Reply to: Cornwall for holidays

[cojak]

I'm off to Exmoor in August, looking forward to it.

[minestrone]

Thanks!

I'm just in London so a bit closer, would you recommend Watergate?

Definitely, I thought it looked a bit of a dump driving up ( there is a big car park at the front and an area next door fenced off for development ) but once you get in it's really nice.

Food is pretty good, jamie oliver place across the car park as well. Bar is nice with the view and the pool is good. Rooms we were in were brand new and was decorated very well.

Place will be overdeveloped soon though. They are adding too many rooms and the pool, the restaurant and the bar ain't growing. Breakfast was very busy.


St Moritz was probably as good if not better.

[Doggy Styles]

Isn't Cornwall full of smugglers and German seafarers?

[Boudica]

Sorry, been away for a few days,

We ended up getting the plane down from Glasgow to Newquay, we stayed the last few days in the Watergate which was about 3 miles away. Pretty handy. Hired a ford focus for the week at 180 quid.

Thanks!

I'm just in London so a bit closer, would you recommend Watergate?

[minestrone]

minestrone, did you drive to cornwall or train?

Sorry, been away for a few days,

We ended up getting the plane down from Glasgow to Newquay, we stayed the last few days in the Watergate which was about 3 miles away. Pretty handy. Hired a ford focus for the week at 180 quid.

[Boudica]

bump

[Boudica]

minestrone, did you drive to cornwall or train?

[minestrone]

Cornwall was fantastic, well most of it, and really enjoyed the holiday.

Hotels were mostly great, a suite at the St Moritz for the first few nights which was great, and we stayed at the Watergate Bay (cheers for the tip Lester) for the last few nights which was also great.

We booked a place online in St Ives for 2 nights in between and when the conformation mail never came through we phoned them up and said “do you have a room, we booked online” which they replied “sorry no online bookings came though and there are now no rooms”. Day later the manageress off the first called us up to ask why we had not turned up, 30 minute argument with the burd and manageress, manageress made a big mistake on that one. She basically called us liars which does not go down well with the burd.

Later when I discovered they had taken 100 quid from my account I called up expecting a rumble but they then said they would refund it. Shysters anyway.

Stayed in Carbis Bay Hotel on those nights which was ideal as the train to St Ives is only 4 minutes.

For such a lovely area there seems to have been a concerted effort to ruin the place by the locals, Newquay is just a total dump, Penzance is not really a place I would want to stay long in, Padstow is just too busy and Rick Stein’s fish and chips are totally crap. If he can’t get that right then bugger paying top dollar in his other places. St Ives seems to get the mix right.

St Michaels mount and Marazion are very nice ( Cheers for that tip MF ) and The Lost Gardens of Heligan is a great day out for a man with a decent camera.

Cornish Ales are top class, HSD, Tribute and Betty Stogs got a hammering. Lot of sea food got eaten as well but you had to take your time to research the places that do sea food for the tourists and the other ones that do real quality sea food.

Locals were all friendly as well even when their team was taking a pounding. There seemed to be a feeling of “we are Cornish first then English”, maybe.

Ohh, and never seen so much road kill in all my life, and I grew up in the country!

Cheers for all the advice, I think we will be going back next year and will see all the things we never got to do this time.

[shaunbhoy]

Ah!!!!!!! Cornwall!! Just got back from a flying visit.
Nipped down to a site near Newquay Airport to restore it back to service. Easy money!!
Set off about 3am and had the roads to myself pretty much all the way there and back.
Fabulous scenery and nice to be driving back towards a huge fiery orb, knowing that I can have a well-earned breaky then hit the sack for the rest of the day. Luxury!!
Will probably surface early afternoon and have lunch and a Banana Bread Beer (or two) on the patio, soaking up some rays and watching the ships in Lyme Bay. Life is tough sometimes.

[gricerboy]

I've never understood how that works - surely it can't take more than 4 hours. Hardly a good night's kip.

In case you're interested:

All about the Cornish Riviera Sleeper Service

[Scrag Meister]

That wern't no pasty, that were an Oggie that were.

(Oggies being the local name for oversized pasties generally sold to lardy tourists rather than locals )

Hoggan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Lester]

We've stayed at Watergate Bay just outside Newquay a couple of times - I'd recommend it. Excellent beach, nice hotel, handy for the airport if you're flying in.

[gricerboy]

They don't thunder through the countryside at 120mph at night, more like 40mph.

Do they run an HST or is it headed up by a single loco?

[DaveB]

I was in Padstow last year on the motorbike and went in the local pasty shop and asked for a Large Cornish Pasty, I think that is the first pasty shop that could not be done under the trade descriptions act, as the it was f'ing enormous. I would guess a foot long on the straight edge.

Knocked it back no problem though.

That wern't no pasty, that were an Oggie that were.

(Oggies being the local name for oversized pasties generally sold to lardy tourists rather than locals )

[portseven]

Reccomend a trip to Porthcurno too, the Victorian Internet and a cracking beach too. Right next to the Miniack Open Air Theatre