Ideas for what to do with kids in Falmouth/Cornwall?

[SummerHolidaysAgain]

We are travelling to Falmouth for the first week of the holidays and wondering if anyone has any suggestions of what to do with 2 kids there? I have 2 boys age 13 and 11. One has ASD and doesn't like sand so the beach is out!

Thanks!

Maritime museum? There's a glass panel that looks out under the water so the kids can see some fish etc.

Another vote for the maritime museum.

What about a boat trip or fishing trip?

Pendennis Castle is good. They usually have pirates there during the summer holidays.

The boat trip to Truro is nice.

Lost Gardens of Heligan is one of my favourite places in a Cornwall. The seal sanctuary is also a family favourite (although my children are a couple of years younger).

Eden Project is great although would most likely be quite crowded.

There's a nice little adventure playground in the park in Falmouth, maybe 10/15 mins walk from the quays? That'll fill a couple of hours. I recommend The Seal Sanctuary and Trebah and Glendurgan gardens (Glendurgan has a maze!) which aren't too far by car,. You can hire a motor boat for a chug around on the Helford river. And maybe take the ferry over to St Mawes for a meal in one of the fancy hotels, Tresanton or Idle Rocks? Both have playrooms, and there's a playground at the top of the St Mawes car park to burn off energy before the ferry back. Flambards isn't too far away by car - just a small theme park, and will be very crowded, but it's an option.

Will you have a car to travel a bit further away?

If you have car take them to sealsanctuary.sealifetrust.org/en/
there's also donkey sanctuary www.flickafoundation.org.uk/

Yes to the Maritime Museum. We were there last month. It's really interesting & if the 'boat sailing' exhibit is open it's well worth the couple of quid to play with some remote control yachts.

Oh the seal sanctuary, yes. Ray the Seal is so cute!

Enys garden is very nice, it's near Penryn normally its quiet so feels like you have the place to yourself.

There's a great cafe Cornish Barista in a disused quarry which has a climbing wall, adventure type thing there, it's called Via Ferrata I think.

Crabbing off prince of Wales pier. Beerwolf which is up an alley way off market street has a second hand bookshop and board games, pinball machines. Neighbourhood pizza on killigrew street is good!
If you/ they like afternoon tea, dolly's tea room is lovely.

Get the ferry to St Mawes, Theres a playground with a skate ramp at the back of the carpark. I like the Watchhouse for lunch. There's good rockpooling there.

Stithians lake has watersports and a cafe too.

Go to glendurgan or trebah then walk the beautiful path along the river to Helford passage, there's a pebble beach, good rockpooling too and the ferryboat Inn, love the mackerel tacos there!

Thanks for the replies so far. Looks like the maritime museum is a winner so will definitely look to do that. Yes we will have a car so can travel around a bit.

@PestoPasghetti we saw the Glendurgan gardens online - have you been? Is the maze any good? My eldest used to love mazes but we haven't tried one for ages so might be worth a go!

Thanks @happysunr1se some lovely ideas there too. The Via Ferrata sounds fun (for them, maybe I'll just watch!)

Another vote for maritime museum, pendennis castle, Eden project, Heligan.

Get the boat to St Mawes for lunch and St Mawes castle if they like that sort of thing.

Glendurgan and trebah are in neighbouring valleys which end in beaches on the Helford River. Glendurgan maze is good if you don't get frustrated easily, if one of you goes in and another goes to opposite side of the valley you may be able to direct them through the maze. Glendurgans also got a whirligigg thing called giants stride which is ropes around a maypole type thing. I almost wrenched my arms out their sockets on it last time!

Trebah is an independent garden. It's more nicely planted and has more impressive gunnera (giant rhubarb) tunnel and gorgeous monet-esque hydrangeas round a lake at the bottom. The bamboo Grove is very impressive too. Theres also a large adventure playground under the trees at the top.

Glendurgan is lovely and can be done with the seal sanctuary on the same trip. We used to do seals in the morning and a cream tea at Glendurgan in the afternoon after a walk through the gardens, the maze and the other things there.

Kynance Cove is a great beach to go to though it’s a long walk down and steep walk back up. It is very tide dependent though but stunning. People perch all round on the cliffs waiting to get on the sand as soon as the tide drops enough.

Dolly’s tea room and gin palace is a MUST - great cakes and cream teas (it obviously won’t take the whole holiday but do visit - they have their own dogs there too, it’s one of my favourite places in Cornwall).

st Michael’s Mount is good for a day trip, or go to Penzance and swim in the sea pool. The Barbara Hepworth exhibition or the Tate at St Ives are good too.

Yep, I live locally. The maze is fun, it's only waist height so you'd think would be easy but it is quite the challenge! I can PM you a 'hack' if your son with ASD is likely to get overwhelmed. There's a 'Giant Stride' too which they should check out. It is very steep at Glendurgan, quite the pull up, so you might not want to go on a really hot day!

I forgot to mention the Kernow adventure park. That's not far off at all. They have an inflatable course on a lake (do you remember Total Wipeout from TV, years ago? It's a bit like a mini version of that.) It is a lake though, duck feathers and suspicious floating bits so they'd have to not mind that! I think they do Stand Up Paddle Boarding and stuff too.

Flambards
Seal sanctuary
lizard lighthouse

falmouthlifeboat.co.uk/lifeboat-station-visits/

We love treasure trails, you download the map and clues to print off. There's a few around Cornwall.
If the Minack has a kids show it's great, we went to a Cornish folk tale show a few years ago that was brilliant.

Elemental UK used to do an excellent value Kids Club in Swanpool Bay. It was a mix of canoeing, coasteering and raft building. You can also do the activities individually.

We hired a little motor boat, on the River Fowey, and my teenage boys loved it.

Gweek & Glendurgan have already been mentioned. St Michael's Mount is a good day out - depending on the tides you can either walk over or go there be by boat.
If you want to cool off but avoid sand (& eat excellent pizza) then the Jubilee Pool (lido) at Penzance is fab (& a bit of gorgeous art deco to boot).
If they're more adventurous, then the water park at Adrenalin Quarry at Menheniot is fab. You can make a day of it by going on the train - it's some times a request stop & the station is closer to the water park is than the car park.