. Pendeen Light House is situated on one of the most dangerous stretch of coastlines in the UK and has been warning ships here for over 100 years. Tours of the lighthouse are available, and limited parking is also adjacent.

Check the Pendeen Watch Lighthouse Visitor Centre weblink right for details on opening times, or telephone 01736 788 418 for details. Group visits must book in advance.

West Cornwall Megaliths & Iron Age Villages

As with the Scilly Isles, the interior and coast of West Cornwall is scattered with a selection of pre-historic Megaliths, Iron Age Villages and burial mounts. Two of the best are Chysauster, South of Zennor and Carn Euny Ancient Villages just inland from Sennen Cove.

Chysauster is well worth a visit. It's an Iron Age village consisting of eight courtyard houses laid out in two rows - it's believed to be England's first street! This layout is unique to the South West, and the buildings would once have probably been thatched. Chysauster is thought to have been built in the first to third centuries AD, and those who lived here are thought to have been farmers. Unfortunately the Fogou (a deep underground tunnel) was filled in by English Heritage, however there's a Fogou at Carn Euny so head there after! Check the National Trust weblink right for opening times and more detail.

Also well worth a visit is the spectacularly preserved Iron Age Village of Carn Euny close to St Just & Sennen Cove. Carn Euny was occupied up until Roman times, and as well as the fogou underground passage includes numerous foundations of houses. Visitors should note that the site is located 600 yards from the car park. Check out the National Trust weblink right for details.

Sennen Cove Beach & Whitesand Bay

One of the most stunning beaches in West Cornwall is Sennen Cove just north of Land's End. You can walk to it along the scenic coast path from the Land's End Experience. Many Penzance families flock here and to Porthcurno Beach on the opposite side of the headland near the Minack Theatre. It's popular for it's endless stretch of golden sands, and because it's particularly sheltered at the south east corner of Whitesand Bay and protected by the Pedn-men-du Headland.

Ample parking (3 car parks in all) are available at Sennen, plus adjacent Gwenver Beach to the northeast is also a glorious sandy beach. Surfing conditions at Sennen are perfect for all the family - not too wild and good for beginners and the tots.

Amenities are superb, again excellent for families. Toilets, a new surf shop, and a beach cafe are all here. Nearby Sennen offers a great choice of holiday accommodation too.

Check the A1 surf link and Sennen Cove weblink right for more details and surf/beach cams.

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