The Coastal Scenery of a New British Show Is Hot With Tourists
Poldark and his miners. (Photo: Viglasky/Mammoth Screen for MASTERPIECE)
By Carole Sovocool
When PBS airs the first episode of the British drama Poldark this Sunday, you will be assured of an hour’s worth of pure eye candy. Yes, the cast is made up of very good-looking men and women, but the gorgeous scenery all but steals the show.
You may think you are looking at the Aegean, so turquoise is the sea, but in fact it’s Cornwall, in the very toe of England just about five hours southwest of London — a separate tectonic plate that smashed up into English shores 290 million years ago, bringing with it unique flora and fauna, a micro-climate and 400 miles of spectacular, unspoiled coastline.
Brits have long holidayed in Cornwall and neighboring Devon, but since the show aired in January in the UK to huge acclaim, there’s been a veritable stampede to the area now known as Poldark Country.
For anyone looking for real-life film locations, a good place to start is at the end — Land’s End, that is — at the westernmost shores of England. Head into National Trust territory at St. Just, where the view is laced with the remnants of the tin and copper mining trade that was Cornwall’s main economy from the 17th to the early 20th century.
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We meet up with Anthony Power, a mine custodian who acted as a consultant for Poldark. He shows us the Levant mine, which posed as Tressiders mine in the show and dates from 1748. Now owned by the National Trust and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its spectacular beam engine, installed in 1840, still works.
The Wheal Coates mine. (Photo: Matt Jessop/Visitcornwall.com)
With the increase in tourism, there are plans afoot to open up underground shafts to the public. (The aptly named Poldark Mine — once called Wendren Forge but renamed for the show in the 1970s — is currently the only mine with tunnels that can be traversed and where below-ground filming took place.)
A nearby coastal path around the cliffs of Botallack is an easy, level stroll and takes in the relics of the Owles and Crowns mine, which served as the mines of Wheal Leisure and Wheal Grambler (“wheal” means “hole” in the ancient Cornish language, a form of southwestern Brittonic Celtic).
Perched precariously on jagged cliffs over pounding sea, the mine shafts honeycomb out for a mile under the Atlantic Ocean.
It looks like a short trip to our next location by map, but the actual driving time is long. There’s no worrying about which side to drive on — the winding roads are barely one car wide — but you are never short of a view.
Much of the area, including 158 miles of coastline, is designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty, forever preserved from development, with trees overhanging the road, rainbow-colored wildflowers in the hedgerows, and moss-covered stone walls. Miles of public footpaths and coastal walks abound.
Related: The Lost Town of Dunwich, England
The “Poldark” crew at Porthgwarra cove. (Photo: St. Aubyn Estates Holidays)
Tucked away at the bottom of a steep hill, we reach the consummate hidden, rocky smuggler’s beach of Porthgwarra — the location for a now-iconic scene that sent British hearts a-racing when hunky Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner) skinny-dips in the aqua waters while being spied on from the cliffs by his intrigued kitchen maid, Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson). The tiny Porthgwarra Cove Café is an isolated oasis by the beach that served up pasties for the cast and crew until 4 a.m. during filming. Stop in for a cream tea and to buy postcards showing the behind-the-scenes action.
Heading southeast, we arrive at the lonesome church of St. Winwaloe, the only Cornish church to overlook a beach, Gunwalloe. This served as Hendrawna beach for a hellish nighttime scene portraying a shipwreck. It’s not without an air of authenticity — there have been an estimated 6,000 shipwrecks around Cornwall, more than anywhere else in England.
The most enigmatic area for Poldark fans, though, is across on the north shores of Cornwall, at St. Agnes. Author Winston Graham (1908-2003) lived here in Perranporth for 30 years, penning the first of his 12 Poldark novels while on coast guard duty during World War II.
As he watched over the pounding seas and miles of golden sand, he dreamed up Ross Poldark’s fictional home, Nampara. For filming, the bucolic St. Agnes area served duty. A 2.6-mile circular path (steep in bits) will take you from Chapel Porth up to the Wheal Coates mine. Street names in St. Agnes village — like Stippy Stappy — will also ring a bell for those who’ve read the books.
Nampara also has another stunt double 45 miles north, in Porthcothan. At the isolated surfer’s retreat surrounded by cliffs, low tide reveals a fairytale scene of draping moss over treacherous steps hewn into the cliff face.
Bodmin Moor by horseback. (Photo: Hallegenna Riding Holidays)
You have to go inland, though, to find the actual area where Nampara farmhouse is set — to Bodmin Moor, in fact. Thanks to computer graphic imaging, the cliffs were tacked on to farmhouses in the St. Breward area of Bodmin, an 80-square-mile expanse of yellow gorse and rocky tors where native ponies and unfenced cattle roam.
The best way to see Bodmin is on horseback. The four-hour Poldark ride from Hallagenna Farm can be adapted to all skill levels and shows you not only the filming locations but also a glimpse of the moor’s ancient legends of King Arthur’s Camelot and a mottled past of smuggling, piracy, and murder.
The modern county seat of Truro gets much play in the novels, and Blue Badge Guide’s Viv Robinson knows her Poldark, providing an inside look at the sites that were an integral part of Graham’s life and inspired his plots.
A coastal walk from Charlestown. (Photo: Carole Sovocool)
Graham was a stickler for historical detail, which is echoed in the BBC series. So since Truro has become too modern to play itself, Corsham, in nearby Wiltshire, was a stand-in, along with Charlestown on the south Cornish coast, which subbed as the quayside for the principal town.
The tiny harbor at Charlestown, complete with a shipwreck museum, an old tall ship and a handful of pubs and restaurants, has wide harbor walls that make the perfect pit stop for uber-creamy Cornish ice cream.
Meanwhile, Cornwall locals are buzzing with breaking news: Season 2 of Poldark has just been commissioned. Filming starts up again in September, with three more seasons to follow that. This is just the start of the Poldark effect. Not that there’s anything to worry about. Cornwall is always ready for its close-up.
The lowdown
Virgin Atlantic’s new fleet of 787 Dreamliner jets fly daily from JFK and Newark to London; around $1,750/RT.
For more information on where to stay and how to get around Cornwall, go to visitcornwall.com or visitbritain.com.
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