News

February 28, 2008

Tony Dawe

An early Easter means that the weather is likely to be too cold to enjoy the Cornish beaches but there is plenty more to savour in the county in late March. Make your choice from spring gardens, spectacular clifftop walks, sailing on the Helford River, the seal sanctuary, riverside pubs and the National Maritime Museum, all in or easily accessible from Falmouth.
Plenty of properties are still available for Easter week in and around the town, although most of those still on offer are modern. For example, Helpful Holidays has a couple of neat, fairly new houses for up to six on developments a mile from the town centre, but with the advantage of the free use of a tennis court and an onsite leisure centre with gym, plunge pool, steam room and solarium. They cost from £350 for a week from March 21.

A semi-detached house for up to nine, 50ft above Swanpool beach and with a terraced garden, costs £1,011 for a week from March 23. Across Carrick Roads, where boat trips are available, a cottage for five above the harbour at St Mawes costs £616 for a week from March 22. On a peninsula near by is a well-preserved castle built in the reign of Henry VIII.
Close to the pretty inlets north of Falmouth, in the village of Flushing, a late Georgian cottage for four costs £420 for Easter week. Cornish Traditional Cottages also has a spacious bungalow for six for £446 near by for the same week. Both properties are within easy reach of one of the area's treasures, the Pandora Inn, a rambling 13th-century hostelry on Restronguet Creek, with tables on a terrace - and on a pier.

For those eager to escape before the Easter rush, the Cornish company has a cottage for two in a rural valley, a ten-minute drive from the creek, for £165 for a week from Saturday and from March 8 and 15.

Local hotels also have good pre-Easter breaks. The four-star Royal Duchy Hotel on the seafront in Falmouth and with an indoor heated pool, sauna and snooker, has two, three and four-night breaks from £49 to £59 per person a night with breakfast - and £10 more with dinner.

Deals are also available at the Meudon Hotel, which sits above a subtropical garden that leads to a private beach - ideal for walks near the Helford river. Dinner, B&B for three nights until March 15 start at £228.

www.meudon.co.uk - 01326 250541