Boscastle's nearest neighbour, Tintagel, is famed as the home of the legendary King Arthur. You can explore the castle, the ruins of the 13th Century fortress of the Earls of Cornwall. In the village you'll also find the Old Post Office, dating from the 14th Century and now one of the National Trust's smallest and most unusual attractions. On a grander scale you can visit other nearby National Trust properties, Lanhydrock, Trerice and Cotehele.

 No visit to Cornwall is complete without a trip to the Eden Project. At Orchard Lodge you're less than an hour's journey away from the “living theatre of plants”, set among the moonscape of old china clay workings near St. Austell.

 Boscastle is far from being North Cornwall's only picturesque harbour: There are plenty to choose from including Port Isaac - TV's Portwenn in the Doc Martin series starring Martin Clunes. A little further down the coast call in at Padstow, home of Rick Stein's famous Seafood Restaurant and a short distance from the much-filmed Elizabethan manor, Prideaux Place.

 If surfing's your thing there are beaches aplenty including at Newquay – where you may be able to spot celebs from the new hit soap, Echo Beach and its spoof documentary spin-off, Moving Wallpaper. They're filmed at Watergate Bay, where another celebrity,  Jamie Oliver, has his latest Fifteen venture.

 For those who prefer to keep their feet dry there's excellent walking and cycling around Boscastle. Apart from the South West Coastpath and many other delightful rights of way, you can trek over Bodmin Moor with its lowering peaks, Roughtor and Brown Willy. Join the Camel Trail at Wadebridge for seventeen miles of easy, car-free cycling. The area is also blessed with good golfing and stables for pony trekking.