Discover the Extraordinary 2010-2014

The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site is managed by a Partnership Board comprising Cornwall, Devon County and West Devon Borough Councils, plus the National Trust and the Cornwall and Tamar Valley AONBs. The Board’s role is to draft and implement a Management Plan and deliver projects that protect and present our World Heritage landscape.

Sustainable tourism, that responds to, communicates and supports the special nature of the mining landscape, is integral to this role. But with such a diverse Site, in multiple ownerships, and limited core resources, a substantial co-ordinated investment was needed to unlock the potential of the World Heritage Site status. In 2007 the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) funding became available and the World Heritage Site submitted an Expression of Interest that identified the need for an integrated approach to tourism product improvement, business engagement and promotion.

The resulting £2.4m ‘Discover the Extraordinary’ (DtE) project began in January 2010. Over £1m was invested in improving the facilities at 11 partner mining visitor attractions as well as improving interpretation of the wider landscape to help visitors understand the story of Cornish mining. The Project also invested money into building new relationships across the tourism sector and promotion of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site as a tourism destination.

To find out more, please see the Discover the Extraordinary Project Evaluation Summary (2014).