Trip Report: Exploring Cornwall - England's Secret
Located in southwest England, Cornwall is one of the country's secret to outsiders. Locals know about England’s secret where the sun shines an average of 7 hours a day and pearly white beaches exist!
Logistics
To arrive in Cornwall, it actually doesn’t take much time as Cornwall is a region rather than a certain city. Back in the medieval times, the cut off was a river that is now technically in England but we are not in those times! However, we instantly recognized when we arrived in Cornwall as the roads narrowed and the serene nature appeared!
Train
From London, there are a few different train services to Cornwall. There is a 5-6 hour direct train service that leaves every hour from London Paddington until 7pm. Then there is the famed Night Riveria train departing around 11pm and arrived at 7am in Penzance. However, in order to truly experience Cornwall, I would highly recommend a car!
Old Fashion Road Trip
From London, if you don’t have a car, there are a few different rental car options - either Reading or Heathrow Airport! However, from either of those locations, prepare yourself for a very long road trip - at least by English standards! We drove from Milton Keynes to Bath, then Bath to Port Issaac and it was 5 hours in total. In summary, visit Cornwall for a long time to make up for the long drive! Or perhaps us Americans have adapted to the English fear of road trips…
Between destinations, be wary of the drive time as the Cornish roads are very rural and often much slower than advertised. Despite the cities being very close to each other, the drives can be slow and long… However, they are very pretty!
Lodging
During a Virgin Experience sale last December, I booked a one night stay in a boutique hotel, the Lugger Hotel, in a rural seaside village. The hotel was lovely especially as we were one of the few people there! The rooms were comfortable and the onsite restaurant was really tasty!
Cornwall Activities
If we scope in the entire Cornwall region, there are many things to do! I’ll limit this list to what we did, and what we will do on our next trip!
- Beaches - There are countless beaches from small little villages to the bigger cities (such as St. Ives).
- Hiking, Kayaking, or Surfing - Some of the most scenic beach hikes are located in Cornwall! Plus, there are plenty of water activities.
- Miner’s Past - Inspiring the Poldark books and TV series, the mining history is really interesting - and usually offers terrific views on the coast!
- Wine Region - Surprisingly, English sparkling wine is consistently rated as high as the famous Champagne region
- St Michaels Mount - Similar to the most famous French cousin of Monte Sainte Michel, the small island hosts a small village and church.
Food and Drink
Wow, we had terrific meals and drinks in Cornwall. Known for the famous Cornish pasty, they also have incredibly fresh seafood from bass to lobster to crab. One of the best meals was a lunch on our first day in Port Isaac where the fisherman walked in with the fresh catch of the day and they then prepared the lobster and crabs for our lunch! Unfortunately, I was not great about saving down our recommendations, but do have the village and cities that we visited!
First Port of Call - Port Isaac
After a lengthy three hour drive from Bath, we finally arrived at our first port of call at Port Isaac. Initially the parking lot views were incredible so our expectations were already rising!
However, we listened to our stomachs and immediately went for lunch - also because we saw the amazing lobster rolls and fish cakes as we walked past the shop, Fresh From the Sea! Good thing we did because we heard the lobster was pulled from the sea earlier this morning and then we saw the afternoon catch of the day brought inside the shop. The food was absolutely incredible and fresh! We also enjoyed the family run business as it made us feel more at home.
Travel Tip: Get to Fresh From the Sea early so you can get your choice of the fresh catch! We really wanted crab cakes but they ran out of it.
Walking down to the port, we realized this village was very small and well known for one thing - the famous UK show Doc Martin. They were even filming in a pub when we were there! The village itself was quite quaint and typical English seaside, but the beach or port was not that great at low tide. I definitely think it would look better at high tide! Once in the village, we just took a stroll through the houses and surrounding cliffs. Taking in the fresh sea air was fantastic.
Terrible Truro
Known for being a picturesque town in the hit TV series Poldark, we went for two reasons - to say we have been there and to investigate if it was similar to the TV show depiction. Initially, we paid for 2 hours of parking, but we lasted 20 minutes. Unlike the cute charming town, it was a normal city filled with chain shops on the high street, and kinda ugly streets. Truro did have a pretty cathedral!
Pretty Portloe
Located on the southern Cornish coast, Portloe is a charming seaside village with a few houses and boats. To this day, I still don’t think they had a grocery store! Because we still had plenty of time after our Truro disaster, we went for a lovely walk along the cliffs. The sunset and water views were absolutely worth the walk! Although Mary Frances wanted to go back and was more interested in her phone, I definitely enjoyed our little hike! As noted on google maps, there is a long nature trail throughout the coast so I debated continuing without her or possibly doing an early morning hike!
Lugger Hotel Dinner
During our planning, we expected Truro would have food and then we would drive to the hotel afterwards. Shortly after our plan changed, I called the hotel and booked a reservation at their on site restaurant. From our table, we had a terrific view of the little port, including the sunset!
For a hotel restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised! The food was locally sourced and most of the seafood was caught fresh that day. Because we were on the water, Mary Frances had the seabass while I went with a Cornish chicken stuffed with ham. Overall, a top notch meal to cap off a terrific Cornish day!
Mining in Cornwall
On our last day in Cornwall, we wanted to go to the most western point in England and visit the beautiful beaches and mining villages.
Sunrise in Portloe
When we checked in, the hotel advertised that the fisherman would set off from the harbor at sunrise so I wanted to see them in action! Unfortunately, I was the only one awake in the village - including the fisherman! Instead, I walked through the cliffs trying to get the best sunrise view over the water. Considering yesterday was very cloudy, I was thrilled to see the sun!
Similar to our amazing dinner, our hotel breakfast was equally tasty! I had a very nice eggs benedict while MF ordered a full english but without most of the sides (most people would just say scrambled eggs!)
St Michaels Mount
Located off the coast, the small island called St Michaels Mount dates back to the medieval times and is only accessible during certain times of the year. Supposedly, the castle is one of the best things to do in Cornwall because it was one of the few remaining and functioning medieval castles in England. Because we are fantastic planners, we did not read the fine print and the castle is not open on Saturdays… At least we were able to walk the beach and soak in the sunshine!
Travel Tip: Review at the opening times, especially the low and high tide so you can plan your visit!
St Michael's Mount
Nampara Cove
After a long delay, we arrived on a cloudy beach known as Nampara Cove in Poldark, or Porthcurno. While Poldark certainly has made this beach more popular, but the beach is easily one of the most stunning beaches in the entire U.K. and world. From the pearly white sand to the turquoise water, this beach is perfect for us!
Beach views!
As we walked to the beach, the sun came out!! We could not have asked for better timing! Moreover, we were the only people on the beach for the longest time! Because we had perfect weather and the perfect location, Mary Frances was enjoying the sun and sand and I was taking pictures of it! We loved every second of it!
Because Porthcurno beach is surrounded by cliffs, we then ventured up the cliffs to get the million dollar view. Mary Frances didn't want to take the unstable path to get the great views of the beach. By far, this beach alone is worth the drive to Cornwall!
Travel Tip: For these views, you have to visit on a sunny day!
Cliff views
Camera views
Botallack and Levant
Next on our Poldark adventure are the mining locations of Botallack and Levant. In the show, the two locations star as Ross’ main mine of Wheal Leisure and Levant operates as the Tressiders Mill. In this area’s history, these locations played an important role in sustaining the Cornish economy and innovating engineering marvels. I didn’t realize that they mined underneath the SEA! When the mine broke and water rushed in, I thought they were close to the coast. Often, mining shafts went 1-2 miles into the ocean.
Today, however, the grassy knoll and countless pits near the roaring coast made for a perfect playground! While I enjoyed running around on the cliffs, Mary Frances enjoyed the sun and strolling along the manicured pathways. We spent a long time here, either taking pictures or reading the informative plaques describing the location’s history.
While Levant still has actual mining equipment for their museum, most of the historic buildings along the coast are already in ruins. It is fascinating that they accomplished these amazing feats of engineering by tunneling mine shafts so deep and far into the sea. Although we came here for the Poldark location, we walked away with a deeper appreciation for the mining history (and the amazing views!).
The UnChartered Summary
Before we moved to England, our friends (and guidebooks!) told us of the serene white beaches and locations where it is mostly sunny year-round in England. Beyond the views, the fresh seafood and tasty meals make it an extraordinary trip!
- Make Cornwall worth the drive! The area is easily worth a full week and we crammed it into a weekend. I would also pick a coast or little area and base yourself there rather than seeing it all! St Ives would be a great location and wouldn’t necessarily mean you need a car!
- Porthcurno, Botallack, and Levant are excellent Poldark locations to visit for more than just the TV show! The history and beaches are absolutely amazing! The pictures are worth a thousand words.
- Cornwall has amazing food and Fresh From the Sea in Port Isaac is still one of my favorite memories from the trip. Not only the seafood, we enjoyed the craft beer and learned after the fact that the region is well known for English sparkling wine (the only wine that is good here!)
Until next time, we will either train or drive to St Ives and base ourselves there for a long beach location!