Travellers’ accounts form some of the earliest descriptions we have of local people and the landscape. This book contains 20 travellers’ tales from the last five centuries of Cornwall and they are a highly enjoyable read as well as an invaluable source of information for local historians. Some are only a few sentences long and other run to several thousand words. There are well-known writers, such as John Leland and William Gilpin, but many are much less illustrious. A lengthy introduction provides the general background and biographical details are provided for each traveller.
 
The book is the outcome of a national search through the country’s archives and libraries for travellers’ accounts many of which have not been published or have long been out of print.