THE CALL OF CORNWALL

Rick and Jill are now divorced but continue to run the businesses together. They expanded the Rick Stein dining concept with a small chain of eponymous restaurants bringing the fish-focused menus to other parts of the UK, but Cornwall remains closest to Rick's heart.

“I didn't choose Padstow, Padstow chose me, it's like when people say, ‘things happen for a reason'. In a weird way I think I couldn't have ended up anywhere else,” Rick says. “I think the net result of lots of travel is actually to accentuate the unique qualities of somewhere like Cornwall rather than to diminish them, simply because when you've seen it all you start looking at our own sandy beaches, seafood and even the smell of seaweed on the rocks at Harlyn, with greater love.”

“I love Padstow for its strong sense of identity. There are Cornish coastal towns that seem to exist almost solely for the summer season, and all but die at the end of October, but Padstow is very different. There's a yearround community here, which makes the town feel very much alive, even in the depths of winter.”

Forty five years after first opening its doors, The Seafood Restaurant is still one of Cornwall's top dining spots, overlooking