A Weekend by the Coast: Cornwall, UK

A couple of weeks ago, we left spring-like weather in London to head to the coast for a dog-friendly long weekend away. We hit the road with our new road trip playlist blasting, the sun beating through the windshield, and Giorgio curled up on his bed in the backseat. A couple hours into our drive, it started getting dark. Then it started pouring rain. After a wrong exit at a roundabout got us lost on some country roads, we got back on track, the rain stopped, and we had only the darkness holding us back from flying down the country roads towards the end of the drive. Around 9pm, we finally arrived at our cottage in St. Newlyn East, kicking off our weekend in Cornwall.

Our Cozy Cornish Cottage

We were hosted by Cornish Horizons for this trip, and they put us up in the one-bedroom, dog-friendly Sparrow Cottage in St. Newlyn East. The cottage is located about 5 miles from Newquay (and the coast), making it feel more like a country retreat than a coastal retreat. For this time of year, that was perfect; in warmer weather, we would have preferred something within walking distance to the coast!

Sparrow Cottage is located incredibly close to the local pub, The Pheasant Inn. It’s also set back from the street, making it private and romantic. It took us awhile to find the entrance in the dark, but once we did we were rewarded with an adorable, traditional Cornish cottage. The coastal, somewhat retro decor reminded me of the dog-friendly hotel in the Cotswolds that we recently stayed at.

〈 COMING SOON: A full review of our accommodation in Cornwall 〉

Because we felt so at home, we found ourselves returning to the cottage in the evening and spending the rest of the evening there instead of visiting the pub or going out for dinner. Even on the night when we did go out to dinner, we returned to the cottage relatively early to finish the night off at home. This usually included wine, whatever trashy show was in ITVbe, and lots of Giorgio cuddles.

Road Tripping Around Cornwall

We approached this weekend away much like we did our weekend in Isle of Wight. Since we had the car, we wanted to cover as much of the region as possible – but Cornwall is much bigger than Isle of Wight! We did not realize how long it would take to get to place to place, so we weren’t able to do as much as we wanted to. However, we still did manage to get a feel for each of the different areas while eating lots of pasties in the process!

St. Michael’s Mount

The first “touristy” thing we did in Cornwall was visit St. Michael’s Mount. St. Michael’s Mount is an island with a castle off the coast of Cornwall. The island can be accessed by foot at low tide, or by ferry at high tide. We planned our trip around low tide so we could walk the causeway over. While we couldn’t actually go in the castle with Giorgio, it was nice to walk over and admire the views of both the castle and the mainland.

St. Michael’s Mount is only open a couple days a week in the low season, so make sure you check the opening times before going. It’s definitely a must see for anyone visiting Cornwall!

Lusty Glaze Beach Restaurant

For our one special meal of the trip, we decided to book a table at Lusty Glaze Beach Restaurant. Located on Lusty Glaze Beach, the restaurant is down 133 steps in a somewhat Santorini-like fashion. It’s an adorable restaurant with delicious food – I could definitely see myself choosing Lusty Glaze beach as my go-to on a sunny day (it was dark and rainy when we arrived) before enjoying a drink or two at the restaurant!

The best part, though, was the live music. On Friday nights in the winter and Wednesday nights in the summer, Lusty Glaze offers free live music. We had a table right by the ‘stage’ area and were lucky enough to be visiting when Suzie Mac was scheduled to perform. This girl is so talented and has the perfect style for a nice night at the pub. Check out her cover of Adele’s “When We Were Young” to see what I mean!

Boscastle & Tintagel Castle

On our final day, we stopped in Boscastle for a bit before hitting the road. We heard it was a very scenic village and knew we had to check it out. It was extremely windy, but we climbed our way up to look out over the ocean and it was so worth almost falling off a cliff! (By the way, Giorgio is not a fan of the wind). We popped into the Cobwebb Inn for a pint before heading to Tintagel Castle. The castle was closed due to the high winds, but we still walked down towards it to check out the cove. It was so windy and the ocean spray was so intense we couldn’t get even remotely close without getting soaked. Our plan was abandoned and we went to have lunch. But we definitely want to return at explore Tintagel Castle next time!

“Our Usuals”

If you’ve read our blog before, you know that we enjoy wine tasting, and we love trying new dog-friendly pubs. Of course, we did both on our weekend in Cornwall! There are 5 wineries in Cornwall and we managed to visit 4, but try wine from all 5.

〈 COMING SOON: A look into wine tasting in Cornwall 〉

In terms of pubs, we used our handy Good Beer Guide to locate the best of the best. We visited the Old Ale House in Truro, The ‘Front in Falmouth, and the Cobweb Inn in Boscastle. The ‘Front offers a BYOF policy, so we picked up fish and chips to enjoy while at the pub. Our local for the weekend was the Pheasant Inn, located a stone’s throw from our cottage. We only visited once, but it’s a lovely village pub.

We also took time to do something we usually do at home on this trip – cook at home! Because we had a cottage with a full kitchen, we decided to do dinner in on our last night. We picked up local monkfish & prawns from a fishmonger in Falmouth, paired it with some recently acquired Cornish wine, and enjoyed a lovely night at our home for the weekend. The fishmonger recommended wrapping the monkfish in prosciutto which ended up being the best thing ever!

Cornwall’s Dog-Friendly Beaches

As always, we relied on Giorgio to judge the beaches we visited during our weekend in Cornwall. Based on his energy and excitement the moment his paws hit the sand, these are five star beaches! We only visited Fistral Beach, which is located near Newquay, and a popular surfers beach. Fistral Beach is where all of the UK surf competitions take place, and we totally see why! It was extremely windy when we visited, but there was a windsurfer out and the waves looked incredible. We also visited as the sun was going down, so had the perfect “golden hour” light to take in all the beauty with. Though we cannot imagine Fistral Beach is so peaceful on a warm, sunny day!

Next Weekend in Cornwall: Padstow

This trip definitely managed to whet our appetites for Cornwall, so we imagine we will be going back very soon. On our last day, we stopped in Padstow to pick up some pasties from Chough Bakery, the winners of the 2016 World Pasty Championship. While the purpose of the stop was to pick up a pasty and get on the road, I immediately fell in love with the vibe of Padstow. There were plenty of boutiques and art galleries, and narrow lanes lined with pubs and restaurants. It felt a bit like a Mediterranean town while still maintaining its English charm.

Let us know if you have any accommodation recommendations for Padstow – hopefully we’ll be able to return within the year!

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