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Mousehole (pronounced Muzl) is a fabulous place It is quite a large old fishing village with very narrow streets stretching up the hillside from the harbour front. Some of the houses have courtyards and pretty gardens, others have their front doors opening on to the street.
The small harbour has a narrow entrance and the offshore rocks of St. Clement's Isle and Shag Rock help to act as a breakwater.

Nowadays the village is very much involved in the holiday trade, as most coastal towns and villages in Cornwall are, but fishing is still carried on by the small mackerel boats.
There are hotels and guesthouses, but little room for cars in the narrow streets; parking is mostly limited to the small car park adjacent to the harbour.

Although Newlyn is today the prominent fishing port in Cornwall, this was not always the case. Back in the 13th century, Mousehole was the main port in Mounts Bay and remained so well into the 16th century until Penzance and Newlyn began to gain ascendancy. However, even in the last century there were still hundreds of people employed here in fishing, packing and transporting of fish.
Over the years the harbour walls were gradually extended and built to cater for the hive of activity taking place. Standing on the quay today, one can hardly imagine all the sailing vessels putting in to such a small space.

Mousehole has an industrious community and several celebrations take place during the year. There is a Fish Festival in the summer, Tom Bococks's Eve. in December and the Christmas Lights remembrance celebration when the local fishermen and friends bedeck the harbour and their boats with coloured lights; a very beautiful spectacle.

If you're interested in the care of wildlife, the Bird Hospital on Raginnis Hill takes in damaged wild birds for nurturing. They do a lot of good work and have sometimes been inundated because of oil spills at sea; in these cases the cleaning process itself is very time consuming.

Walking. An extremely enjoyable walk can be taken along the coast path to Lamorna Cove. Its about a six mile round trip and varied, but not too rugged except towards the Lamorna end. Well worth the effort.

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