One of the best ways to explore Cornwall is to base oneself at a bed and breakfast in Padstow. Padstow is ideally situated on the north coast, within easy reach of most of the county. Even Land's End and St Ives are only just over an hour's drive – perhaps a little more during the summer, when the traffic can be heavy. Falmouth and Truro are less than an hour away – a perfect distance for a day out. Truro is a delightful cathedral town on the river, and Falmouth a deep-water port on the south coast, offering all manner of entertainments, including the Maritime Museum.
Padstow itself is a charming old fishing port on the west side of the Camel Estuary. It has something to offer everyone: gourmets, sailors, water-skiers, walkers, golfers, windsurfers, kitesurfers, people-watchers, families, old people, young people, anglers, deep-sea fishermen, sunworshippers – the list goes on and on. Padstow comes to life on May 1st, "Obby Oss Day", when the town is dressed with green branches and the Padstonians dance through the streets celebrating the coming of summer.
If you can find a bed and breakfast on the Padstow harbourside, with a view of the harbour and estuary, you are guaranteed hours of entertainment, watching the fishing boats unload, the pleasure-boats taking visitors on "trips round the bay", the water-skiers out in the estuary, and the hundreds of sails of various hues dotted around the huge expanse of blue (nearly always) water that is the Camel Estuary.
Padstow and the Camel Estuary are protected from the Atlantic by the fearsome "Doom Bar", the final resting place of over 300 ships, both sail and steam powered. There are many tales of wreckers luring ships to their doom by lighting false flares, but there is no recorded evidence to show that this actually took place. There is no denying, however, that shipwrecks were considered a sort of divine hardware shop, and many a Cornish cottage was finished with rescued timber. If a ship were to be carrying liquor, then a fine time was had by all, although occasionally some imbibers perished on the beach due to over-enthusiasm.
Parking can be a problem for those staying in a Padstow harbourside bed and breakfast, although there is a large car park on South Quay Car and another, larger, adjoining this. During the summer months a Park and Ride system operates from the top of Padstow, near the supermarket, down to the town.
Contact Peter & Jane Cullinan // Tel: +44 (0)1841 532 383 // South Quay, Padstow, Cornwall. PL28 8BY (UK) // e-mail: thepadstowcullinans@gmail.com