Ben Lerwill

2 weeks ago | adventure.com | Ben Lerwill

On a railway route that’s survived against all odds, Ben Lerwill embarks on a journey along the 150-year-old Heart of Wales Line, combining train travel with hiking trails—and a dash of unpredictability. We’re somewhere between the tiny stations of Llanwrda and Llangadog when the two-carriage train I’m on shudders to a brief halt. It’s late afternoon and the Welsh countryside is sun-drenched and drowsy.

3 weeks ago | countrylife.co.uk | Ben Lerwill

Cornishman John Carter, born in 1738, was quite the character. He was fond of playing soldier games as a youngster, getting so into the spirit of these adventures that he was known as the King of Prussia, perhaps partly due to his resemblance to Frederick the Great. Fast forward a few years and that boy was on his way to becoming one of the most famed smugglers the county has ever seen. It was a time when salt, gin and tobacco were all in high demand and heavily taxed.

3 weeks ago | countrylife.co.uk | Ben Lerwill

At low tide, the dune-backed coastal expanse known as The Towans becomes a single three-mile strand of golden sand, stretching majestically along the eastern curve of St Ives Bay. Look more closely at the map — or wait until the tide comes in — and you’ll see that it’s more than half a dozen separate beaches. All are worthy of your attention, but special mention goes to Gwithian Towans, near the north-eastern extremity of the bay.

4 weeks ago | countrylife.co.uk | Ben Lerwill

Many of Cornwall’s most rewarding coastal spots require effort to reach them. Such is the case with Nanjizal Beach (which also goes by the more prosaic name of Mill Bay), a narrow, handsomely higgledy sea inlet that can only be accessed along the coastal path. It sits about half an hour’s walk south of Land’s End, although the contrast between the two sites could hardly be greater.

1 month ago | countrylife.co.uk | Ben Lerwill |Lotte Brundle

One of seven creeks feeding into Cornwall's Helford River, the tree-shrouded, slow-running Mawgan Creek — not to be confused with the glamorous Mawgan Porth on the north coast — serves as an unspoilt antidote to some of the county’s more overvisited corners. An air of serenity hangs over its banks, broken only by the lapping of the tide, fluting birdsong and perhaps the occasional whoop of a jubilant kayaker.