United Kingdom 
In numbers.
0.24m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Nov–Feb
Best months
129m
Elevation
The water at St Nectan's Kieve, month by month
It roars from November to February.
The fullest months: from November to February.
- 0.4 m³/sJan
- 0.3 m³/sFeb
- 0.2 m³/sMar
- 0.1 m³/sApr
- 0.1 m³/sMay
- 0.1 m³/sJun
- 0.1 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.1 m³/sSep
- 0.2 m³/sOct
- 0.4 m³/sNov
- 0.4 m³/sDec
From about 0.09 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.43 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from November to February.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall and pool near Tintagel, Cornwall
St Nectan's Kieve is a waterfall in United Kingdom.
Getting there.
- Tintagelnearest town · 2.9 km in a straight line
- Parking 660 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Cornwall Airport Newquay (NQY)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 32 km in a straight lineCar hire at NQY airport (Newquay)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From November to Februarybest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 55 m in 1.8 km. Here the river runs about 75 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 3viewpoints
- 2waymarked walking routesSouth West Coast Path (Section 12: Crackington Haven to Tintagel), Rocky Valley walk, North Cornwall
- 7car parks
- —swimming spots
- 1picnic sites
- 4toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- 2bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 9campsitesCamelford Caravan Club Site, Wideacres Camping, Juliot's Well Holiday Park and 6 more
- 45hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmRiverside Hotel and Restaurant, The Wootons Inn, The Old Rectory, St. Juliot and 42 more
- 15restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Tintagel2.9 km in a straight line
- Trebarwith3.8 km in a straight line
- Delabole4.8 km in a straight line
- Camelford5.2 km in a straight line
- Polzeath18 km in a straight line
- Wadebridge19 km in a straight line
- Rock19 km in a straight line
- Padstow21 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 9 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 10 |
| Night °C | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 7 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 118 | 92 | 83 | 66 | 67 | 74 | 88 | 90 | 68 | 117 | 128 | 124 |
| Wet days | 18 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 19 |
| Sun h/day | 1.3 | 2.9 | 4.5 | 7.0 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 7.4 | 6.7 | 5.9 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 1.1 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (129 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 101% | 234% | 105% | 78% | 31% | 211% | 69% | 126% | 103% | 146% | 89% | 197% |
| 2021 | 140% | 122% | 56% | 14% | 199% | 88% | 134% | 67% | 144% | 167% | 43% | 99% |
| 2022 | 52% | 140% | 63% | 64% | 72% | 94% | 19% | 48% | 162% | 84% | 145% | 104% |
| 2023 | 124% | 25% | 191% | 135% | 88% | 63% | 137% | 103% | 141% | 124% | 135% | 142% |
| 2024 | 77% | 230% | 177% | 163% | 118% | 43% | 131% | 61% | 179% | 108% | 99% | 77% |
| 2025 | 112% | 98% | 26% | 178% | 53% | 129% | 53% | 58% | 164% | 93% | 118% | 158% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
St Nectan's Kieve
United Kingdom
- —Height
- 0.24 m³/sAverage flow
- Nov–FebBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q7594908) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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