Jamaica Inn

Standing alone on the open moor at Bolventor, just off the A30 roughly halfway between Launceston and Bodmin, Jamaica Inn is one of the best-known inns in Britain. Built in 1750 as a coaching inn on the old road across Bodmin Moor, it gave travellers and their horses a welcome halt on one of the loneliest routes in Cornwall - and, as the stories go, was a convenient stopping point for smugglers moving contraband inland from the coast. The slate-hung, Grade II listed building, with its cobbled courtyard and low-beamed bars, still has the feel of an old moorland inn.

Its fame today owes most to Daphne du Maurier. In 1930 the young writer and a friend became lost in the mist while out riding on the moor and found shelter at the inn. The experience, and the tales of smugglers and wreckers she heard there, inspired her novel Jamaica Inn, published in 1936, in which Mary Yellan comes to live at the inn with her sinister uncle and turns for help to the vicar of nearby Altarnun. Alfred Hitchcock filmed the story in 1939, and the inn has drawn readers and film fans ever since. The name itself is thought to come from the local Trelawny family, two of whom served as Governors of Jamaica in the 18th century.

Inside, the Smugglers Museum holds one of the finest collections of smuggling artefacts in the country, telling the story of the contraband trade in tea, brandy, silk and tobacco that flourished along the Cornish coast in the 18th century, with a short film on the history of the inn. Alongside it, the Daphne du Maurier room is filled with memorabilia from the author's life, including her Sheraton writing desk - laid out with a packet of the du Maurier cigarettes named after her father and a dish of Glacier Mints, her favourite sweets.

The inn is open to everyone, not just overnight guests. The Smugglers Bar and restaurant serve food from breakfast through to evening, the gift shop is stocked with Cornish produce, books and souvenirs, and in fine weather the outdoor seating and children's play area look out over the moor. Jamaica Inn also has a long-standing reputation as one of the most haunted buildings in Britain - it featured on television's Most Haunted in 2004 - and regularly hosts paranormal investigation evenings, murder mystery nights and seasonal events. Since 2022 it has been run by the Coaching Inn Group, and offers a range of hotel bedrooms for those who want to stay on the moor.

For many visitors Jamaica Inn is simply the start of a day on Bodmin Moor. Legendary Dozmary Pool, said to be home of the Lady of the Lake, lies about a mile and a half to the south, while to the north-west the open moor rises to Brown Willy and Rough Tor, Cornwall's highest points. The moor is rich in stone circles, standing stones and hut circles, and ponies, cattle and sheep graze freely - so take care on the unfenced moorland roads.