Walks in Cornwall with a lower chance of being muddy

A circular walk around Cornwall's most iconic mining remains, used for the filming of the BBC's Poldark series

A circular walk on the Towans at Hayle where Cornwall's beam engines were cast using sand from a prehistoric lagoon when West Penwith was an island. The walk is all on sandy ground or tarmac.

A circular walk past the Sea Pool to Crooklets beach and along Maer cliff to the beach at Northcott Mouth where the shipwreck of the SS Belem is exposed at low tide. The route at the Bude end is on tarmac. The coast path and bridleway to Northcott Mouth aren't usually excessively muddy. At low tide, it's also possible to walk along the sand instead of the coast path to Northcott Mouth.

A figure-of-8 walk at Bude where the demand for lime-rich sand could not even be met by 4000 horses a day and so a 35 mile canal was built to transport it to the Tamar Valley. All of the route is on surfaced paths.

A circular walk along the coast from Polzeath past a number of small coves to the vast sandy beach at Daymer Bay, returning through the dunes past St Enodoc Church which was once so deeply buried in the sand that entrance for services was through the roof.

A circular walk through the poppy fields of West Pentire to Polly Joke beach, returning over the headland to the pub that was a cowshed until the mid-20th Century.

A walk though a granite landscape mined first for tin, then china clay and now for geothermal power to generate electricity and heat the space-age greenhouses of the Eden Project.

A circular walk around the nature reserve in the sand dunes that was once the National Explosives Works where young girls manufactured dynamite from nitroglycerine, two tonnes of which denotated causing a shockwave that broke windows in St Ives and Penzance and could be heard on Dartmoor.

A circular walk to the Beacon Local Nature Reserve, Jail and through Bodmin's historic centre. Most of the route is on tarmac. There's a fairly short off-tarmac section at The Beacon along an unsurfaced track and field edge to reach the Gilbert monument.

A fairly short and easy circular walk through Lanhydrock gardens (note that you will need to pay an entry fee unless you are NT member) with plenty of picnic spots along the River Fowey that you can combine with a visit to the house.

A circular walk in the area described in Victorian times as the richest square mile anywhere on Earth

A one-way coastal walk, made circular via an initial bus journey, from Watergate Bay along the coast path to Newquay, passing the sea caves at Whipsiderry beach, the Iron Age hillfort on Trevelgue head and beaches of Porth, Lusty Glaze and Tolcarne.

A circular walk along the beach from Watergate Bay to the sea caves of Whipsiderry and Iron Age hillfort at Trevelgue head, returning past the clifftop tombs of Bronze-Age chieftans, with panoramic views of the Newquay coastline. The coast path section doesn't get excessively muddy and the rest of the route is on sand.

A circular walk on the rugged cliffs at the most westerly point of the British mainland with spectacular views and spectacular wildflowers.

A circular walk at Mount's Bay from the largest port town in the bay to the harbour of Cornwall's largest fishing fleet. All of the route is on surfaced paths.

A circular walk through the wildlife reserve and bluebell woodland of Tehidy Country Park to Deadman's Cove and the North Cliffs where many sailing ships were wrecked before the Godrevy Lighthouse was built.

A circular walk from Holywell Bay past the remarkable sacred spring and along the coast to the sandy beaches of Porth Joke and Crantock, returning via the poppy fields of West Pentire and the Cubert Common nature conservation area. The walk is mostly on sandy ground. There is one tiny brook to cross on Cubert Common where the ground can be a little muddy.

A circular walk around the thriving town of Falmouth which didn't exist until Elizabethan times when Sir Walter Raleigh suggested that the largest natural harbour in Europe would be a good place to build a port town.

A circular walk across the dunes and headland between Rock and Polzeath returning via St Enodoc Church where Sir John Betjeman is buried.

A circular walk from Boscastle to Pentargon waterfall and Willapark coastguard lookout with magnificent views of the village and harbour from the headlands where the village women once gathered dressed in red to fool a French ship into fleeing from British army redcoats.

A circular walk via the quays, woods, engine house and mills of the Cotehele Estate where by Georgian times the house had become a tourist attraction because it was so antiquated, and has changed little since.

A circular walk along two miles of beaches around Gerrans Bay which were once used by Portscatho smugglers to land contraband and strewn with the wreckage of sailing ships that overshot Falmouth Harbour and ran aground on The Whelps reef.

A circular walk from the mediaeval bridge at Respryn along the River Fowey through the bluebell woodland of the Lanhydrock Estate to the circular Norman castle at Restormel which had a pressurised piped water system 700 years ahead of its time. Most of the route is on hard surfaces. Tracks through the woods near the Dutchy Nursery are the main areas likely to get muddy in winter.

A circular walk around the UK's surf capital which was transformed from a tiny fishing village with a few thatched cottages when, in order to export ore from the harbour, a horse-drawn tramway was built across Cornwall which later became part of the Great Western Railway.

A one-way coastal walk, made circular via an initial bus journey, from Holywell Bay along the coast and Gannel estuary to Newquay, passing the beaches of Porth Joke and Crantock and the headland of West Pentire where there is a spectacular display of red-and-gold wildflowers in June.