Dog-friendly Mevagissey

Sixteenth-century inn a few yards back from Mevagissey's inner harbour, all dark beams and St Austell ales. The inn says it loves welcoming well-behaved dogs and takes them in the bedrooms for a supplement paid on arrival; say so when you book. The harbour walls and Portmellon Cove are both an easy walk.

Five miles round the highest headland on the south coast, two and three quarter hours with 230 metres of climbing and a granite cross on the point put there for shipwrecked sailors. It starts from the car park above Gorran Haven, a few miles of lanes south of Mevagissey, and passes the long shingle sweep of Vault Beach on the way out. One squeeze-through stile that dogs manage, and all three beaches on the route take dogs all year, which makes this the pick of the area in August; the Dodman is unfenced, high and often windier than the forecast.

Three and a half miles over Polkirt Hill to the next cove and back through a wooded valley, two hours with 170 metres of climbing and the whole of Mevagissey harbour laid out behind you on the way up. Start at the Willow Park or harbour car parks at the top of Mevagissey, since the inner village is not driveable, and the walk returns through West Bodrugan Woods nature reserve. Dogs will need lifting over a couple of the stiles, the coast path above Chapel Point has an unfenced edge, and Portmellon’s little beach is closed to dogs in the peak weeks.