Looe in South East Cornwall

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The Where to Stay Directory - Accommodation in Looe

Looe Harbour

Looe's banjo Pier and Beach

Phoenix and The Chessewring Quarry

The Where to Stay Directory - Accommodation in Looe

Tourist Information Office The Guildhall, Fore St. East Looe. Tel (01503) 262072 Open from Easter - October

Popular with tourists for years, Looe still retains its importance as a major Cornish fishing port, with a sizeable fleet and busy fish market. Important in the middle ages and during the French wars, Looe continued to be busy in the 19th century, shipping stone and copper from the quarries and mines in the north.

You can enjoy a guided tour around East Looe's maze of narrow streets and courtyards, visit the 16th century Old Guildhall Museum, relive Looe's maritime past at the Living from the Sea exhibition, or just while away the hours on the sandy beach separated from the river mouth by the Banjo Pier.

Across the seven-arched Victorian bridge lies West Looe, with its 16th century Jolly Sailor Inn and St Nicholas Church and at Hannafore you can explore the rock pools on the beach and look across to St George's, or Looe Island, which has 12th century monastic cells and belonged once to the Abbot of Glastonbury.The island was popularised by the Atkins sisters in their books "We Bought an Island" and "Tales from our Cornish Island".

There are boat trips to the island in the summer season, as well as along the coast. For the more adventurous there are shark- fishing trips. A train journey on the Looe Valley Line will take you to the ancient stone circle at Duloe; the holy well at St Keyne; and Paul Corin's Music Machines.

Bays and Beaches

Travelling east along the coast, you can see Amazon woolly monkeys in the protected breeding colony of the Monkey Sanctuary. At the end of long, winding, wooded valleys are the beaches of Millendreath and Seaton and beyond Downderry the road runs along the cliffs through the village of Crafthole, standing high above the tiny harbour of Portwrinkle, a former fishing hamlet.

To the east lies the stunning four-mile stretch of sand and surf at Whitsand Bay, popular with beachgoers and shore fishermen. Guarding the entrance to Plymouth Sound is Rame Head, with its superb views, 400ft cliffs and 14th century chapel, where a beacon blazed at the time of the Armada. Look out for the many stone fortresses known as Palmerston Follies, a legacy of an 19th century defence initiative.

Continuing around the headland you will come across the little-visited, attractive and unspoilt coastal villages of Kingsand and Cawsand, backed by high wooded cliffs. Here the future Henry Vll landed before the Battle of Bosworth; later the villages were a smugglers' haven.

Mount Edgcumbe

Facing Plymouth across the Sound are the 865 acres of the Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, with an orangery, Italian Garden and historic house rebuilt after the original was destroyed in the Blitz. There is also a passenger ferry to Plymouth. Nearby is the charming medieval village of St John, and the sheet of tidal water known as St John's Lake is recommended for bird-watching and its views.

At Torpoint you can enjoy a fine view of the naval dockyards at Devonport, across the stretch of the Tamar Estuary called the Hamoaze. A car ferry can take you to Plymouth itself, with its fascinating harbour and numerous attractions.