The youth hostel is open all year round and as hostels go is pretty top of the range (and I've tried a few!) In fact it's so popular that there's not a bed left for August this year and they're taking bookings already for summer 2009. But better to try an out of season break before the crowds hit Cornwall and you can have the place to yourself.
They have a cafe here for evening meals, a bar where you can sample Cornish real ales, or cook up your own seafood feast in the self-catering kitchen. Big efforts have been made to jazz up the sitting and dining areas with trendy burnt orange and sea blue walls, surf boards hanging from every surface and the work of local artists and photographers decorating the walls. With an open fire in the evening, this was the place to cosy up with a board game or a good book.
The cliff path runs in both directions from outside the hostel. We wandered along round to the next beach at Constantine bay, passing stone benches set up in memory to those who must have also enjoyed these views. Who were the Captain and the purple lady? I wondered as I sat on their bench and mentally toasted them with their motto; the sun is always over the yard arm. Or Nick, who lived from 1973 to 2000, and whose beautiful stone bench and table, gazing seaward, was engraved with a motor-bike and adorned with a bunch of fresh flowers.
At low tide there are rock pools enough to keep children happy for hours - there's even one that's big enough to swim in, known as the Treyarnon swimming pool, which the children dipped a toe in. This area is a mecca for surfers - there's a surf school just round the bay and we saw plenty braving the freezing water, bobbing like seals in their wetsuits. We strolled along the broad sandy beach of Constantine bay, backed by dunes, past the more rocky Booby's beach which only reveals itself at low tide, and on to the lighthouse at Trevose head. Then back to the hostel to enjoy that cosy bar and roaring fire.
There's plenty more to keep you busy here and I'll be posting soon about our visit to the fishing village of Padstow and a stroll through the sand dunes to find a half buried church and the final resting place of the Poet Laureate, John Betjeman.
See many more photos on my flickr site here.





2 comments:
Hi Heather,
Found my way here via Europe a la Carte blog carnival. Nice photos. Would love to see Cornwall one day especially with the sun shining. Glad you liked my post on Rome. Have a great trip, April is a great time of year to go.
Great to find another UK blogger talking about how to enjoy travelling on a shoestring!
I went to Cornwall in April and had a great budget break!
Your pictures are beautiful!!
May I add you to my blogroll?
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