Autumn beach bliss

Four beautiful beaches to check out this Autumn. Starting with Cawsand in the South East and then down west to St Ives and then to Harlyn Bay on the North Coast before journey's end at Sennen beside Land's End.

So wherever you find yourself in Cornwall, at least one of these beaches is just 30 minutes away.

Cawsand
A pleasant east-facing shingle beach with rock pools and inlets for children to play in and along with its sheltered location Cawsand proves to be a popular beach with families. There is quite a bit to do in Cawsand and its neighbour Kingsand including locating the ancient county border.

Porthgwidden
The smallest beach of soft golden sand in St Ives, near to the Island, and very popular with families as it is very sheltered and quite an east-facing sun trap. Car parks located in town - but the large car park at the top of town is a hard climb back up. Why not park at Lelant Saltings and enjoy the scenic railway branch line right to the heart of the town.

Harlyn Bay
Considered one of the best family beaches in Cornwall, Harlyn Bay is a wide and spacious beach of yellow sand and pebbles with plenty of interesting rock pools backed by dunes and situated on the eastern side of Trevose Head, just west of Padstow. With its reputation as one of the safer beaches in the county, the crescent shaped bay is popular with novice surfers who can learn to master the waves with surf schools who run sessions from the beach. There’s a fascinating combination of rocky shoreline, sand, dune and tide pools to explore and the beautiful bay is also an unbeatable location to have a go at sea kayaking. For walkers there are delightful routes from the beach to Mother Ivy’s Bay and Trevose Head.

Sennen
As you approach the village it’s not long before you spot the huge blue rollers heading towards the shore which makes Sennen Cornwall’s most westerly surf hotspot. With a long, sandy beach and small harbour the village combines working fishing port with laid back surf style. On the beach there are top rate surfing conditions and safe bathing within flagged areas which are moved frequently to follow tidal movements. While along the seafront, cafes, restaurants, pubs, galleries and shops provide the onshore niceties. The Pedn-men-du, a promontory that protects the cove from the westerly Atlantic gales, is a popular haunt for climbers and in the village the lifeboat station established over 150 years ago is open to visitors until the end of October.