Camping .......... .........in Luxury!
If you are looking for surf, then head to the North coast. You can try out Watergate Bay where the extreme kite surfers hang out. There is a great little beach Café right on the beach there where you can watch it all going on. Or, if you want to really push the boat out, go for breakfast at Jamie Olivers ‘Fifteen’, which is situated above the beach café. There, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the beach and the sea and have a really fabulous breakfast. They also have a reasonable lunch time menu but the evening meal is quite expensive [£50 per head without wine].
Another great place to go if you like surfing and watersports, is Lusty Glaze, also in Newquay. They have a good surf school there and you can try out the coastering, or zip wire, which believe me, is quite an experience! However, if you just want to enjoy the surf and have a relaxing day on the beach, head towards Padstow and try out Polzeath, Harlyn Bay or Booby's Bay. Situated at the north of Constantine Bay and separated from it by a small headland point. This beautiful beach boasts fantastic scenery with Trevose Head
to the north. With fine golden sand and many small rock pools, it is a beach worth stopping to explore. The coastal path winds its way up to Trevose lighthouse and beyond provide fantastic views of coast to the north and the south.
All these popular beaches have an almost guaranteed surf. You can rent boards and wet suits at all these beaches. The journey by car is about an hour.
Gardens
There are lots of National Trust Properties worth visiting in Cornwall.
The nearest one is Cotehele just four miles west of Tavistock. This is a very fine Tudor house with superb collections of textiles, armour and furniture, set in extensive grounds.
Lanhydrock House is near Bodmin. It is a magnificent late Victorian country house with extensive servants' quarters, gardens and wooded estate
The lost Gardens of Helegan- These gardens, near Mevagissy in Cornwall, have been restored and well marketed by Tim Smit. They have had a four part TV series on channel 4 in 1997, there is a best selling book on the "Heligan story", and there have been countless newspaper articles. They comprise eighty acres of pleasure grounds plus a complex of walled gardens and a huge vegetable garden. The house, built by William Tremayne in 1603, was the seat of the Tremayne family who controlled over 1000 acres in the area from Pentewan to Gorran. This Estate was totally self sufficient, having a number of quarries, woods, farms, a brickworks (the earliest in Cornwall in 1681), a flour mill, a sawmill, a brewery, and productive orchards and gardens. It is the gardens that are now claimed to be the site of the largest garden restoration in Europe. Heligan House (meaning "the willows" in Cornish ), was the Tremayne's seat, but is not part of the gardens project.
The Eden Project- The ultimate Garden of all time. You cannot leave Cornwall without visiting this inspirational place, transformed by the genius of Tim Smit. Ten years ago it was a barren, exhausted china clay pit. Now its massive Biomes (one of which is the biggest greenhouse in the world) and millions of plants bear witness to what can be achieved by a can-do attitude and the tenacity of the human spirit. Eden is as potent a symbol of hope for the future as you could find anywhere on earth.
There are lots of other Gardens worth visiting in Cornwall-see ‘Guide to Cornwall’.
Other places of interest
Morwelham Quay- An award-winning, evocative museum and visitor centre in the heart of the newly inscribed World Heritage Site and Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Just four miles west of Tavistock the historic port, mine workings and Estate, border the beautiful River Tamar. Amidst towering cliffs and gently rolling farmland, a lost world lives again.
Tate at St Ives and The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden- Tate, St Ives presents modern and contemporary art, often created in or associated with Cornwall. Its location in St Ives, with dramatic views across the town and harbour to the east and Porthmeor Beach to the north, provides a unique opportunity to view work in the surroundings in which, in many cases, it was actually created.
The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden is a unique experience, offering a remarkable insight into the work and outlook of one of Britain's most important twentieth century artists. Sculptures in bronze, stone and wood are on display in the Museum and Garden, along with paintings, drawings and archive material.
The Porthminster Beach Café is a wonderful place to eat in St Ives. Nestled beneath the steep slopes of Porthminster Point, right on the beach with stunning views across St Ives Bay to Godrevy Lighthouse. The World renowned Porthminster Café specialising in Mediterranean & Asian seafood cuisine is "An oasis of taste & visual beauty". Good Food Guide Listed. The lunch time menu is much cheaper than the evening menu and you can eat outside in this stunning environment.