Delicious Cornish pasties from The Chough bakery

Our favourite Padstow pasty shop The Chough Bakery got the TV treatment when it called on the services of BBC Two’s The Fixer Alex Polizzi.

Alex has turned her no-nonsense approach to struggling family businesses and wanted boss Elaine, daughter Luisa and the rest of The Chough team to put bickering and rivalry aside to concentrate on making their bakery successful all year round.

After delivering some slightly painful home truths, Alex helped the family pull together and the programme ended on a high – with Rick Stein and Port Isaac singers Fisherman’s Friends joining in the celebrations.

It made for riveting viewing and more importantly has given The Chough a shop window nationwide. If watching made you feel hungry, you’ll be pleased to know that the award-winning Cornish pasties can be ordered online for home delivery. You can also get a delicious Cornish cream tea delivered to your door.

Well done to the Chough for being brave enough to let Alex and the cameras in and wishing you every success in 2012.

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?

The Olympic torch has 8,000 small circles, representing the torch bearers

The flame will be lit in Greece using the sun’s rays on 10 May in a traditional ceremony among the historic ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia.

Following an eight-day relay around Greece and handover ceremony in Athens, it will travel on board a special gold-liveried aircraft – flight BA2012 - to the UK on 18 May.

That evening, it will arrive at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, near Helston in Cornwall.  The venue has been chosen to acknowledge the vital contribution that maritime and coastal search and rescue services undertake for our island nation.

The relay itself begins the following day at Lands End, when the torch will set off on its 8,000 mile journey across the UK – carried by 8,000 ‘inspirational people’ and travelling to within 10 miles of 95% of the population.

Sadly, Padstow itself is not on the route, but visitors to our self-catering holiday cottages don’t have far to go to see the relay as it passes by Indian Queens and Bodmin on its epic journey.

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…

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!

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:

Having a holiday to look forward to is just as important as ever in this challenging economic climate, but it doesn’t have to be an expensive trip to the Caribbean to refresh and revitalise you. Cornwall offers some of the most breathtaking scenery, stunning beaches and top food – and it’s only a car journey away.

To do our bit and as a thank you to all our loyal guests, we’re keeping our prices for 2012 the same as last year, despite an increase in running costs due to cleaning and utility bills etc.

Poppies and Sorrel Cottage are among the best value in our local area for families, while West Creek Cottage offers couples on their own or with one child a cosy base for touring the area at a very affordable price. With rates starting at under £300 per week, that works out at less than £20 per person per night – including linen, towels and parking.

Please visit the other pages on our website to find out more about our cottages in Padstow. We hope to welcome you soon.

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!

Poppies' courtyard is ideal for drying wetsuits

However, gone are the days when you would almost feel your blood freeze as you took to the waves dressed only in a swimming costume.  Nowadays, the Cornwall beaches are awash with people dressed head to foot in black neoprene!

Yes, the wetsuit has transformed a trip to the seaside for many families, ours included.  Of course serious surfers have long since worn all the layers and even headgear but now we’ve all got them, long-leg or short-leg and even boots and gloves.

Trying to squeeze yourself, and the children, into the black synthetic rubber outfits is never a joyful experience, and walking across Constantine Bay or the beach at Harlyn fully clad in neoprene is hardly a fashion statement, but it’s all worthwhile when you take to the water in October or even February.

Around Padstow and the seven bays there are lots of places to hire or buy wetsuits and we have holiday cottages with gardens where you can hang them to dry after a day out.

We’ll never be competing at Fistral Beach but at least we keep warm!

Take a minute to go on a virtual tour of West Creek Cottage, our cosy holiday cottage near Padstow. Look out for more videos coming soon on our YouTube channel.