Traditional picturesque cove
Web: www.portmellon.net
A small coastal settlement one mile south of Mevagissey and six miles south of St. Austell.
The beach at Portmellon is safe for bathing and there is a public slipway for launching boats. Portmellon has a long history of building boats with many wooden–hulled boats leaving the workshop over the years, including Denis Hame's 20-footer named Vivian. Although there is still a boatyard it is used mainly for storage and repairs of boats, no actual boat building takes place commercially today.
The sandy beach is set in a small cove, a twenty minute walk along the coast path from Mevagissey. The beach is around 150 yards long but is completely covered at high tide. At low tide there are plenty of rock pools to explore. Swimming here is considered safe but there are no lifeguards on patrol. On some occasions seals can be seen swimming off the beach or resting on the rocks.
The true nature of this delightful little east facing cove is betrayed by the fact that all the houses along the sea front have stout wooden shutters which can be closed over their windows for those times when storms drive the waves over the sea wall.
About twelve gig boats from different harbours in the South West arrived for the races at Portmellon Cove in August 2012.
A footpath continues to the south of Portmellon and after about a mile you arrive at Chapel Point, an isolated spit of land reaching out into the English Channel, offering a spectacular setting for the three houses built there (1933-1938). Daphne Du Maurier wrote about Chapel Point in her novel "The House on the Strand". The beach at Chapel Point is called Colona Beach.
Just up from Colona Beach along the Coastal Footpath to Turbot Point is Bodrugans Leap. So named because from here in 1487 it is said Sir Henry Bodrugan made a tremendous leap over the cliffs into a waiting boat and fled to France. He was being pursued by an army of Sir Richard Edgcumbe for treason.
Gorran Haven Mevagissey St. Austell The Coastal Footpath The Lost Gardens of Heligan