Summer in North Cornwall - Part One - Bedruthan Steps and two wonderful beaches: Crantock and Fistral

This summer we headed back to Cornwall for the reason that my eldest son was at the Scout Jamboree held in Kernow this year. We had five days without him before picking him up from there to join us for the rest of our holidays.

I chose to stay in Atlantic Reach Holiday Park as it had lots for children to do with indoor and outdoor pools, laser tag, slip and slide and crazy golf and thought with my youngest being on his own without his big brother this would help occupy him. The site itself was huge and busy and as such things like toilets and showers were sadly not the cleanest. I also found the shop sparse on basics like bacon, however there was a pub on site that served food all day. It also wasn't the most secure of sites with external visitors coming and going for the leisure centre and the slip and slide so it didn't feel very safe when my child wanted to go exploring with his holiday friends. I think on reflection I do like the smaller more secure sites.

That said we did have a lovely time and got to do some lovely things. After a campsite hang on the first day, the following day we were meeting up with family friends that were also holidaying nearby. We were going to have some beach hangs. In the morning to get the dog well and truly exercised we decided to walk to Bedruthan Steps and get a lung full of fresh coastal air, which was much needed after the heatwave we just experienced.

The coastline here is really spectacular with huge sea stacks on the beach. Unfortunately due to cliff fall the steps to the beach were closed but we could still walk along the coastal path and marvel at the view. As it is run by the National Trust there is a cafe and a shop in the carpark also.

At lunchtime we had arranged to meet our friends at Crantock Beach. This is a lovely sandy beach that has leads to the River Gannel esturary and as such at certain tides there is shallow water that my dog loved and the kids were enjoying doing some paddle boarding and nearby rock climbing. The surf beach there is good but quite far from the shallows so we decided to move to nearby Fistral Beach to do some body boarding and get some tea at a beach-side bar. Fistral in Newquay is a famous surfing beach and like Crantock is also dog-friendly all year round. It is a much larger beach home to the International School of Surfing so is the destination to come to learn to surf. There are also shops and restaurant on the beach front so while my husband and children could surf to their hearts content I could mooch around the shops and grab a drink in the sun at the perfectly situated Boardmasters Beach Bar.

After a day in the surf we all joined together to share some food and drinks and enjoy holidaying in this lovely spot to watch the sun begin to set. A perfect beach day.