Just beyond the River Tamar is a little-known corner of Cornwall; little known, that is, to motorists negotiating a tricky stretch of the A38 between Plymouth and Liskeard but familiar to rail travellers on the Paddington to Penzance line. St Germans is the gateway to a web of tidal rivers that meander down to the trail of beaches and headlands west of the Tamar Estuary.

It is only a short drive from the village to the gloriously uncrowded beaches of Whitsand Bay, a five-mile stretch of creamy sand and cliff-top walks with views across Plymouth Sound to the lovely, lonely Rame Head, at the tip of southeast Cornwall. At Kingsand-Cawsand, you can wander the narrow streets of what was once two fishing villages, on either side of the Devon-Cornwall border.

From St Germans station, you can also catch a train south west to the fishing quays of nearby Looe (change at Liskeard for the scenic Looe Valley branch line).

But you need only walk through St Germans to discover one of the highlights of the area - Port Eliot, on the banks of the Lynher Estuary. It is the gloriously eccentric home of Peregine Eliot, the 10th Earl of St Germans. Lined with faded Georgian wallpapers and crammed with treasures, the Grade I listed mansion was open to the public for the first time last year, and one month into its second season continues to provide a peek into the history of the family, who took possession of the former monastery in 1565.

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Do not miss the elegant staterooms remodelled by Sir John Soane in 1805, and the Eliots' collection of portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It is also possible to explore some of the estate's 1,000 acres of parkland, much of it laid out by Humphrey Repton in the 1790s.

The house and gardens are open from now until the end of June, but there will be another opportunity to visit during the Port Eliot Festival (July 24-26), the annual celebration of the arts that has helped to put this forgotten corner on the map.

More of Repton's handiwork can be seen at the National Trust's early 18th-century Antony House nearby and more Reynolds paintings are on show at Mount Edgcumbe, the council-owned Tudor mansion, set at

the head of the Tamar Estuary. The latter's vast seaside estate takes in miles of woodland footpaths, a deer park, and the National Camellia Collection - all free.

If you want to stay nearby, Buttervilla Farm, at Polbathic, is an eco-luxe B&B offering comfortable rooms with solar-heated power showers in a stone-built farmhouse, set in 15 acres on the southern rim of the Port Eliot estate. Gill and Robert Hocking, the owners, grow organic salad vegetables for Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall at Watergate Bay. Rooms are available for next Monday to Thursday, or from April 13 for £95 a night.

Alternatively, stay in one of two retired 19th-century railway carriages standing in a tiny railway siding garden at St Germans station. One of them, the Old Luggage Van, which sleeps up to four, is available for two weeks from April 17 for £428 a week, or on May 4-8 for £245.

From the adjacent platform, you can hop on to a train to almost anywhere in Cornwall, including the north coast surf beaches.

Lesley Gillilan is the author of the Best of Britain Guide to Cornwall and the Scilly Isles (Crimson, £12.99).

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