Boscastle Cornwall
Boscastle is one of the most attractive and most historically interesting fishing villages on the north Cornish coast, a small harbour settlement tucked into the dramatic valley of the River Valency beneath the great clifftop of the Pentargon headland whose combination of the extraordinarily narrow harbour entrance, the whitewashed and slate-roofed cottages and the wooded valley walking provides one of the most complete small harbour experiences on the Cornish coast. The village was devastated by a catastrophic flash flood in August 2004 when the River Valency rose by nearly four metres and destroyed many buildings and vehicles, and the remarkable recovery and rebuilding since then has restored its character.
The harbour at Boscastle is one of the most unusual on the Cornish coast, its entrance so narrow and so protected from the sea by the double dogleg of the approach channel that the harbour provides shelter from storms that would overwhelm a more conventional design. The Victorian jetty and the lime kilns on the quayside provide historical context for a harbour that was once busy with the coastal trade in coal, lime and the produce of the local farms. The blowhole near the harbour entrance produces dramatic jets of spray in rough sea conditions.
The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in the village, the largest collection of witchcraft-related objects on public display in the world, provides an unexpected cultural dimension that has attracted considerable attention and visitor interest since the museum was established in the 1960s.