Outdoor Activities
Beaches
When the weather’s right we can be, and often are, on the beach in half an hour. One advantage of being equidistant from each coast is that you can choose your destination based on conditions. Cornwall being a peninsula, even if the weather is dull on one coast, it might be gloriously sunny on the other. Again, we can usually make recommendations, based on reports from friends in the various corners of the Duchy, or intuition (not always reliable!), or even, in this day and age, webcam pictures.
For information about all of Cornwall’s beaches visit the Cornwall Beach Guide.
Favourite beaches:
North Coast
Trebarwith
Bude-Widemouth, Summerlease, Crooklets
Polzeath, Daymer, Greenaway
South Coast
Fowey- Polkerris, Polridmouth, Lantic
Golf
We are also well placed for a variety of excellent golf courses, from the local and relatively casual Trethorne (10 minutes away), to world renowned competition courses such as St Mellion (20 minutes). St. Enodoc is considered a must by serious golfers:
Surfing
For surfing, we go to any number of beaches between Bude and Newquay. The main beaches have instruction and equipment hire available. To book lessons or courses, we like:
Sailing
When you think of sailing, Fowey, Falmouth and Rock come to mind. However, for dinghy sailing or windsurfing it’s definitely worth looking at two local reservoirs – Siblyback Lake and Roadford Lake.
For dinghy sailing and instruction in the Camel estuary, try Camel Sailing.
Yacht courses, including one day courses, can be organised in Fowey via Fowey Maritime Centre.
For a different experience, consider chartering the classic yacht Josefine out of Torpoint.
Day and half day fully skippered and crewed cruises on the south coast:
Horseriding in Cornwall
For riding, you can opt for anything between dressage or jumping instruction and a trek on the moor (maybe taking in a convenient pub.) If you want to book in advance, some establishments we recommend are:
Lower Tokenbury Equestrian Centre
St Leonard’s Equestrian Centre
Outdoor activities
For outside activities with a difference, have a look at Visit Cornwall and Outdoor Activities in Cornwall.
Everything from kayaking on the River Fowey, to coasteering on the rugged north coast, taking in bouldering on Bodmin Moor in the middle. Activities with a difference, tailored to meet your adrenaline appetite- a gentle paddle up the river, or a 65ft plunge into a disused quarry…
More conventional activities also abound. For river fishing, the world renowned The Arundell is a short drive away.
With miles and miles of beats on the best West Country rivers, and instruction available.
Details of more casual coarse fishing, and reservoir trout fishing, are available here. Purely for fun, our own stream has lots of lively (but timid) little brown trout. For sea fishing (including shark!) out of Looe.
A series of spectacular cascades and waterfalls along a section of the River Fowey as it makes its way through the ancient oak woodland of Draynes Wood can be found at The Golitha Falls.
Walking
Close at hand is Bodmin moor. With a startling variety of different geographical and historical features, it’s just as mysterious and exciting as when we first started discovering it more than forty years ago. We can give lots of advice on good walks.
For stunning scenic walks Cornwall’s coastal path is hard to beat and as it takes in the whole of the Cornish coast you can do as much or as little as you please.
For many more walks visit:
Cycling
Once off the main roads there are hundreds of miles of quiet country lanes to explore by bike. There is also the Camel Trail which gives a range of cycle rides (or walks) Between Bodmin, Wadebridge and Padstow. The section between Wadebridge and Padstow is the easiest and the most spectacular and bikes can be hired cheaply at either end.
For more information: