Wheal Coates

This is a quintessential Cornish view of a ruined tin mine against a backdrop of a clear azure ocean. This picture was taken just after dawn on a beautiful August morning in 2013.

This is very good time to visit as the chances are you'll have the ruins to yourself, as I did, and you can really enjoy the sense of history and beauty uninterrupted by the hikers that walk the South West Coast Path.

Wheal Coates tin mine is situated between Porthtowan and St Agnes on the north Cornish coast. There is evidence that this site has seen mining activity going back centuries but the surviving buildings date back to 1870.