Walks in Cornwall in Rosamunde Pilcher filming locations

Enjoy the walks by being guided by the app
The following walks are in areas that were used for filming TV programmes made from the Rosamunde Pilcher novels.
-
Truro and the old Newham railway
4.4 miles/7.1 km - Easy
A circular walk at Truro along the river, trackbed of the Newham railway and through the historic city centre.
-
Gwithian and Upton Towans
2.4 miles/3.8 km - Easy-moderate
A circular walk around the nature reserve in the sand dunes that was once the National Explosives Works where young girls manufactured dynamite from nitroglycerine, two tonnes of which detonated causing a shock wave that broke windows in St Ives and Penzance and could be heard on Dartmoor.
-
Bodmin town and beacon
2.5 miles/4 km - Easy-moderate
A circular walk to the Beacon Local Nature Reserve, Jail and through Bodmin's historic centre.
-
St Agnes Beacon and Wheal Coates
3.0 miles/4.9 km - Easy-moderate
A circular walk between St Agnes Head and the engine houses of Wheal Coates via St Agnes Beacon, with spectacular panoramic views
-
Padstow to Harbour Cove
3.1 miles/5 km - Easy-moderate
A circular walk through Padstow's mediaeval network of streets to the church, the Elizabethan Manor at Prideaux Place and Tregirls Farm, with panoramic views of the estuary, returning along a mile of sandy beaches.
-
Lanhydrock Gardens
3.3 miles/5.3 km - Easy-moderate
A fairly short and easy circular walk through Lanhydrock gardens (note that you will need to pay an entry fee unless you are NT member) with plenty of picnic spots along the River Fowey that you can combine with a visit to the house.
-
Watergate Bay to Newquay
3.5 miles/5.7 km - Easy-moderate
A one-way coastal walk, made circular via an initial bus journey, from Watergate Bay along the coast path to Newquay, passing the sea caves at Whipsiderry beach, the Iron Age hillfort on Trevelgue head and beaches of Porth, Lusty Glaze and Tolcarne.
-
Lerryn River and Tivoli lost gardens
3.7 miles/5.9 km - Easy-moderate
A woodland and riverside walk at Lerryn - thought to be the inspiration for the book The Wind In The Willows - and the lost pleasure gardens of Tivoli Park
-
St Mabyn to Pencarrow House
3.8 miles/6.1 km - Easy-moderate
A fairly easy circular walk from St Mabyn past the church and inn and through rolling countryside to Pencarrow House and its magnificent gardens.
-
Land's End
3.9 miles/6.3 km - Easy-moderate
A circular walk on the rugged cliffs at the most westerly point of the British mainland with spectacular views and spectacular wildflowers.
-
Penzance to Newlyn
3.9 miles/6.3 km - Easy-moderate
A circular walk at Mount's Bay from the largest port town in the bay to the harbour of Cornwall's largest fishing fleet.
-
Porthcothan, Bedruthan Steps and Mawgan Porth
4.4 miles/7.1 km - Easy-moderate
A (bus-assisted) one-way walk along the coast with spectacular wildflowers and one of Cornwall's most photographed views over the volcanic rock stacks of Bedruthan Steps, which Victorians liked to think of as a giant's stepping stones.
-
Marazion to Perranuthnoe
4.9 miles/7.9 km - Easy-moderate
A mostly circular walk to Perranuthnoe beach from one of Britain's most ancient towns - Marazion - burnt down twice by the French and once more in a Cornish rebellion
-
Falmouth and Pendennis Head
5.3 miles/8.6 km - Easy-moderate
A circular walk around the thriving town of Falmouth which didn't exist until Elizabethan times when Sir Walter Raleigh suggested that the largest natural harbour in Europe would be a good place to build a port town.
-
Widemouth to Bude
6.2 miles/10 km - Easy-moderate
A circular walk from Widemouth Bay along the Coast Path though the Phillips Point nature reserve to The Storm Tower at Compass Point and then along the Bude Canal to Whalesborough, returning across the fields to Widemouth.
-
Daymer Bay to Padstow
6.4 miles/10.3 km - Easy-moderate
A figure-of-8 walk from Daymer Bay thorough the dunes to Rock, passing the once-buried St Enodoc church, before crossing on the ferry to Padstow, and returning along three miles of sandy beaches.
-
Polperro harbour and headlands
2.9 miles/4.7 km - Moderate
A figure-of-eight walk around the fishing village and headlands surrounding Polperro, passing the net loft perched above the harbour, the Victorian sea pool, the site of the mediaeval chapel and the harbourmaster's route to the lighthouse.
-
Porthcurno to Penberth Cove
3 miles/4.9 km - Moderate
A circular walk with spectacular coastal scenery from Porthcurno to Penberth Cove, passing the famous wobbling boulder of Logan Rock and returning via the escape route from the wartime tunnels which housed one of the world's largest telegraph stations.
-
Mevagissey to Portmellon
3.4 miles/5.4 km - Moderate
A circular walk from the busy fishing port of Mevagissey into the Portmellon Valley and through the West Bodrugan Woods nature reserve to the beachside village of Portmellon where boats have been built for hundreds of years, and still are.
-
Padstow town
3.5 miles/5.6 km - Moderate
A short circular walk from Padstow harbour to the viewpoints at the War Memorial and Victorian obelisk, the Elizabethan Manor at Prideaux Place, and including some pretty back streets that lie off the main tourist routes.
-
Pendeen to Portheras Cove
4.0 miles/6.5 km - Moderate
A circular walk from Pendeen via the Geevor and Levant mines to the lighthouse at Pendeen Watch returning via the white, sandy beach at Portheras Cove.
-
Lelant to St Ives
4.3 miles/7 km - Moderate
A one-way walk to St Ives along the beaches from Lelant including the vast expanse of Porthkidney Sands, Carbis Bay and Porthminster Beach using the bus to make the route circular.
-
St Ives
4.3 miles/7 km - Moderate
A circular walk at St Ives along the granite coastline and white sandy beaches which have inspired so many artists, through some of the most famous parts of the town including the harbour, The Island and The Tate, and via the church and holy well of Celtic girl Ia who, according to legend, was the first to settle here.
-
Bedruthan Steps
4.5 miles/7.3 km - Moderate
A circular walk with spectacular views of the rock stacks at Bedruthan Steps about which the myth of a giant's stepping stones was concocted for the amusement of Victorian tourists flocking to Padstow and Newquay on the new railway.
-
Mullion three coves
4.5 miles/7.2 km - Moderate
A walk to the Victorian harbour of Mullion Cove via two sandy coves either side of where Marconi made history by achieving what was thought impossible by many of the scientific community at the time - the transmission of a radio signal all the way across the Atlantic.
-
Fowey to Polridmouth
4.7 miles/7.6 km - Moderate
A figure-of-eight walk from Readymoney Cove past the Tudor fort and along the coast where Daphne Du Maurier lived to Polridmouth where the shipwreck inspired the end of her book Rebecca, and then along the mediaeval streets of Fowey.
-
Lelant Saltings to Carbis Bay
4.8 miles/7.7 km - Moderate
A circular walk from Lelant following St Michael's Way along the vast stretch of beach from Porthkidney Sands to Carbis Bay, with views over St Ives Bay on the return route.
-
Hell's Mouth to Godrevy
5.0 miles/8.1 km - Moderate
A circular walk following the coast from Hell's Mouth past the large grey seal colony at Mutton Cove and Godrevy lighthouse to the sandy beaches of St Ives Bay, returning via a pilgrimage route along the Red River Valley.
-
Lerryn to St Winnow
5.1 miles/8.2 km - Moderate
A circular walk to the creekside church of St Winnow along the River Fowey and Lerryn where hoards of Roman coins have been found on the river banks, and overlooked by the manor house that is thought may have been the inspiration for Toad Hall in The Wind in the Willows.
-
Gunwalloe Coves
5.3 miles/8.5 km - Moderate
A circular walk from the Loe Bar to Dollar Cove passing the wrecks of treasure ships whose cargo still washes ashore, returning via the Halzephron Inn which still has a trapdoor leading to an underground network of tunnels used by smugglers.
-
Rame Head and Cawsand
5.6 miles/9.0 km - Moderate
A circular walk around Rame Head - the southeastern corner of Cornwall - past the mediaeval chapel and the remains of a huge gun battery, now a nature reserve, on Penlee Point to Cawsand which was once the smuggling capital of Cornwall.
-
Mount Edgcumbe to Kingsand
5.7 miles/9.1 km - Moderate
A circular walk though the Mount Edgcumbe Country Park to Kingsand with views over Plymouth Sound including Drake's Island where Drake set sail to circumnavigate the globe, and the breakwater which Napoleon described as an engineering masterpiece as he left England on his prison ship.
-
Newquay
5.8 miles/9.3 km - Moderate
A circular walk around the UK's surf capital which was transformed from a tiny fishing village with a few thatched cottages when, in order to export ore from the harbour, a horse-drawn tramway was built across Cornwall which later became part of the Great Western Railway.
-
Sennen Cove and Land's End
6 miles/9.7 km - Moderate
A circular walk from the white sandy beach at Sennen Cove along the towering granite cliffs via Land's End to the song of the sea cave at Nanjizal. The best way to see Land's End.
-
Chapel Porth to St Agnes
6.1 miles/9.8 km - Moderate
A circular walk along the coast between the golden sandy beaches of Chapel Porth and Trevaunance Cove at St Agnes via the iconic engine houses of Wheal Coates, perched above the breakers.
-
Bedruthan Steps to Porthcothan
6.2 miles/10 km - Moderate
A circular walk featuring some of the most spectacular scenery of the North Cornish coast including the rock stacks of Bedruthan Steps, the azure lagoon of the Trescore Islands and the sheltered golden sandy beach at Porthcothan.
-
St Ives to Carn Naun
6.8 miles/11 km - Moderate
A circular walk from St Ives on the ancient churchway towards Zennor and returning along the rugged coast to Porthmeor where a Victorian cargo ship and the St Ives lifeboat were both wrecked and the ship's boilers are still visible at low tide.
-
Trevone to Padstow
7.4 miles/12.1 km - Moderate
A circular walk to Padstow from Trevone beach, which tracks the route taken by sailing ships along the rugged Atlantic coast to the daymark at Stepper Point, past the infamous Doom Bar and the sandbanks of Hawker's, Harbour and St George's coves before finally reaching safe harbour in Padstow.
-
Poldhu Cove to Cury
7.6 miles/12.3 km - Moderate
A circular walk via some of the mediaeval farmsteads on the west of The Lizard to the ancient churchyard of Cury from the coves of Mullion and Gunwalloe where the wrecks of treasure ships still lie.
-
Talland Bay to Polperro
2.5 miles/3.9 km - Moderate-strenuous
A circular walk between Talland Bay and Polperro along an area of coastline so famous for smuggling that there is even a museum on the subject.
-
Port Isaac
3.3 miles/5.3 km - Moderate-strenuous
A short circular walk in Doc Martin Country including the pretty fishing village of Port Isaac and the historic beach of Port Gaverne with birds-eye views over the harbour.
-
Caerhays Castle to Hemmick Beach
3.8 miles/6.1 km - Moderate-strenuous
A circular walk along Roseland coast between two sandy beaches from Caerhays Castle where the gardens contain nationally-important collections from the expeditions of Victorian plant hunters
-
Hall Walk from Fowey to Polruan
3.8 miles/6.1 km - Moderate-strenuous
A circular version of famous Hall Walk from Boddinnick to Polruan, recorded as a walk with "sweete senting flowers" in Tudor times and during the Civil War where a gun shot aimed at Charles I is said to have instead killed a fisherman who stood on the same spot moments later.
-
Lamorna and St Loy
5.1 miles/8.2 km - Moderate-strenuous
A circular walk visiting prehistoric stone circles, crosses and tombs and along the granite cliffs from Lamorna Cove to the sea-polished boulders of St Loy's Cove where sailors of a sinking vessel were able to climb to safety onto a large ship which had been wrecked there seven months before.
-
Porthcurno, Porthgwarra and Gwennap Head
5.4 miles/8.7 km - Moderate-strenuous
A circular walk from Porthcurno, passing the Minack Theatre, St Leven's Holy Well, Porthchapel and Porthgwarra beaches, to Gwennap Head where the English Channel meets the Atlantic and the Runnelstone Reef has claimed so many ships that divers are unsure where the wreckage is from.
-
Zennor to The Carracks
5.4 miles/8.6 km - Moderate-strenuous
A circular walk towards St Ives from Zennor following the Coast Path past the haunts of the legendary mermaid of Zennor to the islets of The Carracks, frequented by seals, and returning on the Coffin Path, along which villagers made their final journey to Zennor church.
-
Porthleven to Rinsey Head
6.8 miles/10.9 km - Moderate-strenuous
A circular walk from Porthleven to the cliff-edge engine houses of Rinsey Head and Trewavas where the under-sea mine, set out with tables and food for the annual Tribute dinner, is said to have been breached by the sea just minutes before all the miners were due underground.
-
Talland Bay to Looe
6.8 miles/10.9 km - Moderate-strenuous
A circular walk along the coast from Talland Bay to Looe, passing the pilgrimage site of Looe Island which Jesus was said to have visited as a child, and returning via the ancient Giant's Hedge in Kilminorth Wood and Talland's mediaeval church.
-
Mevagissey to Charlestown
7.6 miles/12.3 km - Moderate-strenuous
A one-way coastal walk, made circular via an initial bus journey, from the fishing port of Mevagissey to Charlestown - one of the best-preserved Georgian ports in the world and an engineering masterpiece which included a seven-mile-long leat.
Download the iWalk Cornwall app and use the QR scanner within the app to find out more about any of the walks above.