PENTEWAN
Pentewan - 'pen' meaning headland, and 'tewan' meaning sandhill, hillocks, or dunes (Cornish)
Just a pleasant stroll or cycle away, along the riverside and woodland footpath, is the village of Pentewan. Here you'll find a long stretch of sandy beach, ideal for sunbathing, sand castle building, swimming, windsurfing and sailing, and dogs are banned during the summer (so no nasty surprises while you're paddling!)
The handful of shops (including a post office) can provide everything you need for your seaside activities:
From the village, there is access to the Coastal Path, with its spectacular cliff top views and access to historic sites and monuments.
Incredibly, Pentewan itself is full of history. Today, it is a small, pretty holiday centre, but from the 19th Century onwards it was an important port and industrial centre, and you can see evidence of this all around you. On the way to the beach you will pass the remains of the old harbour which was built to house the local fishing vessels and cargo ships trading in coal, timber, and china clay. The goods were transported on a purpose-built, narrow-guage railway linking St Austell's china clay mines to the port - and if you walked here along the footpath from the campsite, you'll have traced some of it's route. In the 20th Century, sand was taken from the beach, on the railway to be used for building and in making concrete, and during the war, for making air-raid shelter parts! The sand and block works continued into the 60's when camping, caravanning, and tourism started to take over.
So, when you're down here on holiday, you can take a look around and find out more, and if you'd like to read up on the history of Pentewan in more detail there are one or two booklets available. Look out for 'Pentewan in the Past', by R. E. Evans, and G. W. Prettyman (Pentewan Publications, 1999, £3.95). It was researched and written by two local men, and will tell you the whole story from the 11th Century to the present day.