Here are the available cottages for rental in Cornwall.

Beaches to make you boogie

The image of Cornwall as a sunny, family holiday destination took a bad knock this summer with the Boscastle floods.

A few miles north the seaside town of Bude was also hit by flooding but without such disastrous results. But the freak weather was a low spot in a lovely summer which saw families flocking to North Cornwall and Devon.
And the reason for their popularity is obvious: the beaches around Bude are excellent. They're clean and wide with terrific sand for building spectacular castles.
And you often have to make the most effort to get to the best beaches.
Northcott Mouth and Sandy Mouth are National Trust-owned and well kept. But it's a trek from the car park especially if you are laden with beach gear, and there are no toilets.
Baywatch-style lifeguards patrol these beaches and put up flags to mark the safe areas for swimmers.
They're so big that even on peak August days they don't feel crowded – although the car park may seem full.
The beach slopes very gently into the sea and there are natural pools for toddlers to splash in as well as rock pools to explore.
And it's the ideal place to take to the waves. Every family should have at least one boogie board - a cross between a float and a surfboard and suitable for all ages. They cost from £25 and are easy to use - lie on it and wait for a wave to carry you to shore. Not as dramatic as surfing but much less precarious. ... more

Welcome to the gardens of Eden

From the Daily Mail

Had someone told me that Britain's newest must-see is a couple of colossal bubble-shaped greenhouses built into the side of an abandoned china clay pit in St Austell, Cornwall, I probably wouldn't have believed them.
But that's exactly what the Eden Project is - a collection of magnificent inter-linked structures, or 'biomes', that balloon out of the landscape like translucent bubbles.
One of the project's aims is to show the importance of plant life in the human world. As a keen gardener, I could hardly drag myself away.
You enter the first set of biomes - the Tropical Zone - to find yourself in the hot, humid atmosphere of the Brazilian rainforest. Spray machines pump out steam. Water drips from the ceiling and beads of sweat break on your brow.
Big enough to house the Tower of London, this zone has a 75ft waterfall, several trickling streams, a murky pool planted with bamboo, and mini-plantations of cocoa, coffee, tea and rubber.
There are banana trees, mangoes and a little patch of ripening pineapples; plus rice paddies and profusions of exotic flowers and shrubs, including the African flamboyant tree, hibiscus and the rare Coco-de-Mer, the world's largest seed.
Pretty paths snake around this rainforest cathedral, giant beanstalks thrust upward and trailing blossoms dangle down. All that's missing are jungle squawks and screeches. ... more

Walkies for rovers on the Scillies

From the Daily Mail

Have dog, will travel. For me, a holiday is not a holiday without my basset hound Basil, and we've just had the time of our lives on the almost heavenly Isles of Scilly.
We flew from Penzance by helicopter, Basil beside my seat in a special Sky Kennel for the 20-minute flight; no problems. We took the airport bus to the tourist office for our free 'whoopsie kits' (I pride myself on being a responsible dog owner) and went on by taxi to our self-catering accommodation, Standing Stone, on the main island, St Mary's.
Described in the brochure as 'set in rugged isolation', Standing Stone was stunningly located on a flower farm overlooking the sea and a deserted, silver-sanded cove. However, our taxi driver, having wittered on about his shock absorbers, refused to bump the last rugged half-mile to the front door.
So what, I thought? I like being off the beaten track. So did Basil. Outside was doggy heaven, with hundreds of rabbits to be chased across grass that had been nibbled to a gorgeous, velvety smoothness.
'Thanks to the rabbits, we have not mowed our lawn for two years,' said our landlord as we sat in the private walled garden, perfume wafting from the flower fields, the beach scattered with shells and the sea as turquoise and clear as the Indian Ocean.
Only a few yards away was Bant's Carn, a perfectly preserved burial chamber, and the amazing stone excavations of 3,000-year-old houses, walls and garden plots.
It was bliss for two days. But rapture dimmed on the third day when it rained. Why is rain on holiday so much wetter? The magical, scenic, two-and-a-half-mile walk to the shops (and back, because no taxis were available) seemed suddenly daunting.
Try tramping along a coastal path in blustery gales, rain like stair rods, fleece saturated, loaded down with tins of Chum and food rations, and you soon feel sorry for yourself. Back indoors the terrible smell of wet dog pervaded Standing Stone and, curses, I'd forgotten the milk and cooking oil. But I must not grumble. ... more

Boards and lodging

Tucking into a kangaroo steak while watching bronzed surfers ride the rollers, it was easy to imagine for a moment that I was Down Under.
The sun shone from a flawless blue sky, sub-tropical palms waved in the breeze, and the waitress came from Woolloomooloo.
Only this wasn't New South Wales, but Newquay in Cornwall, self-styled surfing capital of Europe.
'Go hard or go home' says the message painted on the rafters of the cavernous Australasian Bar in the town centre.
On Fistral Beach, Britain's answer to Bondi, several thousand sun-bleached twentysomethings from all around the globe were furiously catching the waves without any thought of home.
In the early evening, others were already packing Newquay's plethora of pubs and clubs for yet another night on the town.
No seaside resort has undergone such fundamental change as this North Cornwall fishing village and former port for iron ore and china clay.
Families still come here, drawn by beautiful beaches, the Eden Project, and a host of other attractions in the surrounding countryside.
But in Newquay, which manages to support at least a dozen surfing schools and seven major night clubs, action is the name of the game. ... more

Exploring the Rebecca trail

From the Daily Mail

What do Bob Geldof, Paul Daniels and Cleo Laine have in common?
They all topped various bills at the Daphne du Maurier Festival in Fowey in May 2002.
Each year, this small Cornish town, perched on the River Fowey estuary, bursts into song, dance and chit-chat to celebrate the life and works of the novelist who fell in love with the place as a child, and lived there until her death in 1989.
The essence of Cornwall is distilled in Daphne's books, many of them inspired by the beauty of this ancient Cornish seaport, whose cottages, houses, inns and quaint shops jostle side by side in steep streets that tumble down to the harbour and the lovely River Fowey.
The old sea salts and smugglers' ships that fired Daphne's imagination are long gone, replaced by fishing boats, a ferry and hundreds of dinghies hired by families attracted to the town for its excellent sailing.
Scenes from du Maurier's books float before your eyes when you make the two-mile boat trip from Fowey Town Quay, past wharves where foreign ships load china clay.
You travel past posh yachts moored at Wideman's Point, and between bushy riverbanks where you can spot herons and swans.
Du Maurier would row herself across the river from Fowey to Bodinnick.
The house Ferryside by the landing slipway is where, in the Twenties, she wrote her first novel, The Loving Spirit, set among the local coves and cliffs with their woods and teeming wildlife.
It was from Ferryside that she set out by boat for her wedding at nearby Polruan's Lanteglos Church, an atmospheric 14th century shrine of great beauty.
And from here she used to visit Jamaica Inn, which inspired another of her bestsellers. ... more