Morwenstow

Morwenstow is a stretch of north Cornish coast near the Devon border shaped by Parson Robert Stephen Hawker, vicar here from 1835 to 1874. He cared for shipwrecked sailors, wrote 'Song of the Western Men' and is credited with inventing the harvest festival, and he spent many hours in the hut he built on the cliff edge in 1843 from driftwood, now the smallest building in the Trust's care. The church beside the car park has stood for more than a thousand years, and the Trust's Rectory Farm, where monks lived in the fourteenth century, houses a tenant-run tea-room. Reviewers love the views from the hut and find it a peaceful spot. Tips from visitors: the hut is ten minutes from the car park, down steps that get muddy and slippery, so it is hard going with buggies or limited mobility. Dogs are welcome under control, on short leads near livestock. The one-mile Hawker's Hut walk loops from the car park past the church and along the cliffs.