The first time my wife and I decided to rent a cottage in Cornwall in the summer holidays, the idea was to save money. Not that summer rentals are particularly cheap in Cornwall, but when you’ve got four children the cost of flying anywhere is prohibitive. There’s also the additional cost of renting a car to factor in — or rather a mini-van, because no car is big enough. If you live in London, as we do, one of the great advantages of Cornwall is that you can drive there in about four-and-a-half hours.
I won’t pretend it was love at first sight. Cornwall is England’s poorest county and some parts of it are pretty run-down. But after ten years of going there every summer — and, more recently, for the Easter holidays as well — we’ve become very fond of it.
After initially renting a cottage near Looe on the south coast, we decided to go upmarket the second time and found somewhere a few miles from Padstow on the north coast. Padstow is second only to Rock as a fashionable destination for well-heeled Londoners, thanks to the patronage of Rick Stein, who owns a dozen restaurants and cafes there. But it felt a little bit too like Notting Hill-by-the-Sea for our tastes, and the only time we’ve been back is when we did the Camel Trail, a 16-mile cycle ride from Wadebridge that follows a disused railway track.
We eventually settled on a farm cottage just outside Helston and we’ve been going there ever since. Helston is at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula, which boasts some of the nicest beaches in England, but it’s also conveniently located for day trips to places like the Jamaica Inn, just in case the weather turns nasty. The fact that it rains in Cornwall is probably its greatest drawback as a summer holiday destination, but it does mean that those perfect days are that much more special. When the sun’s out and the temperature climbs above 70, there are few places I’d rather be with my kids than splashing about in Kynance Cove.
After a long day at the beach, the prospect of making the children’s supper isn’t particularly appealing so we often take ourselves off to Roskilly’s Farm in St Keverne, which has a pretty good kids’ menu. It also has an impressive range of ice cream. I’ve become a connoisseur of Cornish ice cream over the past ten years and Roskilly’s is easily the best.
The most attractive thing about Cornwall, though, is the scenery. Nothing beats that moment when you crest the brow of the hill and see the sea for the first time. My wife and I spent our honeymoon driving along America’s Pacific coast, but looking out over the Atlantic as you thread your way along the winding coastal paths of England’s southernmost county is even more spectacular. Cornwall may not be the most luxurious place to spend your summer holidays, but it’s better for the soul than Ibiza or the South of France.
Nowadays, even if we won the football pools, we wouldn’t dream of going anywhere else.