England’s best view? Tintagel, Cornwall, where seas of turquoise crash on slate tinged with copper

Simon Jenkins chooses Tintagel, Cornwall as one of England’s best views.

The new footbridge at Tintagel Castle, Cornwall.
The new footbridge at Tintagel Castle, Cornwall.
(Image credit: David Levene)
Country Life
By
published
in Features

‘A dark headland hovers over a massive rock. Round it crash seas of a turquoise colour produced by light acting on copper embedded in slate. This is a place where history has conceded total victory to myth. The small village is surrounded by a rampart of hot-dog stalls and an outer bailey of caravan and camp sites.

'The exploitation of Tintagel is not new. The link with Arthur derives from a 12th-century cleric, Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote a work of fiction with the unhelpful title of History of the Kings of Britain. The story consumed all Europe throughout the Middle Ages and beyond.

'The setting is tremendous, a vista of brutal rocks and headlands stretching in either direction along the Atlantic shore. '

This piece originally ran in Country Life in 2013, and was extracted from England's 100 Best Views by Simon Jenkins, published by Profile books in October 2013.

Country Life
Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.

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