Experience life on the edge between land and sea

Poetry in motion: when you cross Brunel's magnificent bridge over the Tamar river (right) into Cornwall, the stations sound as though you've moved into another country: Saltash, St Germans, Menheniot, Liskeard, Bodmin Parkway and, strangest of all, Lostwithiel. It feels like a small village, but is actually a fascinating former capital, with remnants of magnificence in the shape of the decaying Duchy Palace, wrappedin the most glorious English nature.

The town is on the River Fowey, which flows through a deep green dell to the picture-perfect port of Fowey – rhyming, as the locals will cheerfully remind you, with joy. The town totters down a hillside towards one of Britain’s finest harbours, and the shoreline includes tucked-away beaches to soothe travel-weary feet. For an essential extra dimension, catch the little ferry that shuttles all day between Fowey and the village of Polruan on the opposite side of the harbour, offering a colourful fresh perspective.

Fowey harbour is still used for the export of China clay – but what do you do with one of Cornwall's disused China clay pits? To find out, head a short way inland from St Austell station to the Eden Project, a 21st-century global garden. The Eden Project opened in 2001 and it now attracts around a million visitors a year – nearly twice the county's population. A hole in the ground has been transformed into the biggest tourist attraction in the south-west, with imagination, regeneration and some domes straight from the pages of science fiction. It's a jungle in there: the Rainforest Biome is a hot and steamy slice of the tropics transplanted to Cornwall, filled with rare plants and animals to demonstrate how intricate and fragile is Planet Earth.

Nature meets art in spectacular fashion at St Ives, where the Atlantic arrives after 2,000 uninterrupted miles to enthral surfers at north Cornwall – and sculpt the coast as beautifully as the artists who have decorated the town.

The artistic community grew after the railway arrived in 1877, making the natural good looks and clear Cornish light easier to reach. And if you're desperate for a dip, the beach is less than one minute's walk from the station platform.

Twenty-one years ago, the town's artistic intensity was recognised with the opening of Tate St Ives. The gallery is itself something of a work of art, transforming the seafront above Polmeor Beach. To experience more life on the edge between land and sea, take the South West Coast Path which wraps beautifully around Cornwall's corrugated coastline. The stretch between St Ives and Land's End is one of the best, and leads eventually around to Penzanceand the handsome St Michael's Bay (above) – complete with mystical Mount.