Porthear

You'll spot Porthear before you really know what you're looking at - a modest cove tucked between granite cliffs just outside Boswinger, with the kind of raw Cornish coastline that doesn't need much dressing up. It's small, intimate, the sort of beach that locals guard quite jealously. The rocks are dramatic, the sand gets swallowed by tide twice a day, and there's precious little infrastructure, which is exactly the point.

What makes it worth stopping for depends entirely on your tolerance for windswept, slightly melancholic shores. If you're after golden sand and ice cream vans, keep driving. But if you want to scramble over rocks, find pools teeming with starfish and anemones, or just sit with a book while the Atlantic works itself out against the headland, you've found something proper. Photographers come here at dusk when the light turns everything amber.

There's no entrance fee, no gates, no visitor centre. You park somewhere sensible near Boswinger and walk in. Allow an hour to explore properly, though two hours is better if you're serious about rockpooling. The tide matters here - check it before you go, otherwise you'll either be marooned or wading through seawater that's genuinely cold.

If you're camping at Treveague Campsite just down the lane, Porthear works brilliantly as a quieter morning walk before the crowds arrive elsewhere. It won't dominate your holiday plans, but it's the kind of stop that stays with you.