CORNWALL

Cornwall is a county of England's south-west peninsula, lying west of the River Tamar. Cornwall's county town and only city is Truro.

Cornwall, being exposed to the full force of the Atlantic Ocean, is composed entirely of resistant rocks, as less resistant rocks have been eroded away. The centre of the county is largely Devonian sandstone and slate. The north east of the county lies on Carboniferous sandstone. Cornwall is particularly known for its igneous outcrops, which include the granite of Bodmin Moor and the areas around Camborne and Land's End, and the dark green serpentine of the Lizard Peninsula. The granite forms high treeless moors on which sheep graze, and the characteristic Cornish cliffs.

Cornwall is the southernmost county of the British Isles, and therefore has a relatively warm and sunny climate. However, being unprotected from the Atlantic it also has more extreme weather. The average annual temperature for most of the county is 10.2 to 12 degrees Celsius, with slightly lower temperatures on the moors . The county has relatively high rainfall, though less than more northern areas of the west coast, at 1051 to 1290 mm per year . Most of the county enjoys over 1541 hours of sunshine per year .

Cornwall is famous for its pasties (a pastry dish- traditionally a Cornish Past contains meat and vegetables, often peppered), but saffron buns, Cornish Heavy (Hevva) Cake, Cornish fairings (biscuit), Cornish fudge and Cornish ice cream are also quite common.

Main towns and cities in Cornwall are:
Bodmin, Boscastle, Bude , Camborne, Charlestown, Coverack , Falmouth, Fowey , Hayle, Helston , Launceston, Liskeard, Lizard, Looe , Marazion, Mevagissey, Mousehole , Newlyn, Newquay, Newtown , Padstow, Penzance , Redruth , Saltash, St Austell, St Ives, St Just in Penwith, St Mawes , Truro Wadebridge

ATTRACTIONS

Bodmin and Wenford Railway , Bodmin Moor , Carn Euny , Carrick Roads , Chûn Castle , Chûn Quoit , Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Eden Project , Godrevy Island , Goonhilly Downs , Gweek seal sanctuary , Kynance Cove , Land's End , Lanhydrock House , Lanyon Quoit, The Lizard , Loe Pool , Lost Gardens of Heligan , Mên-an-Tol , Minack Theatre , Mullion Cove , Pendennis Castle , Penlee House, Poldhu , Polperro , Museum of Submarine Telegraphy , River Fowey , River Looe , Roseland Peninsula , South West Coast Path , St Mawes Castle , St Michael's Mount , Tintagel Castle , Trelissick Gardens , Truro Cathedral

TRANSPORT LINKS

Cornwall borders the county of Devon at the River Tamar. Major road links between Cornwall and the rest of England are the A38 which crosses the Tamar at Plymouth via the Tamar Bridge, and the A30 which crosses the border south of Launceston. A car ferry also links Plymouth with the town of Torpoint on the opposite side of the Hamoaze. A rail bridge, the Royal Albert Bridge, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1859) provides the only other major transport link.

Newquay has an airport which has flights from London Gatwick, London Stansted, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Dublin, Birmingham, Durham Tees Valley and a flight to Málaga has recently been announced. The airport shares RAF St Mawgan's runways and facilities; however, this is underthreat as the Ministry of Defence are planning to mothball the base