We recently spent two glorious weeks on holiday in Cornwall on what seems to have become somewhat of an annual pilgrimage. Autumn is an ideal time to visit.

It wouldn’t be true to say that most tourists have gone home at this time of year, but there are certainly fewer people about which makes for a much less frantic experience than visiting in the height of summer. We always go down by train from London Paddington to Penzance which takes roughly five hours and is much quieter in the autumn. At least half of the journey is delightful as you travel down through Devon along the very edge of the coast through Dawlish and Teignmouth, through Plymouth and then over the Tamar Bridge into Cornwall, finally arriving in Penzance a couple of hours later.

Our first week was spent in Praa Sands which has one of the finest beaches in Cornwall. It’s almost exactly a mile long and packed with surfers all year round. There are two restaurant bars slap bang down on the beach. The newest of the two is Stones Reef  They also run an activity centre and you can arrange surfing lessons and the like with them. Next door is The Welloe  which has recently changed hands (for the better!).

 

Week two was spent in Newlyn which is a short walk along the promenade from Penzance train station.

The promenade makes up part of the South West Coastal path which runs from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall to Poole Harbour in Dorset. In Penzance, it begins at The Jubilee Pool which was refurbished and reopened in 2020 after it was ravaged by the storms of 2014. It is well worth a visit.

The promenade also took a bashing in the 2014 storms but after being lovingly restored, it is once again an idyllic spot full of skaters, joggers, dog walkers and people admiring the fabulous views out across Mounts Bay to St. Michael’s Mount. We have always been really lucky with the weather here but that is not always the case obviously. In fact, Cornwall and Irish artist Norman Garstin painted a lovely picture of it in poor weather entitled ‘The Rain It Raineth Every Day’. You can see this painting in Penzance at The Penlee House Gallery & Museum

Carry on along the prom for about a mile and you will come to Newlyn. Although Newly is plenty touristy, it is still a fully working harbour town and its industry is to a large extent dependent on fishing. It is a small place but it manages to pack in a good number of excellent restaurants.  One of our favourites is Argoe situated in the harbour itself, serving fish straight off the boat. September is an excellent time to go there if you like John Dory. They serve it whole on the bone, grilled to perfection, with no other adornment than a grind of salt.

Also excellent are Mackerel Sky (be prepared to queue as they don’t take bookings) and across the road, the Tolcarne Inn which is consistently great for fish and seafood.

I always think Penzance itself is rather underrated. There is a great food scene coming in now with lots of youngsters who we spoke to, very enthusiastic about food and local produce and really do want to give out-of-towners a good time but are also very keen to attract local custom. We can’t wait to visit next year to see how that is progressing.

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