Dory Padstow
HINTS AND TIPS
The quickest way into town from the house is:
left out of the front door, left onto the path at the far side of the car park, then across Sarah's Lane and along Trelawney Rd. Right onto Glynn Rd then down the hill. Left onto Dennis Lane and cross the main road down New St.
Places to eat - whatever you fancy, try to book ahead. It can get pretty busy.
If the weather is fine in the evenings one of our favourites is to drive over to Treyarnon Bay, park at the large pay and display and then have a picnic on the grass in front of the Youth Hostel overlooking the sea. Fantastic sunset views.
Heading for the beaches? Best family beach for young children would probably be Trevone. Surfing, body boarding or generally getting wet would be Constantine or Harlyn (both with plenty of car parking (paying) in the season) and surfers otherwise will go for Polzeath where even in January there are plenty in the water
If you cycle down the Camel Trail to Wadebridge then its about 45 minutes of gentle cycling (although the wind always seems to be in your face). If you're not heading further towards Bodmin then there are plenty of places for coffee and cakes (or lunch) in Wadebridge. Just lock the bikes up either by the circular coffee bar (outside J shoes) or outside the front of the Co-op which is in the centre - both of these are on the road you join at the end of the trail. If you fancy a walk from there you could leave the bikes and walk (about an hour) over to Chapel Amble for lunch at the Maltsters. If you keep on riding to Bodmin it's about 12 miles in total. There's a decent pub on the trail just before Bodmin, and in town the Old Gaol is worth a visit.
If you take the ferry across to Rock (there's not much to do in Rock) it's an easy walk around to Polzeath where you can get coffee or lunch. If you're back in Rock by lunchtime then the Blue Tomato cafe is a nice place to stop off with lovely views over the water to Padstow. At low tide you can walk all the way from Rock to Daymer Bay on the beach where you can get back onto the coast path
There are a number of fairly easy walks with some fantastic views. From the NT car park at Bedruthan Steps walk into Mawgan Porth. Great views along the coast path. From New Polzeath walk around Pentire Point - fantastic views over Port Isaac bay up towards Tintagel. You can also start this walk from the fairly new NT car park and tea room at Pentire Point. Have a look at the Walks page. Another convenient NT based walk is from Trevose Head car park - go past Harlyn beach, turn right past The Pig and then first right. The road goes past Mother Ivy's bay camp site towards the Trevose lighthouse.
A good trip out would be to Charlestown on the south coast. This is where they film the harbour scenes for Poldark. A small undeveloped privately owned commercial harbour. Nice pub on the front overlooking the harbour and the sea. Generally some tall ships in.
The best views from cafe's, bars etc are probably Greens Cafe (around by the ferry point) or the bar in the Harbour Hotel.
Other locations that are a relatively easy trip in a car include:
- Tintagel and Boscastle. Heading north past Port Isaac, both are worth a visit
- There is relatively little to see in the inland area (although there is the Eden Project of course). There are a lot of small villages with plenty of crazily narrow roads which Satnavs tend to default you onto. Bodmin may be worth a visit, and if you get the time don't miss the Bodmin Gaol.
- On the South coast, there is Fowey, Falmouth, The Roseland, then moving further west there is the Minac Theatre with absolutely stunning views. Then it's on to Land's End and around on to the North coast to St Ives then St Agnes head, the old tin mines and up into Newquay.