Stretch bare legs in the lovely west
WHETHER you want to relive childhood seaside memories, or just give yourself a clotted cream and coastal path treat, Devon and Cornwall will deliver holiday joy in buckets and spadeloads as the weather warms.
Summer comes early in the far West, from the beginning of May, when locals and visitors alike hit the coast paths, gardens and especially the beach, jumping in the swell and stretching their bare legs long before the rest of the country.
There are some great deals around. So come on down, and fast-track summer!
Cornwall’s calling
IF YOU were creating a perfect holiday haven, you’d probably come up with Cornwall. England’s seductive toe offers peaceful fishing villages, smugglers’ inns, more than 70 fabulous gardens and some 300 or so gorgeous beaches dotted along a coastline that provides epic panoramas and candy coloured sunsets.
With big names such as Madonna, Gordon Ramsay, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant (and the Camerons!) known to holiday in the area, this proudly independent peninsula is having quite a moment, reporting tourism growth of up to 10 per cent a year.
It is also in the midst of a renaissance covering everything from cooking to culture. Sample Rick Stein’s foodie empire in Padstow, or head far west to lovely Penzance, featured in The New York Times’s list of 52 places to visit in 2017, and cited as the ‘new gourmet capital of Cornwall’. The coolest eateries here include The Tolcarne Inn, brainchild of Michelin starred chef Ben Tunnicliffe, and Bruce Rennie’s The Shore.
Be sure to walk across the causeway or take a ferry to stunning St Michael’s Mount, the family home of the St Aubyns, under the stewardship of the National Trust. The subtropical terraced gardens are as breathtaking as the lofty abbey. Visit the Minack Theatre and watch a play set against the backdrop of the sea. Discover the historic tin mines that are a focus of Poldark.
And wander out on Cornish headlands for the most jaw-dropping seascapes anywhere in Britain — perhaps as part of the Walk West Cornwall 2017 festival, organised by Helpful Holidays, from June 12 to 18.
On Cornwall’s dramatic, surf-washed north coast, mystical Tintagel is the setting for a new guy Ritchie film, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. And towards the south-east coast, the Eden Project, near St Austell, and The Lost Gardens of Heligan, are fantastic attractions to visit — while Tremaine Green Cottages, near Pelynt, between Looe and Polperro, provide the perfect base.
With the news that Poldark is returning in June, there’s sure to be a gallop westwards. So it’s best to sashay to the nearest phone or mouse as soon as you can, to secure an idyllic bolthole.