Polurrian Cove Beach

Polurrian Cove lies on the western, Mount's Bay side of the Lizard, the most southerly peninsula in mainland Britain, a short walk down a path from the large village of Mullion. It faces roughly west into the Atlantic and is hemmed in by tall, rugged cliffs, so at high tide the sand all but disappears and only opens into a wide, golden beach as the water draws back. The whole stretch sits within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Its character is unspoilt and slightly tucked-away. There is no commercial seafront crowding the shore; the beach is backed by cliffs and grassland, with the path down passing the grounds of the clifftop hotel that shares its name. That sense of being a little hidden, reached on foot and revealed by the tide, is much of why people return to it.