Oh, cheers Gwass. You're very welcome! The area sells itself though.

We tend to rent cottages in St Ives, cos not driving we need to be close to bus links. There are plenty of campsites about the peninsula though. If your OH would prefer to be "away" from stone-iness, I suggest somewhere near the St Ives or Hayle beaches might serve you best as you'll still be close enough to the sites.

The beaches on the coast NE of Hayle, up to Godrevy Island, are lovely because they're less frequested than the ones around St Ives itself. But they have less facilities (toilets, shops, etc) which might make a difference if you have young kids - sorry I don't know if you do or not.

The prehistory is totally crammed into a small area really, so you can see a load in a day. If you haven't already, I suggest investing in Ian McNeil Cooke's excellent series of mini guidebooks. Craig Weatherhill's "Cornovia" is essential for more in-depth stuff, but Cooke's books are probably the best bet if you haven't been to the area before.

http://www.geniusloci.co.uk/inspiration.htm

St Ives itself gets very busy in the daytime (especially if it's not beach weather) and the shops are quite touristy. But it's still lovely and has some brilliant restaurants and nice pubs. Penzance is less pretty but has a bigger range of shops and some great boat trips if you fancy a break from stone-hunting (you might still get to see the odd cliff castle, mind).

The north half of the peninsula is moorland and cliffs, lots of old mine workings and engine houses. The southern half is much more agricultural, the focus is on dairy farming mainly. So access to the countryside is more open on the moors and more dependent on footpaths in the south. I suggest if you only buy one thing to take with you it's an OS Explorer 102, which has the whole peninsula on and is obviously a decent scale to show even the more obscure sites.

Land's End is a bit of a tacky horrorshow, but I guess you have to say you've been! You can get to the "End" without going into the theme park, but the famous sign is inside the fencing I seem to remember. Cape Cornwall is much nicer (and can be visited with Ballowall Barrow).

Hope that helps. Enjoy your trip and lots of pics please!