Rame Peninsula Cornwall – Mount Edgcumbe, Cawsand, Kingsand & Coastal Walks

THE RAME PENINSULA

The Rame Peninsula – “Cornwall’s Forgotten Corner”, as it is known locally – lies just across the Tamar from Devon in South East Cornwall. Bordered on three sides by water – the River Lynher, the River Tamar and Plymouth Sound – it is a haven of peace and quiet within sight of the city.

Getting to the Peninsula

Drivers reach the peninsula over the Tamar Bridge on the A38, or through Plymouth and across the Hamoaze on the Torpoint chain ferry. On foot, the Cremyll ferry crosses from Admiral’s Hard in Plymouth to Cremyll, at the gates of Mount Edgcumbe – a crossing used since medieval times – and in season the Cawsand Ferry sails from the Barbican across the Sound to land on Cawsand beach.

MOUNT EDGCUMBE COUNTRY PARK

The coast path begins at Cremyll and winds through the Mount Edgcumbe Country Park – over 800 acres of parkland, woodland and coast on the eastern tip of the peninsula, looking across to Plymouth. Sir Richard Edgcumbe built the original house between 1547 and 1553, and it remained the family seat for centuries.

The house was gutted by German bombing in 1941, and restoration began in 1958. Today the estate is owned jointly by Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council and has been open to the public since 1988. Its formal Italian, French and English gardens date from about 1750 to 1820, and follies, monuments and viewpoints are scattered through the park.

Mount Edgcumbe House & Country Park guide →

KINGSAND, CAWSAND & THE COAST

The twin villages of Kingsand and Cawsand make a perfect base. These former fishing villages are wonderfully unspoilt, with colour-washed cottages, narrow streets, pubs, cafés and small shops, all within a conservation area. Cawsand Bay has been a safe anchorage for centuries and is popular for swimming, kayaking and sailing.

The coast path continues along the cliffs past Penlee Point to Rame Head, crowned by the chapel of St Michael – licensed for Mass in 1397 – and on to the long sandy beaches of Whitsand Bay. The headland and Whitsand Bay form part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest for their wildlife and geology.

Inland, the villages of Millbrook, St John, Sheviock and St Germans are all worth a visit. Sea angling from the rocks is popular, with bass, wrasse, pollock and mackerel, and birdwatchers may see buzzards overhead, peregrines along the cliffs and cormorants fishing offshore. Looe and Polperro are a short drive west.

History & Heritage

The peninsula is steeped in history, from the Iron Age cliff fort on Rame Head to the great estates of the Edgcumbes at Mount Edgcumbe, the Carew Poles at Antony and the Eliots at Port Eliot, St Germans. The little medieval church of St Germanus at Rame is still lit by candlelight, and St Germans priory church stands on the site of Cornwall’s early cathedral. You can’t miss the great Victorian forts – Tregantle, Scraesdon and Picklecombe among them – built in the 1860s as “Palmerston’s Follies” to guard Plymouth against a feared French invasion. And all around is the sea, with its stories of shipwreck and smuggling.

Country Parks & Gardens

Mount Edgcumbe’s gardens are registered Grade I – visit early in the year for the camellias, walk along the water’s edge and take tea in the Orangery. Nearby Antony House has renowned gardens of its own, and the National Trust’s Cotehele and Lanhydrock and the Lost Gardens of Heligan are all within reach for a day out.

Walking & Boating

Set off from Cremyll – the ancient crossing point into Cornwall – and follow the coast path through Mount Edgcumbe to Kingsand and Cawsand, then on through the bluebell woods of Penlee to Rame Head, stopping at one of the village pubs for lunch. Spend the afternoon on Cawsand beach – swimming, kayaking or sailing in the sheltered bay – or try your luck for bass from the rocks or flatfish in Millbrook Creek. Just around the corner from Rame Head, the long sandy beaches of Whitsand Bay make a perfect base for a seaside holiday.

Golf

The cliff-top Whitsand Bay Golf Club at Portwrinkle, with sea views from every hole, is right on the doorstep, and St Mellion, with its course designed by Jack Nicklaus, and Looe Golf Club are each around half an hour away. Golf courses in Cornwall

Wildlife

The peninsula is rich in wildlife. Buzzards and kestrels hunt overhead and peregrines nest on the cliffs of Rame Head – look carefully and you may glimpse a Dartford warbler in the gorse. On the other side of the peninsula, the Lynher estuary hosts waders and seabirds, including little egrets, making the area popular with birdwatchers, artists and photographers.

Further Afield

The Rame Peninsula is a good base for exploring the rest of Cornwall and Devon. Plymouth, with its theatres, shops and history, is just across the water by ferry; Dartmoor, Looe and Polperro are around half an hour away, Bodmin Moor about 45 minutes, and Land’s End about an hour and a half.

ANTONY HOUSE (NATIONAL TRUST)

Antony House, near Torpoint, is an elegant early 18th-century house built for the Carew family, one of Cornwall’s great families, with gardens sloping down to the River Lynher. Now cared for by the National Trust, its grounds were used as a filming location for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 2008.