As recently signed up members of the National Trust (a sure sign you’ve hit middle age!), I spent a good amount of time trawling their website for sites in Cornwall that we could visit on our recent trip. Wheal Coates is an old tin mine, located on a dramatic clifftop above Chapel Porth beach, and the ruins are one of the most photographed places in Cornwall. The best viewing time is supposedly the evening, when you should see a spectacular sunset, but as we have a toddler, we took the easy option and visited on a moody looking morning.
There are 3 engine houses and from the car park you can take a circular walk amongst the heather and gorse and take in the dramatic sea views across the cliffs, before ambling across to explore the ruins.
The views are spectacular, even on a less than sunny day. Although it’s worth stating that the path does bring you fairly close to the edge of the cliff - perhaps not the best trip for anyone with particularly brave or curious children!
We took the pushchair which was a good test of the off-roading capabilities of the Bugaboo Cameleon, but it coped remarkably well.
Max loved exploring the paths and the ruins, as you can see.
Unfortunately the path was a bit uneven and this happened a few moments later - whoops!
A quick cuddle and he was back on his feet having a good explore of the ruins though.
You’ll notice that we didn’t have the best of weather on this trip - soon after these photos were taken a storm came in really quickly and before we knew it, it was raining pretty hard and we bid a hasty retreat to the car!
Information
Wheal Coates, Beacon Drive, St Agnes, Cornwall, TR5 0NT
Parking: Free for National Trust Members, charge in high season for non-members. You can wander down to Chapel Porth beach from this car park too.
Admission: Free, dogs welcome
