2 Best Sights in St. Mawes, The West Country

North of St. Mawes on the A3078 is St. Just in Roseland, one of the most beautiful spots in the West Country. The tiny hamlet has a 13th-century church set within a subtropical garden, often abloom with magnolias and rhododendrons, as well as a holy well and a graveyard on the banks of a secluded creek.

Outside the village, the well-preserved Tudor-era St. Mawes Castle has a cloverleaf shape that makes it seemingly impregnable, yet during the Civil War its Royalist commander surrendered without firing a shot. (In contrast, Pendennis Castle in Falmouth held out at this time for 23 weeks before submitting to a siege.) Outdoor theater productions occasionally take place here in summer.