Cornwall, Devon & Dorset

One thing is sure - you will not go hungry whilst walking in Cornwall! Home to some of the finest seafood and with an abundance of fresh local produce, Cornwall is a great place to explore for any food-lovers! Here are some of the regional delights you can expect to find;

The famous Cornish Pasty - great fuel for any walker, this treat is made with short crust pastry and traditionally filled with diced potato, swede, onion, diced or minced beef. Tradition dictates for them to be a proper pasty they must have 20 crimps (the little design on the side).

Cornish cream tea - perfect as a treat in the middle of the afternoon (or any time really!) the Cream Tea consists of fruit scones served with clotted cream and jam, accompanied by a fresh pot of tea. Interestingly, in Devon cream tea's are also very popular but there they serve them with the cream on the bottom and jam on the top, whereas in Cornwall it is the other way round! 

Saffron Cake - a delicious fruit bun made with the most expensive spice in the world, saffron! Apparently saffron arrived in Cornwall when Phoenician traders arrived to trade it for tin from the mines.

Rick Stein's Padstow - the famous Seafood Restaurant owned by Rick Stein is a Cornwall institution, in operation since 1975. They serve the freshest fish and shellfish and your experience here is sure to be a memorable one - just make sure you book in advance!

Cornish Yarg - for cheese-lovers, you'll be right at home in Cornwall where there are over 60 varieties produced. The Yarg is one of the most famous, which is a hard cheese made from cow's milk and a rind made from nettle. 

Stargazy Pie - originating in the tiny village of Mousehole, this unique pie combines eggs, potatoes and pilchards. What makes it so striking is the fact that the pilchards are left sticking out of the pastry on top - or stargazing as such! 

This stretch of coastline, which begins in Exmoor in Devon and continues for 95 miles to the Old Harry Rocks in Dorset, is England's only natural World Heritage Site. Its incredible geology is the reason it was given this status. The rocks, fossils and landforms of this area span three geologic time periods - the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretataceous. 

Here are some of the  geological highlights of this unique part of Dorset;

Charmouth Beach - fossils which have eroded from the cliffs are found in abundance on this large shingle beach close to Lyme Regis. 

West Bay and Chesil Beach - this is where you will see golden crumbling cliffs which reveal falling sea levels from 175 million years ago. Chesil Beach at the bottom came from massive landslides after the last ice age around 20,000 years ago.

Durdle Door - probably one of Dorset's most photographed landmarks, this is a giant natural sea-arch, formed from limestone. 

Kimmeridge Bay - this bay is internationally recognised for its impressive geology with the Kimmeridge Clay formed of fossil-rich mudstones. 

Old Harry Rocks - impressive white chalk formations which stand like pinnacles in the sea at the end of the Jurassic Coast. Thousands of years ago, The Old Harry Rocks were actually linked to The Needles (another chalk rock formation) on the Isle of Wight by a line of chalk hills that eroded away during the last ice age.