Cornwall is a peninsula: separated from Devon by the river Tamar, and held by the sea on every other side. That shape explains most things about it.
Two coasts
The north coast faces the Atlantic and takes its swell, which is why surfers and weather arrive together on that shore. The south coast opens onto the English Channel and is calmer, a coast of creeks and shelter.
The spine
A granite spine runs down the county, from Bodmin Moor to the moors of the far west. Brown Willy, on Bodmin Moor, is the highest point in Cornwall, and the granite that built it has been quarried, mined and built with for as long as people have lived here.
Drowned valleys
The south coast's rivers end in drowned valleys, or rias, such as the Fal, the Fowey and the Helford: deep, sheltered water where the land once ran further out and the sea came back in.
Out to sea
The Isles of Scilly lie about 28 miles off Land's End, the last land before the Atlantic begins.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornwall
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Willy
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isles_of_Scilly
Last checked: 2026-10-11