Perfect Padstow

Perfect Padstow………

I am one very lucky Lady. Last Christmas my Daughter’s bought myself and my Husband a gift card to be used towards a stay at one of Rick Stein’s hotels in Padstow, Cornwall and last week we flew down from Manchester to enjoy our stay.

Can you believe that it takes only 45 minutes to fly from Manchester to Newquay, compared with about 8 hours and 3 changes by rail? And we were greeted by a fly past from the Red Arrows as we landed!

I have never visited Cornwall before always preferring ” sunnier hotspots ” – what have I missed out on?

We were extremely lucky with the weather, beautiful warm sunshine for the majority of the time, just a prolonged downpour on the Saturday morning when we visited Port Isaac, but this did not put a damper on such a beautiful place.

We hired a car from the airport and visited Land’s End ( too touristy! ), and such a shame that the place is filled with souvenir tat!

St Ives was stunning, extremely hilly – I think that day I paced around 16500 steps. But well worth the climb back as we found a lovely ice cream parlour at the top of the hill.

Polperro – so quaint and lovely.

The Eden project – very interesting place to visit, especially the rain forest dome, hot and humid but worth the entrance fee. I did not realise that The Eden Project is run by charity – did you? They support some very worthwhile causes throughout the world.

Fistral Beach in Newquay – we could of been in the Caribbean, the sand is a perfect colour, and so soft. It was great fun watching the surfer dudes ride the waves – I believe that it will be in the next Olympics in Japan.

But, the main reason for us visiting Cornwall was to experience Rick Stein’s many establishments. Let me tell you – we weren’t disappointed. We stayed in one of the estuary rooms at the Seafood Restaurant, the room was very tastefully decorated, powerful shower, much thought had been given to the needs of you as a guest when deciding upon the facilities.

The service was perfect – very unobtrusive, but they could not do enough for us – wonderful.

The food was exquisite, even better than we had imagined. Fresh local seafood, the bread was to die for and the chocolate fondant – there are no words……………

So, if you are looking for just a few days away, fantastic food and accommodation, then give Padstow and Newquay a whirl.