Fly to Santa from London
For more great holiday ideas, see page 37
featured extensively in the BBC’S Poldark series. It is still very much functioning, with traditional sailing ships a regular sight.
Loads of restaurants and cafes cash in on its good looks and it has a Shipwreck Treasure Museum, which has accumulated more than 8,000 finds from 150 shipwrecks throughout the world. Tickets cost £6. For more details, see shipwreckcharlestown.co.uk.
Perfect pasties Eating out
Like spring flowers, Cornish pasties are big business. They are worth £300million to the region and are covered by a Protected Geographical
GETTING to Lapland from London will be much easier this winter, thanks to a new route to Luleå in Sweden. The twice-weekly flights from Stansted will operate on Mondays and Fridays from December to March.
A three-night break in
Indication. That means that if you buy a pasty and it claims to be Cornish, then it has to have been made in Cornwall.
You won’t find any better versions than at Ann’s Pasties on the Lizard, Britain’s most southerly point. The bright yellow bakery is run by the forthright Ann Muller from a converted garage behind her house. See annspasties.co.uk.
Tuck in to her pasty by the Lizard Point lighthouse, where you can often spot dolphins.
If you prefer to dine in a more comfortable yet equally characterful setting, head to the Helford River just around the corner – it’s where Daphne Du Maurier’s
Frenchman’s Creek was set.
Take the foot-ferry across to the waterside Ferry Boat Inn for soup and whitebait, surrounded by sloping fields.
See ferryboatcornwall.co.uk.
Lapland – with one night at the worldfamous Treehotel and two nights in a cottage, plus flights, guides and transfers, starts from £1,395pp
For further information or to book, visit theaurorazone.com.
There are two good-value resort hotels along this stretch of coast and the first is the Carlyon Bay, just east of Charleston and St Austell.
The large hotel has a golf course out front, a sandy beach below and extensive spa and fitness facilities, as well as great food.
Doubles cost from £110 per night, which includes free golf on the 18-hole championship course. See carlyonbay.com.
Alternatively, try The Cornwall, between St Austell and Mevagissey. This boutique hotel is set in 43 acres of parkland and has a seriously good spa.
Families and bigger groups have the option to self-cater too, staying in one of the 22 trendy woodland lodges. Doubles cost from £72. See thecornwall.com.