The line of sea stacks
Queen Bess Rock, Samaritan Island and their neighbours rise from the sand at low tide in one of the north coast's most famous views.
Nilfanion — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nilfanion — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nilfanion — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nilfanion — CC BY-SA 4.0
Legend has a giant called Bedruthan striding across this bay using the rocks as stepping stones, and once you stand at the cliff edge and watch the great stacks march out of the sand one after another, you understand where the story came from. Queen Bess Rock, Samaritan Island and their neighbours make one of the most photographed views on Cornwall's north coast; they are Devonian slate and sandstone, left standing as the sea chewed away the softer rock around them. Less romantically, the name itself looks like a Victorian invention: its first written record dates only to 1847, and there is no trace of it in older accounts. Know this before you drive out: you will not reach the beach. The steep stone staircase that once dropped between the stacks has been shut since a rockfall in the winter of 2019-20, and although the National Trust's investigations found a repair technically possible, no reopening has been agreed, so treat Carnewas as a viewing terrace, not a beach. Even if it reopened, swimming here is genuinely dangerous: rip currents and a tide that races in and cuts people off among the rocks. The clifftop is the whole point, and the South West Coast Path runs through it free of charge at all hours. The walk from the car park to the viewpoints is short, about ten minutes on a surfaced path that a pushchair manages for most of the way, with benches and a fence at the edge. Children love it as long as they are held; the drops are open and the wind is strong. The café and shop occupy the buildings of a 19th-century mine that worked lead first and then iron ore, and the toilets open when the tea-room does: the shop runs roughly 10:30 to 17:00 and the tea-room to 16:00, with shorter hours in winter, while the car park itself is dawn to dusk. Entry is free; the car park charges non-members £2.50 for an hour, £5 for up to four hours and £9 for the day, and the machines take coins only, with exact change. Timing is the difference between a snapshot and a picture you frame: come at low tide when the sand shows around the stacks, or just before sunset when they turn to black silhouettes on a gold sea. From Newquay it is about a 20-minute drive north on the B3276 coast road (roughly 7 miles), and about the same from Padstow heading south. Without a car, bus 56 between Newquay and Padstow runs the coast road and stops at Mawgan Porth, leaving a clifftop walk of about two miles. On a foggy or wet winter day you will see nothing, so only make the trip in clear weather.
Queen Bess Rock, Samaritan Island and their neighbours rise from the sand at low tide in one of the north coast's most famous views.
Just before dusk the stacks become black silhouettes on a gold sea, and the fenced viewpoints are ten minutes from the car park.
The café and shop sit in the buildings of a 19th-century lead and iron mine, with the South West Coast Path running north to Park Head.
Carnewas, Bedruthan, near Padstow PL27 7UW
Yes, provided you come on a clear day at low tide or near sunset; the view from above is what people always came for, and the whole visit is one to two hours. If the children want a beach to play on, go to neighbouring Mawgan Porth and stop here for the photographs only. In fog or rain, do not come at all.
Most of the path from the car park to the viewpoints is surfaced and fairly level with benches along the way, so a pushchair copes and older visitors reach the view without strain. The wind at the edge is fierce and the fence covers only the main viewpoints, so keep small children close.