Take 5: G7 Cornish hotels – the ones that got away

The G7 leaders may have block booked Carbis Bay Hotel this summer, but there are a number of other fabulous Cornish hotels for a summer holiday getaway fit for a world leader

Housel Bay Hotel, Helston (pictured above)

Escape to Helston to explore chef Joseph Fallowfield’s artful and produce-led dishes at his eponymous restaurant. An attractive contemporary dining room with swoon-worthy views of the peninsula is the perfect setting for the ambitious young chef’s cooking.

Stay over in one of the 24 attractively designed bedrooms and, after a fortifying breakfast on The Terrace (which delights with its huge windows of sea and sky) take advantage of the hotel’s position on the South West Coast Path to walk off dinner and breakfast – before doing it all again.

Hotel Penzance, Penzance, Cornwall

Hotel Penzance, Penzance

Comfortable and contemporary bedrooms make Hotel Penzance a fabulous base from which to explore this part of Cornwall. We’d suggest joining the South West Coast Path (a short walk from the hotel) and stroll around the bay for 180° views of St Michael’s Mount, or motoring along the coast to Porthcurno to witness open air drama at The Minack Theatre.

In summer, end your day’s adventuring with a dip in the hotel’s outdoor pool with dinner on the attractive ivy-clad terrace. Watching the boats out in the bay as you sip an aperitif and feast on the day’s freshly land haul is a very special experience.

The two AA-rosette The Garden Bar and Restaurant offers creative fine dining crafted by head chef Ben Reeve and, as befits the hotel’s location by the coast, locally landed ingredients take top billing on the modern-British menus. Choose from two or three courses and relish sweet just-plucked-the-ocean flavours of Newlyn crab and West Country mussels. Carnivores are treated to land-based seasonal treats such as locally shot pheasant.

The Pickwick Inn, Padstow

The Pickwick Inn & Oliver’s Restaurant, Padstow

You don’t have to hit the busy bustle of Padstow to find excellent food in this part of Cornwall as, just off the Atlantic Highway, The Pickwick Inn and Oliver’s Restaurant offers good cooking, a well-stocked bar and a large attractive restaurant with plenty of room for everyone.

The open kitchen gives diners the opportunity to watch the talented team of chefs creating their dinners, although the view through floor-to-ceiling windows of rolling fields and the ocean is even more compelling. This setting is the inspiration for the restaurant’s unpretentious yet imaginative menu which groups dishes into ‘from the sea’, ‘from the land’ and ‘from the garden’. And wherever the puds are from, they’re worth saving room for too – they’re delicious.

Take full advantage of the excellent bar list by booking a stay in one of the nine newly refurbished and very high-spec bedrooms.

Old Quay House, alfresco dining

The Old Quay House Hotel, Fowey

Once used as a refuge for sailors, the present-day incarnation of this whitewashed Victorian building is paradise found for tourists who’ve headed to Fowey in pursuit of sea air, smart fine dining and a well-curated bar list.

The chic estuarine town, with its yachty vibe and pretty winding streets, offers excellent pottering and strolling opportunities for those who enjoy mooching about in design-led homeware stores and picking up good quality ingredients. However, being on the South West Coast Path, a serious stomp is also easy to undertake.

However you spend your days, there’s nowhere quite like hotel’s terrace, with its exquisite views across the water, for sun-splashed dining on warm summer evenings. As the hotel houses a small but elegant Champagne bar – which also delivers a fabulous cocktail menu – the sensible option would be to plump for an overnight stay in one of the individually designed bedrooms so you can thoroughly “investigate” the drinks list.

Meudon Hotel, Falmouth

Meudon Hotel, Falmouth

This gem of a hotel is the perfect retreat for a short gourmet break, a week of seclusion or just a long lazy dinner with loved ones. Nine acres of subtropical gardens, designed by the Quaker Fox family in the 1800s, make Meudon Hotel one of Cornwall’s most horticulturally exotic hotel finds.

Dinner is served in the Bream Cove Restaurant, a dramatic dining destination with views over the bay and garden where diners can feast on rich, luxurious dishes such as ras-el-hanout-rubbed lamb rump paired with butternut and parsnip mash and french beans. Head chef Chris Taylor is in daily contact with the fishermen of St Ives and takes crafts the local catch into an array of fish specials on a menu reflecting the surrounding seascape.

The variety of rooms (garden, valley, cove or suite) at the Meudon offers the opportunity to combine dinner with a next-day stroll through the valley to take in rare and lush plants from around the world.

Explore more fabulous Cornish hotels, which feature in the Trencherman’s Guide, here.

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march, 2024

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