Crantock River Beach

Crantock is a broad, dune-backed sweep of golden sand where the tidal River Gannel winds out across the beach to meet the sea. Behind the dunes rise the wildlife-rich grasslands of Rushy Green, and the wider estuary, now cared for as a haven for wildlife, carries reminders of older working life, including a ruined limekiln at Penpol Creek.

There is a particular curiosity to seek out on the northern side. In the first of the caves, reachable only at low tide, a flat slab carries the outline of a woman and a few lines of verse, with a small horse incised alongside; these carvings are the work of a local man, Joseph Prater, and are thought to date from the early 1900s.