Poldark: Ross Poldark's Cornwall

Ross Poldark comes home from the American war in 1783 to find his father dead, Nampara in ruins and the estate deep in debt. St Agnes Head doubles as the Nampara Valley, the clifftop country of his family estate, and it staged the cliffhanger endings of the first two series. The Wheal Coates engine house, perched right on the cliff edge, is the handiest landmark. The old mine sites belong to the National Trust, standing in gorse and heather above the sea.

Location precision: The valley is a stretch of open clifftop; the pin marks the Wheal Coates engine house on St Agnes Head.

Visitor guidance: National Trust land on the open clifftop; the ground is uneven and there is little shelter.

Trenwith is the other pole of Poldark's Cornwall: the family house where Ross's childhood sweetheart Elizabeth is engaged to marry his cousin Francis. Chavenage House, an Elizabethan manor near Tetbury, plays Trenwith in the 2015 series, its Cotswold stone and panelled rooms standing in for the house in Cornwall. The show keeps travelling emotionally between Nampara and Trenwith, between Ross and George, Demelza and Elizabeth. The house is Grade I listed and opens to the public only on a limited basis, mostly for events and filming.

Visitor guidance: Chavenage is a private estate that opens for guided visits and events; times vary.

Charlestown's harbour stood in for Truro in the series and doubled as Falmouth, where Captain Andrew Blamey lives and sails from. It is from this inner harbour that Verity Poldark elopes with Blamey, to her family's disapproval. The port was built in the late 18th century and has stayed remarkably unchanged. Square Sail keeps a small fleet of tall ships here, and the company's ships and harbour have often served as film sets, including for the 2015 Poldark.

Visitor guidance: The harbour is a short walk from Charlestown's car parks; tall ships are usually moored along the quays.

Ross's great gamble is Wheal Leisure, the mine he tries to bring back to life, and Botallack's cliff-hugging engine houses stand in for it. The Crowns engine houses also serve as the Poldark family's Grambler mine, while Levant Mine further along the coast plays the fictional Tressiders Rolling Mill. The workings are part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. The South West Coast Path runs along the cliff, with the sea breaking almost directly below the engine houses.

Visitor guidance: National Trust paths lead down from the Botallack car park; steep, uneven ground and cliff edges, so keep to the marked routes.

Gunwalloe's Church Cove, below the tiny church of St Winwaloe, relived its smuggling past when the cast filmed night-time shipwrecking scenes for the first series. The parish has a long history of wrecks: a vessel thought to be a 17th-century East Indiaman lies off one of its other beaches. The cove itself is still noted for strong currents, so this is a place to watch the surf rather than swim. It is a short walk from the church, on the Lizard peninsula.

Location precision: The cove is the filming location; the pin marks Church Cove below Gunwalloe.

Visitor guidance: Reached by footpath from Gunwalloe Church Cove car park; strong currents make swimming unsafe.

Porthcurno's fine white sand plays Nampara Cove, and in series two it appears in a dream sequence: Demelza and Ross walking the shore in the sun. The real cove is a curve of pale sand and turquoise water walled by high cliffs, with the village and the South West Coast Path just behind it. The beach is one of the most photographed in Cornwall, and the dreamy emptiness of the scene takes some early-morning timing.

Location precision: The beach is the filming location; the pin marks Porthcurno, the village immediately behind the sand.

Visitor guidance: Access from Porthcurno village or the South West Coast Path; the beach has no lifeguards in winter.

Kynance Cove doubles as Ross's beloved Nampara, and it is also where he is marched towards Truro jail by his arresting officers after being caught at St Agnes Head. The cove's serpentine towers — the Bishop, Gull Rock, Asparagus Island and Steeple Rock — make it one of the most recognisable beaches on the Lizard. It is National Trust land, reached by a coastal footpath from the car park, and the sea changes the shape of the sand through the day.

Visitor guidance: Park at the National Trust car park and walk down; the path is steep and the beach shrinks at high tide.

Holywell Bay is the Warleggans' beach in series two, the wide north-coast sand where Ross's rivals have their own stretch of coast. In the cave, the production built the wishing well where Drake and Morwenna make their wishes, and the series five mine-rescue exteriors were shot at one end of the same beach. Gull Rock and Carter's Rocks stand offshore, and behind the sand lies a 5,000-year-old dune system, one of the largest in Britain.

Location precision: The beach is the filming location; the pin marks Holywell Bay below the village.

Visitor guidance: Holywell Bay is a short walk from the village car park; the caves are tidal, so check the tide before exploring.