Landscape artists and photographers talk of The Roseland as a grail of unspoilt beauty on the Cornish Riviera, with a variety of scenery unparalleled even on this spectacular coast.

Protected from the prevailing south westerlies by the great mass of The Lizard, the peninsula runs almost due south from Tregony. On its western side, it flanks the River Fal and the great estuary called Carrick Roads; to the east, it swings past Bohortha, Greeb Point and Portscatho in a succession of shallow curves to the broad sweep of Gerrans Bay.

From the mediaeval village of Ruanlanihorne, through Philleigh and St Just-in-Roseland to St Mawes, the many probing fingers of the river have created wooded banks and tall cliffs, secluded creeks and golden beaches. In The Roads are the broad reaches of water that sailors and windsurfers love. Above King Harry Ferry, the estuary contracts and splits into a lush delta of moorland, punctuated by ancient villages with welcoming pubs for the angler and ambler, or twitcher come to see the area s rich birdlife.

Leave the main road for byways to see the riverside church and gardens at St Just-in-Roseland. Take the coast path from there to St Mawes and its extraordinary cloverleaf castle, built by Henry VIII. Or strike east to the twin picture-villages of Gerrans and Portscatho, and north to see the famous roundhouses of Veryan, and buy lobster or crab fresh off the quay at the lovely old fishing village of Portloe.

Time your visit to coincide with one of the many regattas, fetes, carnivals or gig-races, but never mind if you miss them: in the Roseland, every day feels special.

Things to see and do:

• The Eden Project
• Roman Hill Fort, Tregony
• Trelissick Gardens
• The King Harry Chain-Link Ferry (Philleigh-Feock)
• The Riverside Church and Sub-Tropical Gardens at St Just-in-Roseland
• Numerous coastal path walks
• St Mawes Harbour and Village & Tudor Castle
• St Anthony Lighthouse & Battery
• National Maritime Museum, Falmouth
• Turnaware Bar and Tolverne (D-Day Embarkation Points)
• Carne and Pendower Beaches (Linked at Low Tide)
• The Roundhouses of Veryan
• Portloe, the Prototype of an 18th century Cornish Fishing Village