St Mabyn

St Mabyn is a small village in north Cornwall, about 4 miles east of Wadebridge and a similar distance north of Bodmin, in the upper Camel Valley. The parish church is dedicated to St Mabena, a 6th-century Celtic saint, and has a 15th-century tower. The village has a pub (the St Mabyn Inn) and a village hall; the nearest shops and services are in Wadebridge or Camelford.

The surrounding farmland is typical of inland north Cornwall - rolling pasture and arable land broken by hedgerow-topped banks and small streams feeding into the Camel. The Camel Trail, the popular cycling and walking route that runs from Bodmin to Padstow, passes through Wadebridge about 4 miles west. Rock and Polzeath on the north coast are about 10 miles north-west, and Padstow is around 11 miles.

St Mabyn is a practical base for exploring the quieter inland parts of north Cornwall without the summer traffic of the coastal villages. Bodmin Moor is accessible to the east, with Blisland village about 5 miles away. Holiday accommodation in the parish is mainly converted farm buildings and cottages spread across the agricultural land around the village. The Pencarrow estate, a Georgian house with 50 acres of formal and woodland gardens, is about 3 miles south and opens to visitors between March and October. Local lanes are quiet enough for cycling, particularly the route between St Mabyn and Blisland across the rolling farmland.