A place where the past meets great hospitality
Standing proudly on Bodmin Moor, the famous Jamaica Inn is full of character and history. Dating back to the 1750s, this Grade II-listed coaching inn welcomes guests with low oak beams, cosy fires, and the scent of peat smoke. In the Smuggler’s Bar, you can almost imagine the old smugglers swapping stories over a drink. Upstairs, you’ll find a smuggling museum and charming rooms that blend historic charm with modern comfort. It’s a welcoming slice of Cornwall’s smuggling past, offering hearty food and a touch of mystery.
Take a walk with us, back in time
Located high upon the wild and windswept Bodmin Moor, cloaked in mist and mystery, sits the remarkable Jamaica Inn. Built in 1750, it was no ordinary roadside stop, this was a coaching inn of serious character. Back then, it served weary travellers and hardworking horses on the coach road between Launceston and Bodmin. But it also became rather a naughty little place, an infamous hub for Cornwall’s smuggling trade.
The isolation of Bodmin Moor was ideal for the clandestine comings and goings of smugglers. Tea, brandy, silks, heaven knows what were spirited in from the coast and hidden beneath the inn’s granite floors and behind secret panels. Whispered tales speak of contraband concealed in coffins and brandy barrels that never saw a drop of rain. The inn’s very remoteness was its strength. A hundred secret paths led across the moor, used in the dead of night by shadowy figures with lanterns dimmed.
And then came Daphne du Maurier, a magnificent woman who immortalised the inn in her gothic 1936 novel Jamaica Inn, a tale of treachery, romance, and windswept suspense. She stayed at the inn and was so beguiled by its brooding atmosphere and tales of illicit trade, she simply had to write it all down.
By the 20th century, Jamaica Inn had become a romantic relic. But it never faded. Instead, it was lovingly revived. Today, it is a beacon for travellers once more, complete with a smugglers’ museum, roaring fires, and that haunting, enchanting feeling that something deliciously untamed lingers just beyond the threshold.
Step inside, sip something warming, and you may just hear the whisper of hooves on the moor. Jamaica Inn is not just a hotel, it’s a storybook brought to life, scented with peat smoke, mystery, and an irresistible dash of danger and the ghostly feeling remains as the mist eerily rolls across the moor.
Bodmin and Cornwall
Bodmin Moor, wild and brooding crowns Cornwalls rugged heart, where granite tors rise through the mist, ponies roam free and ancient myths linger. Surrounding it, Cornwall unfolds with dramatic coastlines, fishing villages and Celtic charm.
