Great Days Out – Bodmin steam railway
North Cornwall is famed for its fabulous surfing beaches and renowned restaurants but there are plenty of other activities to tempt you all year round.
Enjoy a steam train ride in Cornwall
The Bodmin & Wenford Railway starts services in February just in time for half term, with trains running to Bodmin Parkway and Boscarne Junction on the popular Camel Trail.
Most trains are operated by steam locomotives, and you can discover the nostalgia of steam travel on a leisurely 13 mile round trip through beautiful countryside, taking in the sights, sound and smells of a bygone age.
For romantics, there’s a Valentine’s dining train and other special events throughout the year include an Easter Egg-travaganza, Real Ale gala and even Murder Mystery evenings.
Most visitors to our holiday cottages in Padstow will pass Bodmin General station on their journey. Just follow the brown tourist steam train signs or why not cycle along the Camel Trail from Padstow and travel to Bodmin from Boscarne Junction?
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February 7, 2012 at 12:18 pm | No comment
Padstow to Rock swim
Swimmers making their way across the Camel Estuary
The 2012 Padstow to Rock swim has just been launched in aid of a great charity, Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Cornwall Nursing Appeal.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to take part in an open water swim, here’s your chance, as the event is open to everyone. It takes place on Sunday 1 July and registration is now open.
A regular event since the 1970s, the swim is now highly-organised, very popular and attracts elite swimmers as well as people from all walks of life.
The swimmers leave from the Sailing Club at the start of the Camel Trail and swim to the RNLI slipway on Rock beach. There’s a bar and BBQ at the other side and each swimmer gets a certificate and T-shirt, as well as a ferry ticket back to Padstow.
Wetsuits are mandatory and swimmers are accompanied by safety boats, canoeists and boarders to provide assistance if required. And if you don’t fancy the swim, it’s also great fun to watch or help out on the day. You never know, it could be the English Channel next…
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January 31, 2012 at 3:14 pm | No comment
Great Days Out – Port Isacc
Port Isaac
These days, many people associate the pretty Cornish village of Port Isaac with TV hit Doc Martin. And we’re as guilty as everyone else by wondering up the hill to gawp at the cottage which doubles as the grumpy doctor’s surgery.
But Port Isaac has plenty of other delights to offer for a good day out – pubs, bakeries, gift shops and narrow quirky alleyways to name but a few.
Braver souls than us drive down to the harbour in high season as, for some reason, it’s not a one-way street and vehicles struggle to squeeze past each other and avoid the pedestrians on the narrow, hilly and winding lanes. And be careful to keep an eye on the tides if you park on the beach or your car could be washed into the Atlantic!
Port Isaac is about 40 minutes from our self-catering holiday cottages in Padstow and well worth a day trip. You might even see a few famous faces!
Celebrity Cornwall, Our Cottages, Our favourites, People and places
January 27, 2012 at 2:04 pm | No comment
Four-legged surf star Mango
Surfing is almost compulsory for visitors to North Cornwall but mastering the waves takes a combination of dedication and fearlessness.
Enter Mango, a two-year-old Labrador belonging to Matt Slater, curator of Newquay’s Blue Reef Aquarium. Mango honed her surf skills on a boogie board in a rockpool before heading out into the sea off Crantock beach, where she catches the waves alongside her owner.
The pooch is now a YouTube sensation – with almost 15,000 views - and she has been featured on Newsround.
If you want to pick up some expert tips for your next holiday in Cornwall, check out the video here:
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January 24, 2012 at 2:52 pm | No comment
Daphne du Maurier’s Cornwall
ITV have announced that a classic novel by Cornish author Daphne du Maurier is to be turned into a new drama.
The Scapegoat is to be made by a production company run by Dominic Minghella, who created Doc Martin – itself set in Cornwall fishing village Port Isaac.
The adaptation is set to renew attention on Daphne du Maurier, who spent much of her life in Cornwall. The county and the area around Fowey in particular was the setting for some of her most famous books including Rebecca, Jamaica Inn and Frenchman’s Creek. Visitors flock to Cornwall each May for the annual festival celebrating the author’s life and work.
The Scapegoat is to be adapted by ITV1
The Scapegoat, originally adapted for cinema starring Alec Guinness, is a thriller telling the story of two men with identical appearances. They meet by chance and swap lives after a boozy night, with dark consequences. The new version will star Eileen Atkins (currently appearing in Doc Martin) and Matthew Rhys.
Fans of du Maurier may also be interested in visiting the real Jamaica Inn coaching house, which has stood high on Bodmin Moor for four centuries. It’s worth a stop on your way to our self-catering holiday cottages in Padstow, for lunch or a trip around the museum which houses a collection of smuggling artefacts. You may even see a ghost or two!
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October 27, 2011 at 10:43 am | No comment
Eden does Halloweden
Why not celebrate Halloween in Padstow this October half-term with a visit to the Eden Project? There are some great spooky activities and even a wintry ice rink to add to the fun.
Enjoy a day trip to Eden during Halloween
From 22-30 October, you can explore the wishcraft tent where you’ll find lots of magical things to make and do, including pumpkin carving demonstrations, wand making and potion mixing.
I can recommend the ice rink, which has a new design for 2011, as a high spot in the day, and then you can warm up afterwards by a visit to the rainforest biome!
And if you fancy Eden after dark, put on your scary costumes for the Little Monsters’ Ball Halloween Disco on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 October. Organisers promise an evening of fang-tastic fun…
Tickets can be purchased online and via Eden’s box office and some activities are included in the general admission price.
Our cottages are just 20 minutes from Eden – get in touch if you fancy spending half term in Padstow!
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October 13, 2011 at 10:30 am | No comment
Great Days Out – the Camel Trail
No holiday in Padstow is complete without a journey along the Camel Trail. Whether you want to cycle, run, walk or even go on horseback, this is something not to be missed.
This disused railway bridge forms part of the Camel Trail between Padstow and Wadebridge
The path runs for over 17 miles from Padstow to Wenford Bridge, via Wadebridge and Bodmin, but its most popular section is the 5 miles between Padstow and Wadebridge. The path skirts along the edge of the Camel Estuary, offering fantastic views across the water, back to Padstow, down the creek to Little Petherick and out to sea.
Built as a railway line in the mid 19th Century, the Camel Trail was originally used to transport fertiliser, slate, china clay and fish between Cornwall and the rest of the UK and abroad. It closed to passengers in 1967 and the freight service stopped in 1983.
However, because it is so level and has no sharp bends, it is an ideal cycle track, being mostly traffic-free. There’s a good choice of bike hire companies if you don’t have your own, with tandems, tag-along bikes for children or buggies for infants too. Just a few rules – walkers, pushchairs and wheelchairs have right of way.
If you don’t fancy going all the way to Bodmin, you can have a great day out just cycling to Wadebridge, having an ice cream or coffee and cycling back. The 10 mile round trip will burn off a few calories and might even justify indulging in a Cornish pasty at Padstow before heading home to your holiday cottage!
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October 7, 2011 at 11:54 am | No comment
From food to films
Cornwall is becoming well established as the home of events celebrating its great food and drink, but if you’re looking for something different during your holiday in Padstow then what about a film festival?
The Cornwall Film Festival will take place at Newquay’s brand new Lighthouse Cinema from November 4-6. There’s a variety of highly acclaimed British and international feature films, many of them Cornwall or South West premieres.
Actor Danny Webb will be coming along to support his new film The Arbor, while fans of Cornish culture can soak up Cornishcopia – an expanded programme of dramas and documentaries made in the county. There’s even a screening of the first-ever Cornish language musical Skynt!
Workshops, talks and events for all ages complement the screenings, and tickets go on sale on 10 October. Why not make a weekend of it and stay at our self-catering holiday cottages in Padstow?
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October 4, 2011 at 11:33 am | No comment
Great days out – Mevagissey
The tranquil harbour at Mevagissey
It doesn’t matter how many times we go to our holiday cottages in Padstow, I never tire of the North Cornish coastline and look forward to seeing it in the different seasons and breathing in the sea air.
But although we love going back to our favourite places, we try to go somewhere different each time we visit and recently had a great day out in Mevagissey, near St Austell on the south coast.
It’s quite a change to leave the dramatic and craggy coastline of North Cornwall but Mevagissey itself shares the feel of Padstow with its pretty harbour, just begging to be photographed.
Its narrow winding streets full of specialist shops and galleries open up on to the waterfront where you can sit and watch the world go by – as we did with a great lunch at the 15th century Fountain Inn.
The town once boasted one of the country’s largest pilchard fleets and its early electric street lighting was apparently powered by pilchard oil! It’s still a commercial fishing port but there are also boat trips for tourists around the coastline where you might be lucky enough to see dolphins or even basking shark.
Why not take a day trip from Padstow and let us know what you think?
September 13, 2011 at 2:42 pm | No comment
Caroline Quentin in Cornwall
Caroline Quentin's new travelogue will focus on Cornwall
Actress Caroline Quentin is presenting another travelogue, but this time it’s closer to home — in Cornwall.
The Jonathan Creek star has already fronted ITV’s A Passage Through India, but this time turns her attention to some of Cornwall’s most popular resorts and picturesque locations.
She aims to get inside Cornish life by speaking to locals such as fishermen, shopkeepers, landlords and lifeboat crews as they go about their daily business.
According to ITV1, the eight-part series will ”tell the stories of community and friendship, hard graft and fresh endeavours, traditional livelihoods and ingenious money-making schemes”.
I’ve just learnt that she does pass close to our self-catering holiday homes in Padstow when she joins the town’s RNLI crew. Maybe she’ll also find time to catch up with her old Men Behaving Badly co-star Martin Clunes as he films Doc Martin in nearby Port Isaac.
August 20, 2011 at 11:22 am | No comment