THERE is a steep climb on the South West Coast Path beside the cliff at Pentargon in North Cornwall, the path then following a route westwards to Penally Point which forms part of the spectacular entrance to the harbour at Boscastle and where there is a blowhole, referred to as the Devil’s Bellows, that sounds and spouts water when the tide is at lower levels. The cliffs here are inhabited by kestrels and peregines among other birds, and offshore is the Meachard, a rocky island that is home to seabirds.

Two stone harbour walls were originally built in Elizabethan times to protect the natural inlet at Boscastle from stormy seas. However, during the Second World War, a drifting mine wrecked the outer breakwater and the structure had to be rebuilt.

Boscastle was home to a commercial port in the 19th century with cargoes arriving and departing from other ports in the United Kingdom and from abroad, though trade started to tail off after the railway arrived at the nearby town of Camelford in the 1890s.

From the late-medieval period until the end of the 19th century, pilchards were pressed and preserved in the port and today a building utilised for this work has a newer use as a National Trust gift shop. The National Trust owns and cares for the harbour and the surrounding coastline, and some of the old cottages on the route between the centre of Boscastle and the harbour date from the 15th century.

Among the facilities and attractions in the centre of Boscastle, protected as a conservation area, are pubs, eateries, a pottery and a witchcraft museum. Listen out also for music from traditional sea shanty groups that have raised thousands of pounds for charities.

• Andrew Townsend is a journalist and writer. He further explores the county in the travel book, Cornwall Favourites For One And All!: A Quick Guide To Good Places To Visit Across The County, which is available in print and as an ebook. More details on Andrew’s books and ebooks can be found via this link to his author page on Amazon - bit.ly/AndrewTownsendAuthor