St Austell

St Austell sits in a stretch of Cornwall shaped by china clay. The pale, pyramid-like spoil heaps that rise above the town are the legacy of an industry that once defined this corner of the county, and that history is still visible in the landscape and told at Wheal Martyn Clay Works, where the old workings have been kept open to visitors. It gives St Austell a character quite different from the fishing-village image of Cornwall further along the coast — this is a working town first, with the sea and its old harbours a short distance away rather than on the doorstep.

Most visitors base themselves in or around the town itself, where hotels and b&bs range from characterful inns like The Ship Inn and The Royal Inn to The Old Vicarage and The White Hart Hotel, with Travelodge St Austell and Travelodge Bodmin Roche covering the more straightforward options. For something closer to the ground, Innis Campsite is the pitch to know. The spread of places means you can find a quiet pub-with-rooms or a plain, convenient base depending on what you're after.

The big draw for many is what lies just outside town. The Eden Project's biomes rise out of a disused clay pit a few miles away, and The Lost Gardens of Heligan's restored Victorian gardens are equally close, both making the most of this reclaimed, layered landscape. Closer to St Austell itself, the Shipwreck Treasure Museum picks up on the coastal side of the area's story, while families have Cornwall FootballGolf Park and Ozzell Bowl for a more active day out, and St Austell Leisure Centre covers indoor sport and swimming.

What makes St Austell worth the stop is this combination: a landscape properly transformed by industry, now given over to some of Cornwall's best-known gardens and attractions, with a working town and a coastline still close behind it.