GREAT ESCAPE

Sam and Rosemary Johnson find there is so much to enjoy in Cornwall’s gorgeous coast and country

The charming harbour town of Fowey, a mix of medieval and Georgian buildings

The story of this holiday begins right at the end of our previous trip, last year. Rose’s cousin Fran, to whom we had paid a flying visit while in Cornwall for the New Year, invited us to return for longer in summer. We were only too happy to oblige and by late February, all of us had got as far as booking some time off work in late July.

We all know what happened next. A certain pesky virus saw all non-essential travel prohibited, brought the entire hospitality industry to a standstill and meant that a planned weekend in the caravan for my birthday in April had to be abandoned.

The lockdown continued into May, and it started to seem possible that summer holidays might not be a feature of 2020. But in June, things began to look up, of course: restrictions on travel and social interaction were eased, until it was finally confirmed that campsites would be allowed to reopen from 4 July. Unthinkable as it had seemed a few weeks earlier, we would be able to take our summer holiday as we had planned.

Our first evening

We booked two sites, planning a week’s stay at each. A prompt start on Sunday morning saw us arrive at the first, East Crinnis Holiday Park, near St Austell, by early afternoon. The staff gave us a warm welcome, showed us to a beautiful pitch and advised that the nearest beach, Carlyon Bay, was a 20-minute walk.

With the sun blazing in a manner quite unsuited to a typical British summer, we lost little time in making our way along the cliff path. My swim in the sea turned out to be the first of many I would take in the coming two weeks, and the presence of a bar and pizza oven on the beach really was the icing on the cake.

Walking to a film set

The next morning, we had a look at a map and realised that if we were to walk past Carlyon Bay and continue along the cliff path for about another 20 minutes, we would arrive at Charlestown.

Built as a model Georgian ‘New Town’ at the end of the 18th century for the export of copper and china clay and the import of coal, Charlestown is named after its creator, local entrepreneur Charles Rashleigh.

The town remains almost entirely unspoilt by modern development, and is a popular location for films and TV shows, with Poldark, Hornblower and Mansfield Park among its many credits.

Even as early as 10am, the sun was beating down from a clear sky in what promised to be another hot day, and our walk included increasingly inventive moves on Rose’s part to find shade. We didn’t mind, though, because the views were breathtaking and when we reached Charlestown, we found it quite wonderful. With a fleet of square-rigged ships moored in the inner harbour, it did feel as though we were on a film set.

There’s another reason for its being memorable – it was the location of my first (but by no means last) Cornish pasty of this holiday!

Charlestown hosts the Shipwreck Treasure Museum, housed in a historic china clay building. We were told that this is well worth a visit, but with the temperature rising, we decided to go to the beach instead.

Porthpean is a mile along the coast from St Austell and lies in a wide, sheltered bay, making it popular for kayaking, windsurfing, rockpooling and swimming. The only disadvantage was its east-facing position, which meant that by the time we arrived in the late afternoon, the beach was largely in the shade.