You can spot Launceston's castle from a distance — its tower rises over a grassy mound above the town, and it was here, in this market town straddling the Cornwall-Devon border, that much of the region was governed in the Middle Ages. That history earned it the nickname 'Gateway to Cornwall', and it still works as one today: the main roads into the county run straight through it.
The castle itself is about 700 years old and built for climbing. You enter through a half-ruined gateway on the south side, follow steep paths up the mound, then take narrow spiral stairs to the top of the tower. The reward is a panorama over the Tamar Valley — wooded hills, farm fields and rivers stretching in every direction. Back at ground level, St Mary Magdalene's granite church stands on the site of a 14th-century shrine, and the Southgate Arch is the last surviving way through the old town walls.
Launceston's centre is small but busy, with a regular market and a good crop of independent shops. Keep Audio Co. doubles as a café and record shop and puts on music events; The Byre, a gift shop with a five-star Google rating, sells an eclectic mix of local goods and nature books. For food, the local branch of the Malcolm Barnecutt bakery has been baking proper Cornish pasties for more than 90 years — an essential stop.
The town also makes a solid base for walking country. The Tamar Valley Discovery Trail runs 31 miles from Launceston south to Plymouth, crossing farms and woodland with Bodmin Moor visible in the distance. Speaking of which, Bodmin Moor is only about 20 minutes' drive away, with hikes from easy woodland loops to stiff climbs over granite outcrops. To the east, the Two Castles Trail heads to Okehampton over prehistoric hill forts and quiet backcountry — roughly four days end to end — finishing at the edge of Dartmoor National Park, where Wistman's Wood and the views from High Tor await.
Getting there is straightforward. Cornwall Airport Newquay is under an hour's drive southwest, Bristol takes about two hours by car, and it's a sub-four-hour drive from London Heathrow.
This one is for travellers who want Cornwall without the coastal crowds: history, moorland walking and pasties in an inland town most people drive straight past.
