Fowey, Cornwall, United Kingdom

Cornwall is a visually stunning region, and Fowey is a worthy stepping stone, filled with medieval and Georgian buildings cheek-by-jowl. It is a picturesque old town on the banks of the Fowey estuary, on a shoreline designated the Polperro Heritage Coast. St. Finnbarr’s Church is new, rebuilt in the 15th century after a French raid destroyed the first one. The waterside watchtower is matched with another across the way in the hillside village of Polruan. It can be reached by ferry, starting from a building that was originally the summer of home of the Du Maurier family. The prodigious daughter Daphne Du Maurier lived and wrote here. In the distance, above Readymoney Cove, the ruins of St. Catherine’s Castle, built by Henry VIII, keep silent watch.