The last scrap of mainland Britain before the Atlantic, on cliffs made of a rare green-and-red rock found almost nowhere else
Open accessNational Trust land — free to wander
This is as far south as you can walk on the British mainland, and the cliffs are cut from serpentine, a dark rock veined green, red and white that local makers have turned on lathes into ornaments and model lighthouses for generations. The point has always been a menace to shipping, so a light has burned here in one form or another since 1751, and lifeboats put out from Polpeor Cove below for more than a hundred years before the station moved round to calmer water. The clifftop is free to wander, with a car park and café near the top. From the edge you can watch for choughs, back on these cliffs after decades away, and grey seals in the swell. The South West Coast Path runs along the top in both directions; head west and Kynance Cove is one of the finest stretches of the whole coast. Lizard Lighthouse still stands just to the south.
