Visit West Cornwall

Many historic and ancient sites are accessible only by foot or via narrow winding lanes. Limited parking is available in a few places, but the best way to see them is to catch a bus, or park in one of the newly-upgraded free car parks in the centre of St Just and Pendeen, and travel on foot from there.

From St Just car park it's only a short walk to stunning views at Cape Cornwall, Carn Gloose and the Kendijack and Cot valleys. From Pendeen car park you can walk along lanes to Pendeen Lighthouse and head west along the spectacular coastal path to take in three key mining sites - Geevor, Levant and Botallack. Or start in Zennor, head towards the coast and walk through farming landscapes which have barely changed since the Iron Age farmers first laid out their granite field walls.

Artistic, literary and film connections
Hammond Innes, Winston Graham and Helen Dunmore are amongst the authors who have been inspired by this landscape, and some the BBC's popular Poldark series was filmed along the coast around Botallack. Televised versions of novels by Rosamunde Pilcher have featured the area and proved to be particular popular in Germany. D H Lawrence, who lived for a time at the atmospheric Tinner's Arms in Zennor, wrote of the village: "it is a most beautiful place, a tiny village nestling under high, shaggy moorhills, a big sweep of lovely seas beyond, such lovely sea...It is the best place I have ever been in."

The coastal area around Zennor is indissolubly linked with gale-force winds, spectacular shipwrecks and creative and legendary figures. Leading artist Peter Lanyon wrote: "Here, in the small stretch of headland, cove and Atlantic adventure, the most distant histories are near the surface." Other leading artists who have lived or are living in the area and celebrate it in their work include Roger Hilton, Kurt Jackson, David Kemp, Rose Hilton, Anthony Frost and Jason Wason.

About the St Just Heritage Area Regeneration Project
By the end of 2005 a £3.9 million regeneration project in the St Just heritage area was completed. Its aim has been to refurbish, interpret and improve the safety of exceptional but hazardous heritage sites, enhance the appearance of the area and help boost the local economy visit by encouraging more people to visit St Just-in-Penwith and environs.

St Just is one of ten mining heritage areas pinpointed as key sites for development in Cornwall's bid to gain World Heritage Site status and as a direct result of the regeneration project, local people - especially contractors and their teams - have been employed, and their careful repair work on historic structures have demonstrated what all ten bid areas could achieve and enable future generations to enjoy major heritage sites.

The free car park in England's first and last town is now safer and more attractive with the addition of a Cornish style hedge, traditional-style lighting and CC TV cameras. It's 120 spaces are a stone's throw from St Just-in-Penwith's two main Squares with their exceptional range of shops, inns, art galleries and studios, medieval church with 15th century wall paintings and Plen-an-Gwary (medieval amphitheatre). Overhead electric cables have been removed from the central squares and footways re-paved with handsome Cornish granite, while in near-by Pendeen, Cornish granite has helped to transform the car park, a new track constructed for use by local school children and two new bus shelters erected.

The £3.9 million project was funded by the South West Regional Development Agency, Government Office for the South West, National Trust, English Heritage, Cornwall County Council, Penwith District Council, St Just Town Council and others.