Just west of Padstow near the North Cornish coast, St Merryn is a small village which some believe got its name from Saint Marina of Asia Minor, though it is more likely to have come from the Celtic Saint Merin.
Its church is built in a Gothic style and, despite being rebuilt various times, has been functioning since the 13th century. The village has attractive slate-built cottages and two pubs: the Cornish Arms is a friendly establishment serving good food and the Farmers Arms has regular live music sessions.
Trevose Head and the nearby cliffs display some interesting features including a deep gorge formed by the pounding seas at Tregudda and striking black and white striped cliff face, known as Marble Cliffs. There is also a collapsed cave visible from the coast path known as Round Hole. Trevose Head itself has a Victorian lighthouse which can be visited from Monday to Friday and is a rugged, windswept headland surrounded on either side by various popular surfing spots and sandy beaches. One of these is Harlyn Bay, a fairly sheltered beach near which 130 Iron Age graves were discovered in 1900.