Holidays in Cornwall

[Curlyhairedbrummie]

Hello all,
Im looking to book a holiday to Cornwall for myself, DH and my preschool 4 year ds (covid allowing). We're hoping to go the last week of June before the schools break up. I've been looking at Perran Sands and places in Bude, I think it's called Sandymouth. DH just suggested stopping off in Devon for a night beforehand to break up the driving, having a look around there and then carry on to St Ives or somewhere else close by. I'm wondering if anyone else has done this and if it's a good idea or not. It would take us about 6ish hours to drive straight to Cornwall from where we live so I'm thinking stopping off at Devon may be a good idea! If anyone has any other tips about holidaying in Cornwall that would be great :) Tia

We regularly get traffic jams on the A30 and the M5/M4 during the summer so it can take longer. It has often added as much as 2 hours to my journey, when I was driving it regularly.

I’d avoid St Ives personally. Like Padstow it’s absolutely heaving with tourists marching the streets all day. In st Ives there’s also hardly any parking so you would usually take the train in which is very beautiful.

I’m going to recommend Mawgan Porth as a lovely family oriented seaside town. It’s not too overrun or overtly touristy and has a super beach.

As for the journey it’s all about the timing.

The traffic has always been horrendous and it's a difficult journey with a baby/toddler (as you have to stop more) but it should be ok with a 4yo.

I think you need to decide whereabouts in Cornwall, if you're going all the way to St Ives an overnight stop might be a good idea, if you're just going to north Cornwall, it should be doable in a day.

We go to Padstow (well, near there) and Padstow-Bristol is the worst bit.

Go to St Michael's Mount! The Marazion Hotel there is lovely.

VenusClapTrap

Philps pasties you say? Please tell me more.

We have booked a cottage on The Lizard for the summer half term week at the end of May. Will the restaurants really be booked up months in advance? shock I better try and book some now!“

If you’re on The Lizard, look no further than Ann’s Pasties, Lizard.
Go early though. She sells out and shuts up shop by 2 o’clock.

Philps are good too but not sure if they’re anywhere except Hayle.

We drive from the Midlands, takes between 5 and 6 hours. We leave mega early (4:30am) always stop at Newquay and go for breakfast at Morrisons (so classy but the kids love it), then carry on down to our destination, I LOVE Perranporth, and we holidayed in Hayle last year. So gutted we just can't afford Cornwall this year.

Bude is gorgeous, we've been twice, once in May and another time in August and both times it was lovely and pretty quiet. I would do the journey in one go, as Bude is so close to Devon anyway.

The traffic isn't that bad - well not for us it wasn't. We've driven to Cornwall 5 times (from up north) and only hit traffic one of those times - every other journey took between 5-6 hours which is pretty much what it said it would take when we sat nav'd it.

Last time we went, we stayed in Carbis Bay , We set off around 6am ( we also stopped off at a service station half way for breakfast) and were there around lunchtime. It was a really good journey and I remember thinking how quick it seemed! As you are going when all the kids are at school, that's a bonus, traffic wise.

I stopped at Wells last year and then had a day in Exeter as I had to take the cat to a garage. It worked really well. And I loved both cities.

Thanks all, some great advice here!

Thanks Guy and Denise!

We've stopped off a few times on the way to Cornwall.If you stop off on the way, the trick is to stay far enough south so you avoid congestion around Bristol on the m5 but not too close to Cornwall that you have hours to wait til you can get into your accommodation. We've stayed at an Airbnb near cheddar which is both beautiful and an easy drive to the motorway and avoids congestion.

If heading down to st Ives or similar area then yes that’s maybe two hours from Exeter .. grab a night at the holiday inn express at Exeter maybe.

We do it in one day from Scotland so I definitely wouldn't stay overnight coming from 6 hours away

I'm not a fan of Perranporth at all, I find it's always horribly busy even outside school holidays, and it's not particularly picturesque either. Not sure what Sandymouth is like. Generally I much prefer the south coast, it's quieter on the whole and there are some beautiful NT properties and gardens. It depends what you're after though!

We went years ago by train from London Paddington to Truro & then hired a car. We stayed at a B&B in Truro and used it as a base to travel round Cornwall. It was all last minute so all self catering accommodation was booked out. I'd definitely recommend going by train as the scenery is just fantastic. You don't appreciate it when you're driving for obvious reasons.

We’re Cornish, had to move to the NW 11 years ago for work. Try to go home twice a year. Have t been back since 2019. Feeling seriously homesick now. Husband has just ordered a dozen pasties by post

I sent my daughter pasties in the first lock down. She had to move north for a career.

I am craving a pasty now!

Any Cornish restaurant recommendations? Ideally on the Lizard, but willing to drive further for somewhere really good.

Gurnards Head.

And there's a really lovely cafe but I can't remember where, would have to take you there, haha.

I can remember the last time we went to Cornwall, the journey back from Falmouth to the Midlands took us 8 hours . Late spring bank holiday week, it was really hot and we were standstill on the M5 for ages .

UK holidays since have been to places where the journey is a lot shorter! However we are thinking of going this June in place of a holiday abroad we are expecting to have to cancel .

We've discussed breaking our journey for an overnight stop and I think even if we head straight down there in one go, we'll stop on the way back as, for me, a nightmare journey on the way home tends to take away from the relaxation of the holiday .

If you travel on a Saturday the traffic is likely to be significantly worse than other days. For St Ives, bear in mind that parking is limited. It's probably a good idea to use the park and ride at St Erth and take the train to St Ives, it's an absolutely beautiful journey down the coastline.

Been going to bude from the Midlands at least one year for the 25 years or do. It’s our favourite place. Wife and I are going on our in May. When the kids were little we would set off very early then stop off for a big breakfast in either Barnstaple or Bideford.

Bude to st Ives is about an hour - we did that a couple of times. I’m quite happy driving so it was fine.