A road trip along England’s south coast – Part I
July is usually the time for my annual summer road trip with my friend Mona from back home in Germany. Ever since we went to Canada in 2016, this holiday has become a regular feature. After our trip to Iceland last year exceeded our budget by quite a bit, we decided to stay closer to home this time around. The plan was to travel along the English south coast from Cornwall back to Dover – and that’s just what we did.
I have been to Cornwall three or four times prior to this trip, and since we only had a week, we could only dedicate a couple of nights to the, in my humble opinion, most beautiful part of England. Just as usual, we hadn’t pre-booked anything which could have potentially been a bad idea in the summer holidays. When we knocked on the doors of the Treen Farm campsite where I staid before and which features a beach adjacent to the site, we were informed that they were fully booked. Thankfully, the friendly staff at the Treen Farm referred us to another farm campsite, Treveren Farm Campsite in St. Buryan near Penzance.
I love farm camping in England. Farm campsites are usually privately owned, feature basic facilities and they’re cheap (some cost as little as 8 GBP up to around 20 GBP per night and per tent). Some of the more popular farm campsite like the above-mentioned have on-site farm shops. In our case, Treveren Farm even offered hot meals in the shape of the traditional pub food like fish and chips, burgers etc. as well as a pizza truck and hot English breakfast in the morning. We enjoyed a Cornish lager on our first night before snuggling up in the tent.
Lizard Point & Kynance Cove
When we were staying over in Dartmoor for a night on the way to Cornwall, we met a guy in the hostel who recommended for us to go to Kynance Cove. I had never been so we followed his advice and hiked from Lizard Point, the most southerly point in Britain towards the famous bay. The hike only takes about an hour and we were absolutely spoiled with abundant sunshine on this coastal walk. Getting closer to Kynance Cove however, we discovered what looked like a pilgrimage heading to Kynance Cove. Families carrying chairs, towels and all sorts of beach apparel were basically queuing up to descend down to the cove which already looked absolutely packed. We decided against lying on the beach like sardines and opted for enjoying the view instead. Back at Lizard Point, we sampled a delicious Cornish Pasty (traditional to Cornwall and filled with meat and vegetables) from Ann’s Pasties, which has been mentioned in the travel media as one of the best Cornish Pasties there is (and it’s true, I’ve never had a better one).
St. Michael’s Mount
St. Michael’s Mount is a small tidal island just off the town of Marazion. It is accessible by foot between mid-tide and low water via a man-made causeway and features the harbour, a 15th century chapel, a cemetery as well as some houses and gardens. For a small fee, visitors can access these premises. We just meandered a bit around the village and checked out the souvenir shop before we headed back to the long beach in Marazion facing the mount to chill out for a bit.
The Minack Theatre
This stunning little theatre has been built into the rocks overlooking the ocean by a visionary lady called Rowena Cade. She started building the Minack Theatre in 1929 and improved it throughout her life, with the help of her gardener. I have been to this theatre a couple of times but never made it into a show, since they’re usually sold out. This time, I checked their website weeks in advance to find out if they still had tickets for Romeo & Juliet, which was on the week we were in Cornwall, however both shows on the Monday were already sold out as expected. We signed up for the waiting lists despite the fact that the friendly lady on the phone gave us little hope that we’d actually get tickets this way. When we didn’t receive the phone call we were hoping for, we decided to chance it and go straight there. And what can I say, we got the only 2 tickets that were returned on the day and were congratulated by the theatre staff showing us to our seats as if we had won the lottery! We still couldn’t believe our luck when the show started and we cracked open our snacks and the bottle of wine we’d brought along. Despite the fact that the Minack Theatre is such an extraordinary experience, tickets are at 14 GBP (15.31 EUR) very much affordable and visitors are allowed to bring in their own food and drink.
Surfing in Perranporth
Cornwall’s northern coast is also a popular surf spot. Despite the fact that I’ve lived in England for eight years by now, I had never made it to surf there but thankfully Mona was up for scratching that item of my England bucket list as well. So we signed up to a group surf lesson with Ticket to Ride which cost around 35 GBP (38 EUR). The nearby city of Newquay is probably the most popular surf spot in Cornwall, which makes it a very busy spot, so we chose to go to the more scenic Perranporth with its wide and beautiful beach.
Conditions were perfect for surfing. To my own disgrace, I have to admit that this was already my third time surfing but I still can’t say that I know what I’m doing at all. In the meantime though, I have accepted that I’m just not a natural when it comes to surfing, and I still find it a lot of fun. Compared to other surf lessons I had, this one was probably one of the best. The instructor explained himself very well and I felt that he was trying to give all his “students” the same level of attention. With lots of other surf students from other surf schools in the water, it was a busy affair but great fun nevertheless.
St. Ives
Another one of my favourite places in Cornwall is St. Ives. A truly beautiful little seaside town with great seafood restaurants and a beautiful bay, we unfortunately didn’t get to explore it this time around due to the holiday craziness. When we couldn’t find parking for the life of it and once we did, we noticed the queues at the ticket machines, we decided to give it a miss. I was disappointed since I really wanted to give Mona the “Best of Cornwall” treatment but since we did drive through it, I reckon it kind of counts!
There are numerous other little villages and townships in Cornwall that are worth visiting. If you’re planning a visit to Cornwall only, I’d recommend a week to explore.
If you’d like to read more about Cornwall, check out this article about Hiking the South West Coast Path.
