Looking for a great family holiday destination? Cornwall fits the bill

I AM a huge fan of England as a holiday destination, especially if you have young kids and you don’t want to take on the challenge of a new language or a very hot climate.

We have family in Somerset so naturally it’s a place we visit often. We have visited other parts of England too, like the Peak District, and we always find a wealth of indoor and outdoor activities for families.

My husband’s family have been visiting the same small village on the south coast of Cornwall for about 35 years now so it felt natural to continue the tradition with our children. It is a truly magical place and I often get people asking me about it, so here is a little run down on why we love Cornwall so much, it might just convince you to visit!

The last few years we have come to Cornwall directly from France, but you can easily do the trip from Ireland by boat to Wales, and it is about a five hour drive to the south coast of Cornwall.

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend flying and hiring a car because the roads in Cornwall are incredibly tight in parts, so chances are you’ll end up scratching a hire car, making your trip more costly!

It might go without saying, but if you ever plan to visit England in the summer, do so in the first couple of weeks of July before the English schools get their holidays. Aside from the price of accommodation shooting up once the schoolchildren are off, in truth it’s the sheer volumes of traffic and people that are the real reason we avoid being there any time after around July 20.

We travel to the south coast of Cornwall, which is not quite as flashy or popular as the north coast that is well known for towns like Newquay and Padstow. We visit a tiny fishing village called Gorran Haven that has a café, a fish and chip shop, a very small shop and a bar that closes by 7pm. If, like us, you are after a very simple holiday spent with family away from the outside world, this is the perfect fit. The days are spent on the local beaches eating the local delicacy, pasties, and pier jumping, followed by cream teas and barbecues with scoops of local ice-cream for ‘pudding’.

One of my favourite things to do in Cornwall is the South West Coast Path, a coastal walking path that covers 630 miles from Minehead to Poole. It’s easy to access from beaches or car parks and you can easily do small sections of it with children to enjoy uninterrupted views of the coast, and there is usually a wealth of wildlife to see from butterflies to birds.

Aside from beaches, there are lots of things to do in Cornwall for the family and over the years we have visited a good few of them. For me, and it probably goes without saying, the Eden Project just outside St Austell, is one of the best. It consists of huge biodomes set into a former clay pit that simulate two different environments - one a rainforest and the other Mediterranean. It’s a fascinating place to visit, I believe even since we last went, more has been added. It is just so unlike anywhere else you will visit - an incredible experience.

Also outside St Austell is Wheal Martyn Clay Works, a small but interesting china clay mining museum. Cornwall has a rich history of china clay production and in the early 1900s it monopolised the world supply. While production these days has dwindled to almost nothing, the slag heaps from the mining continue to make the skyline around St Austell unique.

Aside from china clay, Cornwall is a county that has a long history with the sea. Last year we visited a small museum in Charlestown called the Shipwreck Treasure museum. There was a large exhibition on Earnest Shackleton on display and it was a most interesting day out.

Continuing the maritime theme this year, we took the foot ferry from St Mawes to Falmouth and visited the National Maritime Museum. It was a nice visit while it rained outside but overall the museum itself lacked substance – there was very little information on the history of the sea or the fishing industry and life in Cornwall. There was a large temporary exhibition on pirates, but the rest of the museum was sparse and a bit random to be honest.

We visited Bodmin Jail this year which is a new tourist attraction and the information was delivered in a cinematic, hi-tech and interactive way, making it a really different experience to most museums. A very interesting day out that was probably one of the girls’ favourite experiences we have ever visited.

The Lost Gardens of Heligan is another very popular visitor attraction, and if you have an interest in gardening this is definitely one to drag the children along to see.

There are different types of gardens to visit such as a working kitchen garden and a jungle style garden, there are also farm animals, a rustic playground and demonstrations showcasing old fashioned skills.

We have visited Cornwall five years now and each year we come away refreshed, happy, relaxed and invigorated!