Lee Ness sees in the New Year in his favourite place, Cornwall, with walking and eating high on his list of things to do.
Relaxing inside Coswarth Cottage
My wife Mandy, our two Cocker Spaniels, Tash and Tilly, and I love the Cornish coast. It is our favourite place in England to visit. There are lots of fantastic places and we’ve stayed in quite a few, but three out of four times that we visit Cornwall, we come back to Padstow.
Padstow is one of the most dog friendly places we have visited anywhere. While many towns happily make concessions for dogs and their owners, Padstow (and Cornwall in general in our experience) doesn’t make it feel like a concession. Dogs are just part of the culture. we visited Padstow this year, as we did last year, over the Christmas period. We arrived on 27 December and stayed until 3 January to allow us to take in New Year’s eve. We always stay in a rented cottage or house as there are plenty to choose from and most are dog friendly. Padstow isn’t the cheapest place to stay due to its popularity, but we have always found it well worth the cost. We rented Coswarth Cottage this time as there were five humans and two dogs staying. We found this on CRW Holidays, which not only specialises in the area – Rock, Polzeath and Padstow – but also has a high percentage of dog friendly properties. On the search tool bar you can identify a location or just ‘dog friendly’, which is definitely a good sign. For this property, there is an additional charge for dogs, but it is only £30 for a week. The location is perfect for the town, just a short walk up the hill of New Street. The property is set back from the road and there is a large, secure garden with areas to sit outside if the weather allows and views across the Camel river. Dogs are allowed on the ground floor of the property but not in the bedrooms, although we have found this common and simple courtesy in all dog friendly rentals. In addition, dogs must not be left unattended in the property.
Along for the ride on the Camel Trail
There are lots of dog friendly pubs and walks in and around Padstow. Using the harbour as a point of reference, there is a large field for shorter walks and exercise, plus four main routes for walks. Chapel Style Field is the main field just above the harbour to the north for giving the dogs a runaround or a short walk. There are plenty of bins around for disposal and plenty of grass for them to run around on. There is also a short drop down to a small shingle beach, the wonderfully named Chiddley pump, which is both a fishing pier and the location for the Black Tor Ferry at low tide. It is through Chapel Style Field that The South West Coastal Path heads up to St Saviour’s Point War Memorial monument at the top. The route continues along the coastline to Stepper Point and then back South to Harlyn Bay. This is a long and fairly challenging walk of around seven miles, but there is a bus service that takes you back to Padstow. Stepper Point and back is around six miles and the coastline is truly Cornish, straight out of an episode of Poldark. So we thought it was a worthy challenge. We would recommend picking up a Cornish pasty from the award-winning Chough Bakery, right on the harbour for a snack along the way. In the same direction, but at low tide after around quarter of a mile along the coastal path, there is a short drop down to St George’s cove, along the length of Harbour Cove beach and a walk all the way to the old lifeboat launch (now converted to a residence) at Hawker’s Cove. There is around one-and-half miles of walking along the beach in each direction. This can also be part of your South West Coastal Path walk as this passes through Hawker’s Cove. The beach is wide, flat and beautiful. Beware of tide times though as some of the areas can get cut off with no route off the beach. But the tide is relatively slow coming in so as long as you check times before your walk you will be fine.
Southern Coast Path
THE CAMEL TRAIL
In the opposite direction to the South West Coastal Path is the Camel Trail. Heading south from the harbour past Rick Stein’s seafood restaurant, then his Deli and Fish and Chip shop, the Camel Trail starts at the far end of the car park. This is a relatively flat route along the old disused railway line. The trail is split into three, roughly five-and-a-half mile sections. The first from Padstow to Wadebridge, the second from Wadebridge to Bodmin and then the third from Bodmin to Wenfordbridge. There are cycle hire stations at all three points and plenty of places to stop and enjoy the views across the Camel Estuary and the river. If you want to travel longer, the cycle hire stations have trailers for your dogs. We have done this to Bodmin and back and the dogs took their rest in the trailer a few times. Tilly was too active to stay in the trailer for long, but Tash took to it like a queen. At busy times there can be a lot of cycles on the trail so unless your dogs are well trained, it may be best to keep them on lead. But whether you walk or ride, treat yourself to fish and chips from Stein’s as you pass by. They are well worth the pause. There is a lot of choice of different fish to have with your chips as you would expect in a harbour, but there are also plenty of other options if you are feeling adventurous. The Singapore chilli crab burger looks very tempting and I’m definitely going to try that next time.
Having a rest on the Camel Trail
ROCK AND POLZEATH
ROCK AND POLZEATH
Our favourite walk is to take the Black Tor Ferry from Padstow Harbour to Rock. The ferry runs every 15 minutes at a cost of £3 per person to cross, dogs are free. Once across the estuary, at high tide there is a coast walk via another section of the South West Coast Path up to Polzeath, a surfers’ resort. At low tide, the whole walk can be made along the beach. Either way, the walk is around three miles each way but well worth it. The coastal path version is a little more hilly, but the hills allow some fantastic views across the estuary. The beach walk is just as beautiful and the dogs love it. While over in Rock, from the ferry, head south along the road for about half a mile and you will arrive at The Mariners. This is a Paul Ainsworth pub, which serves some of the best pub food you will ever taste. It isn’t cheap and it is always busy so if you want a table it will be worth booking ahead. On this visit we sat outside overlooking the Camel river under the patio heaters (late December, remember) and had the best chip sandwich I have ever tasted, The Rock Chip Butty. Dogs are welcome and water and free treats are always available. Padstow has more than its fair share of great traditional public houses that serve good food along with excellent local beers, IPAs, cider and lager. Cornwall has a particularly good quality range of breweries. The main pubs are The Shipwrights, The Harbour Inn, The Golden Lion, The Old Custom House, The London Inn and The Old Ship Hotel. All the pubs are dog friendly and there are plenty of treats for the dogs from the staff and on the bar. The Golden Lion does one of the best Sunday lunches we’ve ever had in a pub. Just slightly outside the town, Rick Stein’s Cornish Arms is also dog friendly and does wonderful high end pub food.
Overlooking Port Isaac
FURTHER AFIELD
While in Padstow, it is always one of our days out to visit Port Isaac, home of Doc Martin and The Fisherman’s Friends. This is a beautiful fishing village and is situated on a section of the South West Coastal Path too, which means there are stunning walks in both directions from the village. Port Isaac itself is surrounded by hills so either way is challenging as you climb out of the village but the views make the climb worth it, especially from Bert Large’s chair. If you are fans of Doc Marten, the sights from the show are easy to spot. Newquay is only a 30-minute journey and is well worth the trip for the dog friendly beaches. There is an embarrassment of choice – Fistral, Crantock, Towan, Great Western, Tolcarne, Newquay, Porth, Grove and Watergate. If you aren’t into walking on beaches, the South West Coastal Path is here for you again and the best walk is south to cross Crantock Bay and then along the path past Polly Joke beach to Kelsey Head. With crashing coastlines, beautiful beaches, fantastic pubs, great food and, most of all, one of the friendliest places for dogs to visit, we hope you fall in love with Padstow as much as we have. Maybe we’ll see you there.
Black Tor Ferry to Rock
Fact File
Coswarth Cottage – 8 Dennis Road,, Padstow PL28 8DD
Prices from £1130 to £1745 for 7 nights plus £30 per pet per week.
crwholidays.co.uk
