Walks in Cornwall with a low chance of encountering livestock

A circular walk around the rugged coastline of Trevose Head via the iconic lighthouse and golden sandy beach at Mother Ivey's Bay, with spectacular wildflowers in spring and summer and thundering waves in winter that sometimes expose the shipwreck at Booby's Bay.

A circular walk around Cornwall's most iconic mining remains, used for the filming of the BBC's Poldark series

A circular walk on the Towans at Hayle, where Cornwall's beam engines were cast using sand from a prehistoric lagoon when West Penwith was an island.

A circular walk at Helston along the wooded valley of the River Cober and through the town via the church.

A circular walk through the King's Wood Woodland Trust reserve to the lost port of Pentewan, along the trackbed of the horse-drawn tramway that once carried china clay to the busy port and via the system of reservoirs and sluices that were used to flush sand out of the harbour.

A circular walk at Tywardreath where a mediaeval Priory was based and Par where much of the route was once a tidal creek and a wetland nature reserve has been created on some of the reclaimed land.

A figure-of-8 walk at Bude where the demand for lime-rich sand could not even be met by 4000 horses a day and so a 35-mile canal was built to transport it to the Tamar Valley.

A circular walk at Truro along the river, trackbed of the Newham railway and through the historic city centre.

A circular walk around Mount's Bay where the remains of the prehistoric forest that surrounded St Michael's Mount can still occasionally be seen on very low tides after storms

A circular walk in the Copper Kingdom of the Old World where the majority of world's copper came from during the 18th and 19th Centuries

A circular walk through the poppy fields of West Pentire to Polly Joke beach, returning over the headland to the pub that was a cowshed until the mid-20th Century.

A circular walk around the nature reserve in the sand dunes that was once the National Explosives Works where young girls manufactured dynamite from nitroglycerine, two tonnes of which detonated causing a shock wave that broke windows in St Ives and Penzance and could be heard on Dartmoor.

A circular walk at Carn Marth with panoramic views right across mid-Cornwall to Falmouth and the Roseland, the Cornish Alps and Bodmin Moor, and St Agnes and Trevose Head

A walk following the West Looe river from woods to its confluence and then to meet the Atlantic beside one of Cornwall's mediaeval ports.

A circular walk through Padstow's mediaeval network of streets to the church, the Elizabethan Manor at Prideaux Place and Tregirls Farm, with panoramic views of the estuary, returning along a mile of sandy beaches.

A fairly short and easy circular walk through Lanhydrock gardens with plenty of picnic spots along the River Fowey that you can combine with a visit to the house.

A circular walk alongside the Loe Pool to the Loe Bar and back via the farm on the hill spur, which in Cornish gave the name to the Penrose Estate.

A circular walk following the leats and horse-drawn tramways through the World Heritage site of the Luxulyan Valley to the massive viaduct which carried the tramways towards Newquay and water to winch the trams up the valley with a huge waterwheel, recommended in guidebooks as early as the 1920s "as one of the most glorious walks in all Cornwall".

A circular walk in the area described in Victorian times as the richest square mile anywhere on Earth

A circular walk on the highest dune system in Britain to the chapel dating from Celtic times which was lost in the dunes for nearly 1000 years.

A walk at Calstock where a Victorian mineral railway from Kelly Bray once ran down to the quayside and the viaduct was built in the 1900s to connect this to Plymouth, creating today's Tamar Valley Line.

A woodland and riverside walk at Lerryn - thought to be the inspiration for the book The Wind In The Willows - and the lost pleasure gardens of Tivoli Park

A circular walk through the mature broadleaf woodland in the less well-known areas of the Lanhydrock estate, through bluebell woods and along the River Fowey, past the mediaeval bridge at Respryn, built after numerous prayers for safe passage in the ford-side chapel, had not resulted in the desired outcome.

A circular walk at Mount's Bay from the largest port town in the bay to the harbour of Cornwall's largest fishing fleet.

A one-way coastal walk, made circular via an initial bus journey, from Watergate Bay along the coast path to Newquay, passing the sea caves at Whipsiderry beach, the Iron Age hillfort on Trevelgue head and the beaches of Porth, Lusty Glaze and Tolcarne.

A circular walk in the wooded valleys beside the Loe Pool with panoramic views over the lake

A circular walk through the wildlife reserve and bluebell woodland of Tehidy Country Park to Deadman's Cove and the North Cliffs, where many sailing ships were wrecked before the Godrevy Lighthouse was built.

A figure-of-8 walk along the creeks of the River Fal through the 300 acre estate surrounding Trelissick House.

A circular walk in the ferry town that was the main riverside settlement in mediaeval times when Plymouth was moorland, and where a handful of Elizabethan buildings still remain from the period when Francis Drake built a property empire from his circumnavigation of the globe.

A circular walk in china clay country, including a trail laid on the trackbed of a mineral railway from St Austell to the Cornish Alps and one of Cornwall's most picturesque holy wells.

A circular walk around the thriving town of Falmouth, which didn't exist until Elizabethan times when Sir Walter Raleigh suggested that the largest natural harbour in Europe would be a good place to build a port town.

A circular walk through the woodland alongside the Loe to the most southerly port on the British mainland, famous for its huge storm waves.

A circular walk around the rugged coastline of Trevose Head via the iconic lighthouse and golden sandy bays of Constantine, Booby's, Mother Ivey's and Harlyn, with spectacular wildflowers in spring and summer.

A circular walk through an area steeped in mining history, with panoramic views from Carn Marth and the almost legendary Gwennap Pit which became so famous that even the neighbouring mine was renamed to Cathedral

A circular walk around the Loe Pool, the largest natural freshwater lake in Cornwall, and along the Loe Bar, one of Cornwall's most treacherous beaches on which 100 of those onboard the HMS Anson drowned metres from the shore, motivating the invention of the rocket lifesaving apparatus that saved thousands of lives.

A circular walk from Cotehele Quay into the broadleaf woodland of the Danescombe Valley where bluebells and orchids flower in spring and fungi erupt through the carpet of autumn leaves.

A figure-of-eight walk around the fishing village and headlands surrounding Polperro, passing the net loft perched above the harbour, the Victorian sea pool, the site of the mediaeval chapel and the harbourmaster's route to the lighthouse.

A woodland walk alongside the West Looe River where the Giant's Hedge once divided kingdoms of the Dark Ages, centuries before the ancient trees that now tower above it were even seedlings.

A one-way walk to St Ives along the beaches from Lelant including the vast expanse of Porthkidney Sands, Carbis Bay and Porthminster Beach using the train or bus to make the route almost circular.

A one-way coastal walk, made circular via an initial bus journey, along the ore-bearing cliffs between Perranporth and St Agnes passing the remains of Nobel's dynamite works, Britain's best preserved spitfire base and the Blue Hills of Trevellas Coombe where tin is still processed on a small scale using traditional methods.

A circular walk from Porthtowan, along the coast, valleys and woodland, passing engine houses and other relics of Cornish copper mining.

A circular walk in the Fal valley from Grampound which began as river port in Roman times which evolved into the gateway into West Cornwall in mediaeval times and went on to become the centre of Cornwall's tanning industry.

A circular walk past the remains of Alfred Nobel's dynamite works to the red-and-yellow ore-rich cliffs above the wreck of the treasure ship Hanover, returning, via the spitfire base, along Perran Coombe where a 2-mile leat once carried water to power a massive waterwheel in a chamber within the cliffs.

A circular walk around the UK's surf capital which was transformed from a tiny fishing village with a few thatched cottages when, in order to export ore from the harbour, a horse-drawn tramway was built across Cornwall which later became part of the Great Western Railway.

A circular walk along the Great Flat Lode, where the Basset family made their fortune from the rich mineral reserves, to Carn Brea where they built a hunting lodge balanced on a tor in the style of a castle.

A circular walk through the gardens of Cotehele to Calstock where Cornwall's largest Roman fort once stood, the Vikings allied with the Cornish to fight off the Saxons, and more recently railway wagons were lifted over 100ft by steam power from the quay to the top of the viaduct.

A circular walk along the coast between the golden sandy beaches of Chapel Porth and Trevaunance Cove at St Agnes via the iconic engine houses of Wheal Coates, perched above the breakers.

A circular walk through the woodland along the West Looe River to Herodsfoot from Duloe, where Cornwall's smallest stone circle stands.

A circular walk between Talland Bay and Polperro along an area of coastline so famous for smuggling that there is even a museum on the subject.

A circular walk in the Tamar Valley at Gunnislake where Victorian canal systems, engine houses and tramways have been recolonised by nature and kingfishers rather than barges now journey up and down the river.

A circular walk along the rugged North Cliffs hiding smuggler's coves such as Ralph's Cupboard, to the sandy beach and historic mining port of Portreath, returning via the bluebell woodland of Illogan and Tehidy Country Park.

A fairly demanding but rewarding one-way coastal walk, made circular via an initial bus journey, along the rugged coast between St Ives and Zennor, passing Seal Island which may have given rise to the legend of the mermaid of Zennor and - thanks to some imaginative naming - ice cream (Moomaid of Zennor). The walk is in the optimal direction to remove time pressure and for panoramic views across St Ives bay.

A circular walk along the rugged coast from Polperro, where a bell buoy rings out across the waves from the treacherous reef known as Udder Rock.

A circular walk along the rugged coast from Portreath towards Porthtowan passing small coves and remnants of the clifftop mines beside the old RAF base, and returning via the horse-drawn tramway that brought fortune to Portreath harbour, where its "lighthouse" and "monkey house" remain from the shipping activity.