While many of the coastal villages have become gentrified to the point of being unrecognised, these twin villages still genuinely feel like the fishing ports they were of old. A string of stout-walled granite cottages run along the seafront, overlooked by a Victorian clock tower, and fronting a few small beaches that are great for a paddle. In bygone days, both villages were a notorious haven for smugglers, and secret tunnels are still said to run beneath the towns' streets.
The seafront also doubled as Margate in Mike Leigh's film Mr Turner, a testament to their traditional and unspoilt architecture. Fittingly, there's also a large and active artistic community here, and you might well run into someone painting en plein air down by the beach.
In summer, a ferry runs from Cawsand Beach to the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth. You can also walk to the village through the grounds of Mount Edgcumbe estate.
