Family, funky, Cornwall. Design me a holiday please!

[treedelivery]

Further to this thread [[http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=_chat&threadid=749396-I-REEEEEEEALY-want-a-vw-campervan#153071 09 here] - we are now renting a camper for a week. We are picking it up in Devon, after a good 7 hour drive .

Then whadowedo?? I have been to Newquay, but was too drunk to remember if it was nice for families or not.
We have a 4.5 and a 4 month babe, we are looking for nice cafes, beach, maybe some local organic farm shops to get provisions, few kids activities, want to live the dream!

Do NOT want arcades, slot machines, cheesy coastal 'shows', boy racers, big rides [leaving all that at home in our town!]

I know this has probably been done to death and I'm sorry for not researching this myself - but my baby is bonkers so I get little time.

Ideas of Cornish/devon towns, campsites, stuff to see, insider tips would be just brill. We go in a few weeks and I haven't so much as a sleeping bag!

Arghh!

We go here.

It near Crantock, Polly Joke and Holywell Bay beaches. It's pretty well placed to get to all sorts of places. A lovely quiet site with good facilities and space for the children to play in front of the tent.

here

My previous thread that lead to this adventure!

Hello Surfermum - my dh is getting all into the type of van you have. Sorry never got back to you on the thread I linked here, I didn't realised you had posted

Will look into the beahes you say.

Personally I'd avoid Newquay like the plague! What about Fowey? Boating, beaches, monkey sanctuary for the kids.

I don't know the area at all - are we best sticking to one place or two, on one coast - or zooming about? We only have a week but it is term time June so hopefully traffic wont be a disaster.

Looking up Fowey

St Agnes and Perranporth on north coast.

Rock and Polzeath (bit posh..lost of trustafarian kids in their 4x4s if you go at the wrong time )

Sennen cove in the westerly west is supposed to be nice too but have never been myself.
Newquay is, imo and ime, grimmer than a grim place...some nice beaches etc but the town is yuk.

Crealy is good for a day out for your 4 year old and Lappa Valley is lovely too.

We always go to the Cider Farm early on to stock up on dh's cider, but it's got animals and stuff too and they do amazing ice creams with clotted cream.

We mostly go to the beach though. If you are National Trust members you can park at Crantock and Holywell, amongst others, for free. We often stay on the beach all day and then have fish and chips in the van from the beach shop at Crantock.

Perranporth has a duck race on Weds nights (not sure if it's high season only though). Polperro is one of my favourite places of all but it's on the other coast - still worth a drive though.

I like Newquay - although it is full of stag/hen nights and grockles munching pasties, if you look beyond that it's beautiful, what I love is that you can see the sea from so many of the streets. And there are great shops selling all the surfing clothes!

Where abouts in devon are you picking up from ( big county and all that).

After 7 hours on the road with 2 littlies you are probably going to want to stop fairly near to the camper base.

Salcombe and hope cove etc very nice in Devon with Pennywell farm nearby for the dc's ( which conicidentaly now takes tesco vouchers )

Just depends where you want to start really

Agree with died and gone to devon , Newquay not good in the rain with small DC's (voice of experience and all that!)

I think I'm the only person who loves Newquay . When the Boardmasters championships are on it's buzzing and I love it .

I will ponder more treedelivery but am off to watch the Apprentice now (no offence ).

None taken Surfermum!

Picking van up from..erm..Devon.

Bampton. I knew that. Bampton.
Am thinking we will choose a place, possibly padstow, what do you think? Maybe would have been netter asking wher not to go! There are so many great looking spots.
We will have all the places you mention that we like the sound of, and a campsite to head for. My only concerns are finding full campsites with screaming kids in the back, or trudging through a town looking at chainstore high street.

Am living the dreeeam here. So if I have to go to a supermarket I'm jolly well driving the camper down the aisles.

Marazion (sp?) and St Michaels Mount.

Goonhilly Down.

Clovelly.

Think you may need to do a stop in devon for the first night, had to google bampton and it's exmoor way, so still a good few (!) hours from padstow etc.

Would recommend croyde as a nice beach, but I not really great with north devon as a whole ( I'm south devon based)

dd2 has woken with a dreadful cough so I'll be back later. Keep the ideas coming!

Thnank you for all the great tips.

Now that we have booked, I suggest Treveague Farm. Organic farm, the lot.

How about spending a few nights in a yurt? Search Cornish yurt holidays on google.

Watergate Bay is worth a visit (home to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen), as is St Ives - Porthminster Beach Cafe for lunch on a sunny day and it feels like the med! (in a good way..)

Also Porthcothan Bay is a good spot for families.

Hi, don't know about a campsite, perhaps someone else can help you out there or I think there is at least one in Cool Camping, but I love Looe.

Fowey is lovely, but a bit small and limiting perhaps. Looe has great rockpools, a nice beach, a paint-a-pot workshop, Monkey Sanctuary is about 3 miles away, Fowey and Polperro are a short drive or a great boat trip away, you've got a scenic railway, an island to visit, the Eden Project is ten minutes away, and there are some fantastic places to eat. Try Cafe Cuisine, just 4 tables in the owner's front room, beautiful home-cooked food. All in all it's great. We went there on honeymoon and absolutely adore the place.
Oh, I'm pining for Looe now!

Oh thank you for all these suggestions. We only have a week but will clearly want a month, and to not come home. I live in a foggy bit of the chilly north so I will really not want to leave I know!

blithedance - looks a magic place!

Loster - would love love love a yurt but they seem to be on a weekly basis in the medium/high season. Plus we are skint

Am liking the sound of Looe. I think we will stay in the East due to time and travel with young screamer. She doesn't travel great!

Would your advice be to stay camp one place and travel out to places, or just skoot about capming in differenrt places?

If I was going for just one week I would base myself around Padstow on the North coast, as it is within reach of great surfing beaches (Polzeath), has fab places to eat, go crabbing, and ferry to Rock (which is just gorgeous). Don't be put off by talk of posh folks, we have never met any, (well except for Prince William years ago).

On the South coast we base ourselves around Penzance as it is close to Marazion (great free play parks and St, Michaels Mount), St. Ives, Mousehole, Newlyn (I love watching the fishing boats) and within 10miles you can find all the far West beaches and coves, Porthcurno is wonderful and has the Minack theatre, (book before you go), Sennen (although they still haven't fixed the sewage problem) and Zennor for the walking.

We went to Looe a few years ago and TBH we were disappointed (quite a few arcades and pound shops and blokes standing around swigging cans of lager). DD did catch a huge grey mullet though if fishing is your thing.

I was thinking of the northern plan serin, and was thinking Padstow too.

Have you any campsite favs??

Has anyone been to the privately owned beach near Cornwall that has a mini spa and beach huts and all that jazz?

Padstow is a good place to base yourself, or where I said . Actually I hate recommending places as I always worry that someone else won't like it as much as I do.

I love Polperro, Fowey and Looe (well mostly - it's great for crab fishing, but is a bit arcades and chip shops) but I prefer the North Coast in the summer, I think there's much more scope for things to do and places to go. But then I'm never happier than when I'm at the beach .

I feel like that Surfermum - so don't worry I won't stalk you with pics of our crap holiday

You're such a surfer dude surfermum! I see you as tanned with long limbs and that lovely long blonde hair that always looks good. Sigh

More of a walrus myself. Had brief flirt with being surfer dude in Aus but think my boobs affected centre of gravity!

We like Mother Ivey's bay near Padstow but they have put their prices up a lot recently.

Glen Morris at St. Mabyn is cheaper and has a lovely outdoor pool and play area, it is inland so you will need to drive to the beach but the Camel trail is not far away for cycling.

Have a look at UK Campsite to read reviews of all the campsites in the area, also you could join the Caravan and camping club as they have thousands of 5 unit sites, that are much cheaper (Like £5-£10per night) and they are often in wonderful locations, All depends on what you are looking for!

Oh, and don't forget tp visit Tintagel castle (Wow).

Ooooo so excited.

re driving to beach: I am in a vw camper in pale blue. I'm driving to the loo block baby!

Brrrrum bruum!