Saint Austell, in the heart of clay country, is surrounded by a moonscape of mountainous white spoil heaps, remnants of the china clay industry where white gold was mined for porcelain, paint and paper. The beautiful bee filled gardens and plant packed biomes of the Eden Project are built in a disused clay pit, and old clay works house Wheal Martin museum. Take a bike or walk along the Clay Trails to experience the magnitude of this Cornish mining venture, but you will not find any clay tales.
The Lost Gardens of Heligan has both a jungle valley and a lost valley, a walled garden, cultural events and piskeys in the cellar: these piskeys also travelled to Par beach near the clay port.
To the north, on the way to Saint Columb Major, are the heathlands: Goss Moor is a National Nature Reserve, a wetland with peat bogs and dry heath populated by rare plants and butterflies, otters and doormice. A seven-mile circular hiking and biking trail runs around it, and on its edge is the hillfort Castle an Dinas where an army of piskey warriors have been known to battle. Tregoss Moor is where orchids bloom and marsh fritillary butterflies float and where piskeys still dance in rings
