South Cornwall’s spectacular landscape is punctuated by secluded coves, fishing towns, rolling fields and tree-lined valleys. It’s a beautiful location with loads of places to visit whether you’re staying for a weekend or several weeks. Holiday hotspots in South Cornwall include Looe, Fowey, Falmouth and The Lizard peninsula. This varied part of Cornwall has something for ereyone, young and old, with it’s superb selection of beaches, museums, art galleries and family attractions. South Cornwall is a first-class holiday destination.
We found the following article which perfectly sums up the magic of South Cornwall.
What’s New in South Cornwall
he south Cornish coast is sheltered by the spine of the county and has a gentler air. This is the coastal-living idyll of a thousand lifestyle magazines: pastel-painted cottages, sunny gardens (tropical plants grow well here) and messing about in boats. The calmer waters lend themselves to sailing and scuba-diving, and inlets and creeks are lined with white-sand beaches.
Hip hotel
The team behind the award-winning Idle Rocks in St Mawes, has pulled a somewhat bedraggled St Mawes building up by its bootstraps to create another destination hotel – with 14 rooms – that gets everything right. Co-owner Karen Richards wanted to create a “seaside hotel, not a country house hotel by the sea”, so at the new St Mawes Hotel (doubles from £150B&B), it’s out with carpets and overstuffed armchairs and in with leather tub chairs and stone floors. The downstairs bar will serve small plates when the doors open on 14 June. on 3 JuneA small spa and cinema room will follow shortly afterwards.
Self-catering escape
There’s no mobile signal at Lower Barns in St Austell (doubles from £75 B&B, cottages for two from £110 B&B), which is just as well, because you won’t want to share this place with anyone. Over 16 years, Janie and Mike have built a quintessential boutique B&B around their rural home. Two new cottages for two, Nook and Cranny, opened in February and are all about romance, with four-poster beds, slipper baths, open fires and a private walled garden. Mike built much of it himself; Janie does the cooking – breakfast brought to your door and dinner served in the Shack, a garden building with fairy lights and comfy cushions. Ask for the “surprise” fish menu and Janie will cook you the local catch of the day. Bring your own wine – there’s a full-size Smeg fridge in your kitchen that you can fill with your own supply.
Lazy lunch
Overlooking the beach and bay at Swanpool is newly named Hooked on the Rocks(lunch for two about £40). The waters you gaze at are the same ones the restaurant gets its crab and lobster from, and you can choose your own from the tank along one wall. Alternatively, order the shellfish platter, which changes depending on the catch of the day, but typically includes mussels, clams, scallops and king prawns. We recommend a side order of home-smoked mackerel with whipped wasabi cream, too.
Laid-back dinner
Sam’s Bistro (dinner for two about £30) is a stalwart of the Cornish dining scene, and the chain opened its first “city” branch in Truro last October 2013. We think the original location is best though, a 14th-century merchant’s house on Fowey’s main street, which is decked out in pop memorabilia, including Elton John’s bow tie and posters from Woodstock. Order the catch of the day or share the seafood feast – mussels, calamari, prawns and sardines, all expertly prepared.
Night on the town
“I had never run a bar, but I’ve drunk in a lot of them,” says Dolly Makin of her qualifications to run Dolly’s Tea Rooms and Wine Bar. It just goes to show that experience isn’t everything: Dolly’s has become Falmouth’s unofficial social club and the biggest problem is getting people to leave at the end of the night. Dolly took over the upstairs of this Georgian townhouse almost three years ago, furnished it with reclaimed chapel chairs, put a piano in the corner, and now serves cocktails in teapots and a menu of small plates – try the lavender chicken.
Activity
One of the world’s best cruises for under a tenner? That’s what you get when you make the 2.8-mile hop across the water from Falmouth harbour to St Mawes, which would be a long and far less pleasant 29-mile car journey. Take Fal River’straditional wooden ferry (01326 741194, falriver.co.uk/getting-about/ferries, adults £9 return, kids £4.50) and you’ll cross the Carrick Roads waterway, passing Pendennis and St Mawes castles, the working docks of Falmouth and – if you’re lucky – dolphins and basking sharks. In 20 minutes you’re in the traditional fishing village of St Mawes – and maybe even with money left over for lunch.
Secret beach
Daphne Du Maurier loved Gribbin Head – a large headland just outside Fowey – so much she rented a house here: the fabled Menabilly, the inspiration for Manderley in her novel Rebecca. Walk a few minutes from the small car park at Menabilly (signposted from the main road) and you’ll see why, as a farm track leads through a coastal elm wood and out to the headland and the sandy cove ofPolridmouth, sheltered from the winds and south-facing to catch the sun. Don’t miss a walk out on to the end of the headland, where the red-and-white striped daymark (essentially a daytime lighthouse, used for maritime navigation) stands tall over spectacular views along the coast.
Local culture
Falmouth is often overlooked when it comes to Cornwall’s artistic pedigree. TheFalmouth Art Gallery (open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, admission free) aims to change that, with a focus on local art, regular free workshops and an open-stores policy that means anyone can request to see anything in the collection at any time. Ask to see the automata – mechanical moving artworks you can operate yourself – andJohn William Waterhouse‘s breathtaking painting The Lady of Shalott. From 5 July to 20 September the gallery will show an exhibition of nautical paintings in celebration of the 2014 Tall Ships regatta, which returns to Falmouth in August.
• Helen Ochyra travelled as a guest of Visit Cornwall
This article originally appeared in the Guardian. Please go here to read the full article >
If you’re thinking of a holiday in Cornwall, the north coast beaches are a huge draw. But South Cornwall has its own distinct character and laid back atmosphere which makes it a magical place to visit any time of the year. Instead of surfing there is idyllic swimming and sailing; instead of rugged high cliffs there are gentle rolling hills and tree-lined coves. Come rain or shine there is always something to see and do for a truly memorable holiday or break away from daily grind.