Atlantic Views: The Headland

The villages are half the reason to come to this part of England, and we'll break the drive west at two of the best: Bibury, which William Morris called the most beautiful in the country, and Castle Combe, where honey-coloured cottages run down to a stone bridge and an ancient market cross. After lunch and a stroll through the gardens at the spectacular country estate, The Newt in Somerset, we will journey on to the coast.

For over 125 years The Headland has been standing above Fistral Beach. It has been a grand Victorian hotel and, in 1990, the Hotel Excelsior in Roald Dahl's The Witches. The spa is known for its sense of place: a Cornish sea salt steam room, a sauna, hot tubs, and treatment rooms with the Atlantic on the other side of the glass. Next to it, the £10 million Aqua Club — pools indoors and out, some looking straight at the ocean.

The days here belong to the coast. The ruins of Tintagel Castle, a thirteenth-century castle with ties to the origins of the Arthurian Legend. Land's End, the point where mainland England simply stops. St Ives, a harbour town whose light has drawn painters for a century.

And at Marazion, a granite island rises out of Mount's Bay with a medieval monastery turned castle and finally private residence on top. At low tide you walk to St Michael's Mount across the causeway; at high tide the sea closes over the path and you venture there by boat. Either way you cross on the tide's terms, which is a good reminder of who's in charge in Cornwall.

Fall is the right time here. The sea is still warm from summer, the beaches have emptied out, and the autumn light sparkling off the water will stay with you long after you check out. View trip details here.