Situated just south of Helston and the Royal Naval Air Station RNAS Culdrose, the Goonhilly Downs are famous for being the location of the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, at one time the largest in the world. The huge satellite dishes are an iconic landmark, and can be seen for miles. The downs themselves are largely an area of sparse heathland, based on serpentinite geology. The site for the satellite station was chosen since the serpentine rock base could bear the weight of the heaviest of satellite dish.[3]
This is home to rare plants, such as Cornish heath, which has been adopted as the county flower.[1][5] A forested area of the downs is known as Croft Pascoe and this larger area includes the Croft Pascoe Pool.[6]
Approached from the Helston direction and half a mile before the Satellite dishes is the former Goonhilly Craft Shop and Tea Room, now converted to a private dwelling. Set back from the road, the building was constructed in the early 1960s by a local farmer. The land was originally part of the nearby Trelowarren estate. Planning permission was granted to build a 4-bedroomed bungalow and petrol station/garage known locally as 'Telstar'; (Telstar is the name of various communications satellites, including the first ever such satellite able to relay television signals.) 'Telstar Cafe' used to have a petrol station but petrol is now sold at Helston supermarket garages. 100,000 people a year visited BT's nearby FutureWorld@Goonhilly (now closed) and many of them also called into the Craft Shop and Tea Room before making their way back from Goonhilly.
Goonhilly Downs also serves as a landing point for the SEA-ME-WE 3, the longest submarine cable on Earth.
