We hopped across the stepping stones and skirted a field. Round the next corner was a wild boar getting ready to charge, an enormous bull leaning into the wind, a gleaming white horse that must have galloped out of a fairy tale, and a feisty pair of goats. We spotted a pelican, its beak gaping wide to the sky, an owl camouflaged by silvery leaves, a swan taking off, and a scream of swifts.
This magnificent menagerie can be found in a free sculpture park that’s just up the hill from YHA Coverack on The Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, at 1.1 miles one of the shortest walks from the door that have been developed for YHA’s 2023 Festival of Walking, and one that is especially enjoyable for families with children.
The metal and ferro-concrete animal and bird sculptures are dotted about three adjacent meadows with views of the sea beyond. They were all made by the late Terence Coventry, a local farmer who strived to capture each creature’s “ruggedness and gentleness, their movement and behaviour”. There are also sculptures of people sitting on benches as if waiting for someone to sit down for a chat.
We also did a shortened version of a ‘moderate’ Festival of Walking route: Porthoustock and St Keverne (7.6 miles). Again, it had an animal theme, but this time they were real animals. The first stretch was along the coastal path to Lowland Point, where a family of seals basked on the rocks. Late summer flowers were blooming and there were butterflies everywhere. Lizards darted off the sunny path into the shadows.
Turning inland, we stopped for an ice cream at Roskilly’s, near St Keverne. Visitors are welcome to walk around the farm and meet their herd of 125 Jersey cows, as well as pigs patiently nursing their piglets, turkeys, chickens, and quails. We also saw the efforts the family have made, over many decades, to encourage biodiversity on their land, for example by creating several large ponds and a withy (willow) plantation, and leaving an ancient orchard to revert to nature.
Coverack is a beautiful whitewashed fishing village surrounded by sandy and pebbly beaches. There are honesty boxes for eggs and veg and aoniums, a well-stocked grocery store, an RNLI shop, and a place that hires out kayaks and paddleboards. In the peaceful time just before dusk people gather around the small harbour to chat and eat superlative, crispy chips from The Lifeboat House. You get a beeper so they can let you know when your order is ready. Kids go crabbing and — at high tide — jump off the harbour wall.
Lambeage Hall, near the hostel, runs community events such as film screenings and music nights. We were there for the annual Horticultural Show, with exhibit categories that included ‘Any Fancy Bread’, ‘Edible Jewellery’ and ‘A carnivorous plant in a pot’. (The Lizard, a paradise for botanists, has its own midge-eating plant, the Round-leaved Sundew.) Outside the hall is a small field for games and the most magnificently-located set of swings we’ve ever seen, with panoramic views of the sea. Sometimes you can see dolphins and porpoises from here.
As well as exploring the countryside immediately around Coverack, we went on a day trip to the National Trust’s Glendurgan, a sub-tropical valley garden containing massive tree ferns, gunneras and ginger lilies. The highlight is its spectacular cherry laurel maze, like a curvaceous tea plantation, originally planted in 1833 by Alfred and Sarah Fox for the entertainment of their 12 children. At the far end of the garden is a driftwood-lined beach on the tranquil estuary of the Helford River.
We also visited Kynance Cove, with its dramatic rock formations; Lizard Point, where there is a lighthouse, another YHA hostel, and cliffs swathed by curtains of succulent plants; and the colourful fishing village of Cadgwith. Continuing the animal theme, we found that in Helston you can take to the boating lake on a pedalo in the shape of a swan or flamingo!
One day we travelled further afield, to St Ives, where we flew our kite by the Tate gallery on Porthmeor Beach, watched the surfers, and collected sea glass along the tideline. Lunch was cheese and onion pasties from Pengenna, hot from the oven and each big enough for two people. After this, we didn’t quite have room to sample the Cornish speciality Heavy Cake.
YHA Coverack is a splendid Victorian house situated at the top of a hill. Its grand wooden staircase and balcony were salvaged from the wreck of the SS Mohegan, a steamship that foundered off The Manacles near St Keverne in 1898, with the loss of 106 lives, a preventable disaster as poignant as that of the Titanic. A contemporaneous newspaper article and other historical material about the wreck is displayed in the hostel.
We stayed in one of the bell tents on the lawn. Each night we could hear the ‘hoo-hoo-hoo’ of tawny owls in the woods. Over meals at our picnic table, we watched passing traffic in the English Channel, from small fishing boats to the vertiginous floating apartment block of a cruise liner. One evening we toasted marshmallows around our fire pit.
Many of the families we met at Coverack return here every year, and we could see why: it’s the perfect place for a peaceful seaside holiday.
