Photograph: Alamy
Period drama series Poldark, set in Cornwall, was one of the most talked-about programmes of 2015. As Poldark returns to our screens for its second series, we asked Guardian readers to tell us what they love about region.
‘Beautiful coves, pretty villages and dramatic coastline and the amazing aquamarine sea’
I’ve been on holiday to Cornwall nearly every year since I was a few months old. One of my favourite memories is riding the massive waves with my sister and two cousins in a dinghy at Poldhu Cove in 1975. Cornwall has a magic about it for me and for my family: beautiful coves, pretty villages and dramatic coastline and the amazing aquamarine sea. I love the family atmosphere of Poldhu Beach with its windbreaks, rock pools and beach cafe. In the evening it has a particular beauty as sun goes down.
The Southwest coastal path around the Lizard is stunning. Kynance to Cadgwith has the clearest aquamarine water and little beaches that look Caribbean. The cliffs here are covered with gorgeous wildflowers.
Tracey, 51, teaching assistant, Suffolk
Boscastle
After all the destruction, Boscastle has been recreated, safer and just as beautiful as before
‘A little corner of Britain which has been mostly forgotten or overlooked’
I love Cornwall for many reasons. I have happy travel experiences with friends and years later, family. The sheer beauty of the landscape, the coast, the abandoned mines where several of my ancestors worked. Plus, Cornwall is the only place in the world where people do not ask about the origin of my unusual surname as it comes from old Cornish. When I am in Britain, heading to Cornwall feels like going home.
Ten years ago I was left for four days in the UK with my three sons. I had planned to stay in Devon and avoid driving and dealing with English traffic but got lost and ended up in Cornwall. We spent three magical days staying at the Coverak Youth Hostel and touring the region. The weather was splendid and I relished sharing with my children all the things I loved about Cornwall. And I enjoyed the driving too. The boys particular memory of Cornwall however is less illustrious. It involves traipsing through a cow paddock on my most infamous short cut which took us several miles out of our way. The landscape is stunning with a rugged coastline seeped in history, the towns interesting reflecting with a early twentieth century feel.
I would describe Cornwall as a little corner of Britain which has been mostly forgotten or overlooked. It has a distinct character that is resistant to change, rather like my Cornish ancestors.
My visits to Cornwall have been too brief to have a real appreciation of the culture so my favourite thing about Cornwall is the land itself and the history from ancient to recent industrial that shapes it.
Janette Menhennet, Australia
‘It’s incredibly therapeutic and never fails to make me feel happy’
I love the diversity of Cornwall, and the fact that the there are such huge differences between the north, south and west coasts. Its a spectacular place with a magnificent coastline and a beauty which is overwhelming.
The region is very special to me as I have been visiting it all of my life and I never grow tired of it. I discover new things every time I go. It is a magical place with its celtic roots and culture.
My most treasured memories are of the years I spent camping every year with my two children and friends on the north coast. Every year I spent there was so special and no matter how tired I felt when I arrived, there was a magic about the place that was completely relaxing and healing. I also built some fantastic memories with my children and they too share my love of the county.
Fantastic sandy beaches which stretch for miles along the coastline, huge waves which roll in from the Atlantic on the north coast which make surfing ideal, small quaint fishing villages, beautiful rivers and estuaries, dramatic cliffs and the ruggedness of the moors where the weather can change so quickly and dramatically.
Its a perfect place for walking, surfing, exploring or just relaxing
It never fails to disappoint me no matter how many times I visit. My most favourite thing is walking along the beaches and cliffs and taking in the magnificent scenery. It’s incredibly therapeutic and never fails to make me feel happy.
Debbie, 57, Loughborough
‘Cornwall is my home, it is where I belong and I will never leave it’
The photograph is of the cliffs at Porthcurno. The weather had been wild that day despite it being Summer, great gusts of wind and driving rain but the forecast for down West was that it would change briefly for the better before sunset. It’s a long drive from St. Austell where I live to Porthcurno, but I took the chance and set off. I arrived an hour and a half later to slate grey skies and Biblical rainfall. Far out in the Atlantic was the promised break in the clouds moving swiftly towards me and when it reached the cliffs the light was extraordinary a wonderful orange glow diffused by the spray cast up by the storm.
Cornwall is my home, it is where I belong and I will never leave it. I love that I can, with a little walking and scrambling, have beaches such as Strangles and Tregardock on the North Coast to myself. I never tire of them, there is always something new to find and however often I visit they are always renewed by a difference in season or light or tide.
Tim, Cornwall
Natural grace
This Mud Maid at the Lost Gardens of Heligan is left to be reclaimed by nature over the years
‘Manchester is always busy and polluted. My real home in my heart is, and always will be, Kernow’
Cornwall means everything to me. Me and my family used to go every summer, to surf on the beach and eat too much ice cream. I made some great friends down there, and I wish beyond anything that I could go back to my true home of Hayle.
My favourite thing about Cornwall besides the pasties is Gwithian beach and the large chalet on the cliff tops where my family used to stay. Its such a shame that I can’t remember it’s name, I can remember that it was next door to the Sunset Surf cafe, which does the best post-surfing cheesy chips.
I need to walk across Gwithian beach again. Manchester is always busy and polluted. My real home in my heart is, and always will be, Kernow.
Jo, 22, Manchester
Close encounter with the wildlife
I was walking along the harbour with my 2 boys when the youngest one screamed 'seal!' whilst approaching the water edge. We all looked downed and our gaze met with the gaze of this adorable creature. Only in Cornwall.
‘Pasties that smell like sweaty armpits with a short pastry and meaty filling that tastes and is rich and satisfying’
Cornwall is often rugged and bleak, windswept and cold. Often it has summers where the sun mostly fails to shine and the cliffs are battered by high waves and the land soaked by salt spray. The seas are high and dangerous, the clouds lowering and grey. It rains so much on the southwestern peninsula that we call it ‘Cornish sunshine’. This is my homeland and very far from metropolitan trivia.
Cornwall is best experienced in the outdoors on tired feet, looking at blasted old tin mines on steep cliffs still coloured by the heavy metals cut from the tunnels. Steep and dangerous cliffs topped with heathland and weirdly wind-twisted trees and bushes. Mad seas and sweeping horizons, huge skies dark and glowering, wide beautiful untrustworthy beaches. Pasties that smell like sweaty armpits with a short pastry and meaty filling that tastes and is rich and satisfying.
The cool and calm autumn when the financially necessary but not much wanted tourists have stopped coming and the beaches are wide and empty, the clifftops desolate and lonely and the small Cornish coves and villages once again bearable in their relative emptiness.
Anonymous, Plymouth
Just look at this view
No filter, no fuss, an image taken with an iPhone, walking into Sennen Cove from Land's End last year. So beautiful, Cornwall stops you in your own tracks time and time again.
‘A place to explore and find the part in the county which is your heart’s special home from home’
I love Cornwall because it has strong childhood memories for me. It is where my love of the countryside was broadened. It is where we now go to holiday and visit.
The light in the far west is so unusual. You can see why artists love St.Ives. The Fal estuary is where I spent some time sailing as a child. I love the King Harry Ferry and it’s rhythmic clunking, and the mythical Mousehole too.
A beautiful place with outstanding scenery, beaches and a unique character in Britain. A great place for those who want peace and quiet or a bit of liveliness. A place to explore and find the part in the county which is your heart’s special home from home.
Adrian, 50, Devon
View of the Fal estuary from Trelissick House
Poldark would have loved it here!
