I love Cornwall!
In fact when I did one of those fun surveys that pop up on facebook about where you should live in the UK, Cornwall came out as my ideal home.
We have visited Cornwall with the family several times over the years and we love exploring the stunning beaches and quaint seaside towns. It is important to find a good base to stay and one of our favourite destinations is Newquay as it has a huge choice of hotels, looking online on sites such as Hotel Direct is good to suit every budget with lots of local attractions to keep the family entertained.
1. The beach – Newquay is the king of the UK surf scene and no visit to Cornwall should be done without at least watching the surfers ride the waves at the world-famous Fistral beach. You can even join them, with surf schools offering lessons or the change to go Coasteering along the cliffs.
2. Newquay Zoo was a big hit with the kids last year, and I was impressed that the entrance ticket was valid for a whole 7 days so you could plan a return visit if the kids were bored of the beach.
3. Just a stones throw from Towan Beach in the centre of Newquay is the Blue Reef Aquarium. Featuring creatures that are local to the seas in Cornwall as well as more exotic creatures the kids got to follow a challenge to find certain items, as well as join in with a touch and learn session.
4. Trenance Gardens has a boating lake, fountain and restaurant and is the perfect place to stop a while and enjoy the flora and fauna before discovering Trenance Leisure Park, complete with miniature railway, bowling green, tennis centre, crazy golf, pitch and putt, children’s playground, and Waterworld swimming pool.
5. Newquay is the perfect base for exploring everything Cornwall has to offer. If you are a parent of adrenalin junkie teens I can highly recommend a trip to Adrenalin Quarry and Kartworld in Liskeard. They can hurtle down 50m high, 490m long zipwire down an old quarry before swinging out over the quarry on a giant swing. It is not for the faint hearted!
6. Eden Project is another must do! With the new Skywire zipwire offering you the chance to literally fly over the Bio Domes the teens will be happy and lots of entertainment provided to amuse the little ones there is something that everyone will love and it is easy to spend a full day exploring everything it has to offer.
7. No trip to Cornwall would be complete without a trip to Lands End – the most south-westerly point of mainland Britain and having your photo taken with the famous signpost.
8. Another fabulous day out is the Cornish Seal Sanctuary to see the fabulous work they do with seals that have got into trouble in Cornish waters. You also get to meet some very vocal Sea Lions, some gorgeous Humboldt Penguins and learn all about starfish and crabs in the rock pool area.
9. On a hot summers day a great way to cool off is to visit one of the local tin mines – we chose Poldark. It is a fascinating climb down into the pits and surprisingly chilly. You also get the chance to pan for gold although we weren’t very lucky.
10. Cornwall Crealy is a fun theme park for younger children and tweens with lots of climbing, digging, ball pools, animals, slides, walkways, good old-fashioned fun with a few bigger mechanical thrills thrown in.
Other things to do in Newquay can be found here.
Where do you recommend visiting in Cornwall?