There were plenty of smouldering looks, stormy seas and stunning scenery as Poldark returned to TV screens in September.

After a 16-month break Poldark was back to enlighten Sunday nights with a new 10-part run. Filmed largely in Cornwall but also in several locations across the South West, the first series of Poldark was a huge hit, with 9.5 million viewers tuning in to see the series 1 finale.

Star of the show Aidan Turner, who played the hunky Ross Poldark, said ahead of the new series “will pick up exactly where we left off from last year”.

“”So it’s a time when Ross and Demelza have just lost their child, his company is down the pan, they’re broke, and he’s been arrested. It looks like he’s going to prison. It’s a cheery beginning,” he told MCM Comic Con earlier this year.

Viewers were treated to more tension between Ross and former love interest Elizabeth as well the continued rivalry with banker George Warleggan.

However, there’s bad news for female fans of the show after writer Debbie Horsfield said Ross would be keeping his shirt on in Series 2. His shirtless-scything scene last year sent female hearts racing and that particular scene even went on to win Top TV Moment of 2015 in a poll for Radio Times. She told the Independent “Autumn is very chilly in Cornwall”.

But it wasn’t just the sight of Aidan Turner without his shirt on that helped propel Poldark into millions of living rooms on Sunday nights. The stunning Cornish landscape – the backdrop to many scenes – also proved a big hit with viewers and was said to have given the Cornish tourism industry a major boost.

Mark Lawson, writing in the Guardian last year, said: “Poldark is also positioned to benefit from another fashion in the medium. From Doc Martin via Broadchurch to Jamaica Inn, west country settings have become prime TV real estate.”

And for fans of the show there’s more good news – the BBC has commissioned a third season to air next year.

whealcoates by adam gibbardA stay at our Cornwall holiday park is a stay in Poldark country!

Welcome to Poldark country! Much of the series of was filmed in Cornwall and by staying with us you can explore all those amazing film locations.

Visit the spectacular cliff-top engine houses where copper and tin was once mined, visit the harbours with tall ships in the dock… or even take a swim where Ross famously bared all for a for a quick dip in the ocean in Series 1.

Our Newquay camp site is close to many of the locations chosen by the film crew – we are just 12 miles from St Agnes Head, 17 miles from Charlestown Harbour and 20 miles from the rugged beauty of Bodmin Moor.

Equally, a drive west along the north coast will allow you to sample the engine houses of Levant Mine and Botallack where the cast of Warren Clarke, Aiden Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson and Heida Reed all filmed scenes.

Want to see more? Check out this video, from Visit Cornwall, showing all those beautiful film locations!