Why Visit Cornwall — What attracted us to Cornwall was the dramatic beauty of the beaches, cliffs and countryside, the adorable beach and fishing towns, and all the fun that goes along with beach vacation destinations. In the end, Cornwall exceeded our expectations by turning out to have a lot more too. There are beautiful gardens to visit, a lively foodie scene with many local food producers popping up in the area, and a big surf scene as well as other water sports like coasteering, which I’ve never heard of outside of the area. If your family enjoys being outdoors, whether it’s camping, taking long nature walks, enjoying water sports or just relaxing on the beach or the countryside you will find lots to love in Cornwall.

The Cornish Hedge – The most prominent landscape feature of Cornwall is the hedgerow, a stone wall grown over by plants, which over time decompose to create an ecosystem unto themselves. You might not think a hedgerow would play an important part in your family vacation, but for us it did. The hedges can be 16 feet tall and line both sides of very narrow and winding country roads. Driving through them is intimidating and magical at the same time. They are also an historic and important part of the countryside. There are 30,000 miles of hedge in Cornwall with the majority of them dating from ancient times. We enjoyed learning about these Neolithic structures; how they developed and how important they are to wildlife today.  

The Beaches — The beaches throughout Cornwall are varied, from expansive sandy beaches to craggy rock pools framed by magnificent cliffs and dunes. Swimming means braving cold water temperatures and being careful of riptides. The best beaches for swimming are listed as blue flag beaches, but visitors should also heed daily safety flags.

The Climate – Although the South Devon Coast is called the English Riviera, I assume they use that term the way we call games that are not at all like our traditional versions Chinese (eg Chinese Checkers) — the English version of the Riviera being cold and rainy. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect in terms of weather and swimming in the ocean and even throughout our trip the weather was variable enough that I would say it was hard to characterize. We were in Cornwall in the middle of August, peak season, and often wore sweatshirts and jeans, although it could be warm enough that we shed these layers. The water was definitely warm enough to swim in if you are used to the North Atlantic. It was comparable to the beaches in Cape Cod or southern Maine. Our one day on the North Coast was much colder and I could not get in the water, but I don’t know if this had more to do with the weather that day or if it is typical.

Getting Around Cornwall — Our first question about vacationing in this area was whether we would need a car. We were nervous about driving in England on the left side of the road and the expense of renting a car as well as fuel which was almost $10/gallon in the UK this summer. Travel by car can also be a bit stressful since the roads are narrow, slow and in the most popular towns it can be impossible to park during the high season.

Because one of our goals was to cover a lot of territory so we could report back on as many activities as possible, we chose the flexibility of having a car, but once we were there, I could certainly see doing this vacation car-free. Once you arrive in the region by train from London, there is ample bus service to take you from town to town as long as you don’t mind working around the bus schedule. Taxis are also available for shorter hops.

The success of a car-free vacation would mainly depend on what type of vacation you plan to have. Many vacationers come to the area in their caravan (RV), set up camp and can enjoy the beaches, restaurants and amenities in the town they stay near, the camping site, and neighboring villages. I can definitely see easily spending a week in the area this way. I think the best way to stay car free would be to stay either in a resort or camp site with amenities or in a town that will have things to do and a nice beach that you can walk to. However, if you are visiting the region from another country you probably are less interested in just relaxing on the beach and more interested in traveling around and seeing the area, so a car may make that easier.

If you do choose to travel by car make sure to take traffic into account in your planning. All the rental properties switch over on Saturdays. That means the highway is bumper to bumper on that day going in both directions. Either consider taking the train and renting a car once you arrive (Europcar offers discounts for rail customers as well as free meet & greet service at multiple train stations in Cornwall) or leave early in the morning to beat the traffic. We left London before 9 and, although we hit some traffic, we did much better than the folks in the next cabin who sat in hours of traffic.

Road travel is also slow once you are settled in Cornwall and Devon. We had to seriously scale back our ambitious day trip plans because it took much longer to get from place to place than we anticipated with Google maps thanks to peak season traffic and the narrow, twisting, hedge swaddled roads.

Where To Stay — As I mentioned above, camping and caravanning are popular ways to visit Cornwall, but, for the foreign traveler, probably less easy. There are inns and resorts in the beach towns along the north and south coasts, but I found that these were either booked very far in advance or were extremely expensive, or both. As long as you are vacationing for at least a week renting the best option for families looking to vacation in Cornwall is probably to rent a house or apartment, also called self-catering cottages.

Renting a house allows you to cook at home, have more room to spread out, do laundry (machines are usually provided) and often includes outdoor space for playing. I found Blue Chip Holidays to be a great resource for holiday cottage rentals. The National Trust also rents historic cottages all over England, which adds an element of charm. Another great option for families is a farm stay. Local farms rent out rooms and cottages to visitors. These stays often include breakfast and hands-on activities with the animals, which is sure to delight children.

Find out more and start planning your Cornwall vacation at Visit Cornwall.