John Carter, King of Prussia
King of Prussia
Bessy's Cove on Cornwall's south coast, about three miles south-east of St. Michael's Mount, is better known as Prussia Cove - and thereby hangs a tale. As children in the latter half of the 18th century, the eight Carter brothers, sons of a miner from Breage, played war games in which John was always Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. When as adults John and Harry became Cornwall's leading smugglers, the nickname had stuck and their headquarters - John was the organiser, Harry the sailor trading with Brittany - became known as Prussia Cove. It is easy to imagine remote Prussia Cove being a smuggler's haven. Although little more than a mile from the main Helston to Penzance road, the lane even now stops at a small grassy car park, well short of the cove, and the path down is rough. The cove itself forms a small natural harbour, well protected from the Atlantic. Above the west side of the cove are some ancient and rather decrepit thatched huts once used by fishermen. A little further west, on a headland named Little Cudden, you can make out the bases of what may well have been the Carters' smugglers' stores. Continue west on the coast path for an exhilarating two mile walk (great views over Mount's Bay include St. Michael's Mount) as far as Perran Sands at Perranuthnoe with its sandy beach, snack shack and Victoria Inn gastro-pub.
Fishermen's (or Smuggler's) Hut above Prussia Cove
Signed from A394 Falmouth to Helston
Richard
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Land's End - and why not to go there
It is difficult to find words to express the shame for what has been done to Land's End. Both Jane and I remember it from our childhood as a place of magic with an end-of-the-world feeling, the only human intervention a small hotel and a tearoom. Then in 1981 Welsh entrepreneur David Goldstone outbid the National Trust for the estate. He sold on to the mysterious Peter de Savary (Skibo Castle, Bovey Castle and Caribbean resorts) in 1987. De Savary bought John o'Groats in 1989 but then got into financial trouble and sold both in 1991 to Isle of Man entrepreneur Graham Ferguson Lacey. Now the hotel has been greatly extended and vulgarised and a small and tatty theme park introduced to separate the visitor from his money. Much of the clifftop is roped off and inaccessible. Even the famed direction sign (New York 3147 miles) is subject to a fee if you want to be pictured by it. What a sad place it is! For a real end-of-the-world feeling you would do far better to go a mere five miles or so north to Cape Cornwall, which is owned by the National Trust but which, in the way of 'visitor attractions', has only the summer ice cream wagon in the car park. This is far more representative of the real Cornwall.