"Look! The sea's waving!" said little M, as we sped down to Cornwall via the beautiful coastal train line last March. It was so cute that I was almost in tears in the middle of the carriage - I'll blame pregnancy hormones and lost sleep because of an offspring-breathing-difficulties-hospital-drama a couple of days prior. To say I was looking forward to a few days at Bedruthan Hotel & Spa, a child-friendly, sustainable, luxury (in my view!) hotel, five minutes walk from a beach - a treat for my first week of maternity leave before little L arrived - was an understatement. And seeing little M start to get excited about a change of scene was the icing on the cake. I wasn't disappointed and have been plotting a return trip ever since. My birthday weekend, the bank holiday weekend just gone, seemed like a great excuse!
I have to admit our return visit didn't start off well. Fretting about negotiating rush hour public transport with children and luggage to catch our 10am train, we opted for a taxi to Paddington station...and missed our train. It was a HUGE relief when I realised our tickets, booked a couple of months earlier and promptly erased from my memory, were flexible (valuable lessons in there somewhere!). We caught a later train, still feeling chuffed that we hadn't had to buy new tickets, and things started looking up after that.
Bedruthan is in an amazing location on the North Cornish coast, with beautiful sea views and steps winding directly down to lovely sandy beach. It's a great place to escape to for fresh air, good food, fun for the kids and some rare quality time together for mum and dad too. When we first visited, I was almost 8 months pregnant and really wanted the easy option - maximum holiday fun with minimum effort. Swimming pool, indoor adventure playground, lots of outdoor play areas, a spa, free childrens club, and a baby-monitor service so you can enjoy a leisurely child-free dinner in one of the hotel's two restaurants - no brainer really. I was slightly lighter on my feet this time but still appreciated having all the ingredients of a great holiday a stone's throw away - a great car-free family break.
We started our holiday, after a quick family swim and kids tea-time, with an adults only dinner in the hotel's Herring restaurant whilst relaxing to the sound of a very talented accoustic guitar player and watching a beautiful sunset over the sea. I had some great sustainably sourced scallops, and pan-fried monkfish (I think - although I might be getting confused with the following night, which was also lovely) with unsual and very tasty fennel and licorice aacompaniments. Despite a couple of trips downstairs to check on activity from little L the evening seemed to drift by gently - not something I've experienced for a while. We ate in the Wild Cafe other nights and had some very tasty food and sunset views there too, if not quite the repeat of the ambience of the first night.
On the Saturday we booked the children into The Beehive, the onsite children's club, for a couple of hours (free of charge!). We knew little M would love it - she kept asking to go back last time - but surprisingly, little L who had take quite a while to relax properly at nursery, also took to it like a duck to water - a testement to the staff and a sign that little L is growing up! I used the break to indulge in a birthday treat massage and facial - bliss - and Martin relaxed in the spa.
The rest of our time was spent pinging between the beach, the swimming pool, the outdoor and indoor play areas. The beach was a massive highlight since we were blessed with gorgeous weather. Little L had her first paddle in the sea, we all had a go at flying our kite, and it was great to see little M meandering around the beach enjoying a vastly different horizon to her usual city streets. The girls both loved the ball pools in the indoor play area - I thought little L would be a bit young for most of the equipment just a few weeks after her first birthday but she loved it, and pretty much shunned the separate baby area full of soft things to climb on in favour of the big girls toys!
We stayed in a 'standard villa' - an ensuite room with a childrens' sleeping area divided off by a cupboard and a blind. The best feature was the sea view and the patio opening on the main childrens' play area. While little L napped, Martin and I sat in the sun watching little M hanging with her crew of older girls in the playground. There was a slightly amusing moment when the boys were playing football and the girls all sat on the grass verge watching!! A reminder of how strong social norms can be even at age 3! We also had a tiny kitchen with microwave, handy for heating up milk, just a few meters down the corridor.
I didn't do much detective work on the hotel's sustainability credentials whilst I was there - I was too busy holidaying. There's info on their website here. Lots of things they do are clear to see - plenty of local, seasonal food and sustainable fish on all the hotel menus, the standard hotel policies on waiting to replace towels etc. until asked, and more unique touches like the organic, locally made, shampoo bars (as in bar of soap) they provide for guests. And a treat if you turn up without a car - ten percent off our first night last time and a bottle of prosecco this time (well almost - we ended up with the price of the bottle discounted after a bit of confusion - still a lovely touch though). The hotel is still run by the daughters of the original owners and I'm pretty sure they genuinely care about doing the right thing. The whole place has a lovely vibe. The staff are also very friendly and very...err...human, you know - not like they've had to be trained to be hospitable.
There were one or two minor quibbles - an under-whelming, custard-like "bitter chocolate" desert, one or two incandenscent light bulbs spotted in the cafe, slightly slow service in the cafe on one occasion, and internet that was pretty patchy in our room - the last one on the corridor. But like I said - they're minor and didn't detract from a great holiday.
I was wondering if Cornwall was too far for a long weekend. We had such a lovely time that I won't have doubts again - I'm thinking of making it an annual birthday treat. We all felt properly refreshed by our break - amazing given little L's monkey business at night, which was worse than usual on account of a new tooth on the way (only 13 more to go:-( ). The train journeys there and back seemed to whizz by - the lovely views definitely help. Little M keeps asking "When can we go back to the hotel?" and excitedly blurting out "swimming pool", "ball pool" "hotel" to friends she's bumped into since the weekend. I feel like we've discovered a little gem that we'll return to for a little pick-me up once a year at least (budget permitting!).
The transport low down: We travelled from London Paddington to Bodmin Parkway which took approx 3 hrs 45mins and cost around £150 for the whole family (two adult and one child tickets with a family rail card). A taxi from Bodmin Parkway to the hotel is around £40. The hotel booked a local biotaxi for us.
P.S. We paid for our holiday at Bedruthan - I don't do sponsored reviews (although I might have made an exception to go here!) on my blog.
