This small but interesting museum is situated just 50 metres from the harbour side in the port of Pa...
NLH aims to make a visit to the lobster hatchery rewarding for everyone. The main attraction has to...
Situated in the heart of Padstow, representing established artists and promising young artists. In ...
In the picturesque north Cornish fishing village of Port Isaac you will find the Port Isaac Pottery ...
The Cinedrome was first opened in 1919 as a music hall and theatre. In 1924 it was converted into a ...
Nestled just on the right side of the Devon border, Bude is the perfect spot from which to explore the vertiginous cliffs, sweeping sands and lush valleys of the north Cornish coast. Most tastes are well catered for here, be it joining the surfers vying for a wave at one of the area's many surf spots, attempting to unearth Arthurian legend in Tintagel, or experiencing the gastronomic phenomenon that Rick Stein has impressed upon Padstow.
If hitting Bude at the height of the summer season, it seems a shame to miss out on its world famous jazz festival (Bude Jazz Festival ). Now entering its nineteenth year, the eight-day extravaganza puts on 160 events, bringing a taste of New Orleans to the north Cornish town. Best of all, pick up a stroller ticket and wander the horns and organs till your heart's content. If regional is more appealing than international, make your way to the mouth of the Camel estuary to May Day in Padstow. The celebration is something to behold. Marking the alleged arrival of summer, the daylong parade sees the release of the two Osses onto Padstow's narrow and crowded streets, where thousands of onlookers join in the song and dance at what is said to be amongst the oldest festivals of its kind in the country. If legends are your thing, a visit to the area would be incomplete without the Round Table reminiscences of Tintagel (www.tintagelweb.co.uk), rumoured to be the birthplace of King Arthur. The rampant tourism may leave you wishing for an Excalibur of your own, though successfully ignoring it should allow the imagination to run wild, particularly with such an appropriately windswept and sparse landscape. Given the sheer availability and diversity of beaches, surfers are spoilt for choice on this stretch of the Cornish coast, with Bude, Polzeath and Crackington Haven offering varied takes on the Atlantic. If the waves get too much, try a dip in the seawater swimming pool at Bude's Summerleaze beach.
This part of the county charts a full culinary canon, from Michelin stars to Cornish heavy cake. Life's a Beach at Bude's Summerleaze beach has a veranda that can easily rob you of many an afternoon hour, and with such excellent eats so close to the surf and sand, it's easy to see why. For a step back to Victorian times, try Bangor's Organic, about five miles south of Bude. Offering a lunchtime and tea menu using ingredients from their Soil Association-certified gardens, an afternoon brew at this newly refurbished country house is not to be missed. Out in Padstow, Chough's Bakery will furnish you with an exquisite pasty, but make sure you leave room for a slice of their heavy cake. For crisp white linen in an 18th century former mill, head to the Mill House Inn at Trebarwith Strand: its wonky charm and crackling fires combine with a superb menu to make it almost irresistible. Plus, if you sample too many Sharp's ales, there are rooms for the night upstairs. The well-lined wallet is amply rewarded in this neck of the woods with Nathan Outlaw's Black Pig in Rock, which gained a Michelin star after just eight months. It remains refreshingly unpretentious; rather, just good, fresh, local food. Similarly, Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow heads up his growing monopoly on the town. It's worth a look if the reservations list isn't prohibitively lengthy. If not, head to Stein's Fish and Chips.
Geography means there's stiff competition for sundowners. The Bayview Inn in Widemouth is just as its name suggests. With an expansive deck overlooking the bay's golden sands, it can sometimes be hard to secure a pew to sink a cool beer on those long summer evenings. Port Isaac's Golden Lion, perched above the harbour, is an ideal place to sink a few ales on its vocal floorboards or sun-kissed balcony. For surf lounge chic, the Blue Tomato Café in Polzeath is all comfy sofas and cavernous coffee cups, whilst firing up the barbie in the summer ensures hordes of salty-haired surfers watching the sun disappear. They've another one in Rock where some punters are lucky enough to rub shoulders with a young Royal or two.
For any surf-related needs head to Bude's Zuma Jays, where they'll more than adequately accommodate you for in or out of the water. Wading through the typical and mostly dispensible tourist fare at Tintagel yields confectionary gem, Granny Wobbley's Fudge Shop, where they roll it and box it as you watch. The only problem will be trying not to eat it all before you get home. Nestled in Padstow's winding streets is Teri Walker, where Indian, Burmese and Thai homewares could give your home that exotic flavour. Also, check out Wildlife in Padstow, where more traditional yachting fayre appears next to crisp contemporary linens and Camper footwear.
If wandering Bude's streets by night, be sure to take in the Bude Light, a fibre optic paean to the town's famous inventor, Sir Goldsworthy Gurney. Arguably, this stretch of Cornwall is the Southwest Coast Path (www.swcp.org.uk ) at its most stunning, even if the gradients give even the most exercised lung a good work out. In fact, it's the highest cliffscape in Cornwall, most notably perhaps in Crackington Haven, where the bay's brackets rise to well over 100 metres. Be it stunning beaches paving the way for verdant valleys, or the barren landscapes of Arthurian lore, North Cornwall is well worth a vote with the feet.