My personal recommendations for Cornwall

Or at least the bit I visited in July 2019!

I LOVE Cornwall and have visited many areas of it and could write pages and pages of recommendations, but in this instance, I’m concentrating on the area I stayed in this year, just outside Newquay.

The Campsite:
Trevornick Camping – https://trevornick.co.uk/

Gorgeous camping site, with options to stay in ready-erected tents, mobile homes or your own tent or caravan. I was in my lovely caravan 😊

If you want a view, book into the Sun Field. Here it is at various times of the day.

It does mean you are a bit of a (short, fairly steep hill) walk away from the toilet blocks and facilities, but its generally quieter up there because of this and sitting and looking at this view more than makes up for the heathy extra steps you have to take to shower or go to the excellent facilities on-site.

Very friendly staff, clean and tidy facilities and great for kids too. Has a swimming pool, adventure playground, football golf, football pitches, park, take away, restaurant, shop and even beauty treatments if you book in (untested on this visit)

Also (very important) its easy to find, easy to get into and easy to pitch up at! Not all pitches are level, so worth checking that or taking your own ramps.

Places to visit:

St Mawes:
I love this place SO much I almost don’t want to tell too many people about it, but I can’t help myself. Location of many happy holidays throughout my life (not just camping!) I return to this place again and again as it’s just so lovely.

Its not a huge place, it’s a seaside village, but with no arcades, discount stores or entertainment, other than a lovely beach (when the tide is out) and some fabulous places to eat and mooch around in the lovely shops – perfect if you’re not looking for anything too……brash!

Visit the castle (English Heritage) and the ice cream/gift shop near the chemist/gallery that’s been owned or run by the same lovely man for as long as I can remember and has lots of flavours to choose from. Fish and chips on the beach from the takeaway on the corner, opposite ‘The Rising Sun’ pub or sit outside that pub for a lovely view with your drink.

We had an afternoon tea (I met my parents there for the day who were visiting another part of Cornwall at the same time) at Hotel Tresanton.

It’s a lovely, highly regarded hotel with gorgeous views and good reputation, we just didn’t have the best experience this time (though my parents had been before and had a brilliant time). I think it was because they were holding a BBQ when we arrived at 3.30pm as the website said that was when afternoon teas were being served from and you aren’t ‘allowed’ to book a place. We were told that they weren’t being offered until 4.30pm, so we had to wait an hour. Not a bad thing, we wandered around the village and ordered a (pretty expensive considering I eventually only got a tumbler, not even a cans worth) diet coke for me at the bar – for it to take 30 minutes to get to me, despite chasing. When we got back to the hotel at 4.30pm, we were told they were only serving afternoon tea at their bar, where we had been to earlier and told afternoon tea was being served in the restaurant only! We insisted we wanted to stay at the restaurant (as that is what is advertised) and they sat us in a lovely soft seating area, with the lovely view to our side.

We ordered three afternoon teas and made them aware I don’t eat fish or seafood and was told that the sandwiches were crab and salmon. I asked for an alternative and they weren’t ‘that’ pleased with being asked and didn’t give me any choices. I asked for ham and cheese.

After a bit of a wait, it arrived, with three lots of fish sandwiches. I pointed out my request, so they took mine back to the kitchen. Another long wait in which I urged my parents to eat theirs or it would get too warm (we were very lucky with the weather). 20 mins later, sandwiches came back – 2 finger sandwiches of ham and cheese and 2 of salmon….. sent it back again……another wait and eventually got the sandwiches. By this time, my parents had practically finished their afternoon tea and I hadn’t started mine! Didn’t really get an apology either. What we did eat was very lovely, but service is everything and sadly we didn’t get the best.

It was still lovely to be in St Mawes 😊

My other recommendation would be the walk from St Just in Roseland to St Mawes (Sign-posted from the car park at the church). I parked at the beautiful church in St Just (free parking but leave a donation) and walked the 3 miles along the coast to St Mawes – gorgeous! I also walked back later and enjoyed every step and all the beautiful views it had to offer. You can also do the walk the other way, starting in St Mawes, but you pay for parking there. There is a gorgeous tea shop in St Just though, to stop at before you walk back to your car – definitely worth a look at.

Padstow
Only a small village again, but with a nice atmosphere, but a very busy in the summer. Highlights here are the bookshop (I love a bookshop) and street performers and lots of places to eat! Plenty of shops to wander around too.

I had a pasty from Chough bakery, who have won awards for their pasties – very nice.

Rick Stein also has a cookery school here, a restaurant and a patisserie, so I treated myself to a pudding for later – chocolate and salted caramel tart – gorgeous!

St Michael’s Mount
National Trust property that you can get to via boat (which you have to pay for and sadly isn’t cheap if you go as a family) or walk, depending on the tide. I’ve been here a few times now and its always lovely. Don’t miss their gardens – stunning views out to sea and you feel like you’re in the Mediterranean (when its sunny and warm!)

Great for kids and adults – there is a kids trail that my Nephew enjoyed completing and he got a medal at the end – worn proudly until he got bored of it! There are places to eat on the island, usual National Trust prices though…..

Trelissick House and Gardens
GORGEOUS National Trust house and gardens. I was lucky enough to visit on a day that you could pay £2 more and go on a ‘Behind closed door tour’ which was great as this is quite a new NT property, so they haven’t opened all the rooms as they need more funding. They have lots of plans for the coming years though and the gardens are spectacular. Will definitely return in a few years to see what has been achieved.
The two lovely tour guides were fantastic and gave us a great insight into the families that had lived there and the reason they eventually handed over to the National Trust.

Definitely worth a visit and the restaurant was great too – Hommity pie and a cream tea.

Godolphin – for the café and gardens
This is a slightly unusual National Trust place in that it is only open a few weeks per year, so this is the first time my holiday has coincided with it being open.

I was welcomed by a very friendly and informed volunteer (I’m biased as I am a NT volunteer, but they really do make or break a visit) and told a little of the history of the house. They also explained that the house is only open a few weeks a year as it is a holiday home otherwise, that can be rented out. Amazing to stay in such an old house if you can! Sadly, this meant that it did feel like you were walking through exactly that, a holiday home with a modern kitchen and bathroom. The rooms were lovely and the information given very good – but it did feel like a holiday home rather than a historic house.

The gardens were lovely to walk around and the café manned by more lovely volunteers. Worth a visit if you are there when it is open to talk to the lovely people there.

Lovey beaches:
As the weather was so lovely while I was there, a lot of my time was spent on beaches. As a National Trust member, I get free parking at a lot of beaches in Cornwall, as long as you get there early enough!

Holywell Beach – A walk from the campsite I was staying at (up-hill on the way back) and gorgeous. Clean sand, great for surfing (with a school there) and toilets a walk away. It’s a bit of a trek to get there from the car park, but worth it.

Chapel Porth – Stunning. Again, National Trust, or a car park at the top of the hill (pretty steep) for £4 for the day. Not a massive beach, but it has a surf school and a teashop. I got a sandwich and piece of cake for lunch and it wasn’t too expensive. I decided to walk up to ‘Wheal Coates’ another National Trust location and the views were stunning. Its not a huge walk, maybe a mile or so, but a bit rocky and steep in places. But look at the views…..

Crantock – National Trust again and a great beach for kids as the tide goes out for miles, leaving really warm buckets of sea water that aren’t very deep, so kids can play around in them all day. Good toilets within walking distance again, places to buy food and easy to get to on foot from the car park.

If you stay at the campsite I did, you can do what I did and walk/run to the beach. It took me about 45 mins and was about 3 miles each way, but there are a lot of hills!

St Agnes (Café Q)
Another nice beach, but no free parking for National Trust members. Worth it though for the place to eat we found – Café Q.

Really lovely place to eat, friendly staff and a great view from the outside seating area. I had a gorgeous cream tea (shared with my sister) and courgette and spring onion fritters that came with salad and homemade salsa. Gorgeous and really recommended.

Recommended app for walks
I love to walk and went on quite a few while I was away, so would 100% recommend an App I found called – Iwalkcornwall

They are mostly circular walks (perfect) and give really clear directions as you go along, rather than just OS reference points. Your phone also tells you if you’ve gone off course and gives descriptions of what you should be seeing next. Ideal if you’re alone or can’t read a map!

I walked a lovely route (about six miles) from the campsite, all along the coast and then cross-country back again.