{"id":12696,"date":"2025-06-28T20:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T18:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=12696"},"modified":"2025-07-06T09:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:03:11","slug":"visiting-cornwall-and-devon-is-it-a-good-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/visiting-cornwall-and-devon-is-it-a-good-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Cornwall and Devon: Is it a good idea?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Five go to Cornwall and Devon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

28 June 2025 – Visiting Cornwall and Devon: Is it a good idea?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contents
Five Use Airbnb<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Go to Briar Fisherman\u2019s Cottage<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Go to Boscastle<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Go to Newquay<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Go to Somewhere Special<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Go to Tintagel<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five go to Port Isaac<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Go to Padstow<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five and the Mystery of the Ever-Arsey Cornish Locals<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Five Go to South Devon<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Five go to Applecot Cottage in Modbury<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Swan Around Modbury<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Go to Bigbury-On-Sea<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Go to Torquay<\/em><\/strong> <\/a>
Five Review Pubs <\/a>in Cornwall and South Devon<\/em><\/strong>
Includes:<\/strong>
Cobweb Inn, Boscastle
Napoleon Inn, Boscastle
The Golden Lion, Port Isaac
The White Hart, Modbury
The Exeter Inn, Modbury
The Pilchard Inn, Burgh Island
The Journey’s End, Ringmore
The Warren Inn Hotel, Dartmoor<\/span>
Five Go to Dartmoor<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Keep Out of Dartmoor Prison<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
Five Went to Other Places<\/em><\/strong> <\/a> in Cornwall & Devon<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Those of you who are authentic English<\/strong> \u2013 that rules out a good many \u2013 will not be unaware of one of England\u2019s most famous children\u2019s story writers, Enid Blyton. She wrote a series of successful adventure novels in the 1940s and 50s about five going somewhere or doing something. For example, Five Go Down to the Sea, Five Go to Mystery Moor, Five on a Hike Together<\/em>. Without Enid Blyton\u2019s consent, but I am certain she approves (as this is not a woke rewrite), we did something similar in Five Head off to Cornwall<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of you who didn\u2019t know that Cornwall is in Kaliningrad, you\u2019re right. It isn\u2019t. But this account finds itself in my cunning \u2018Diary\u2019 category, in which I can write about almost anywhere and, failing that, almost anything, even when it isn\u2019t in or relevant to Kaliningrad, so you haven\u2019t caught me out yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Five that went to Cornwall in June of this year (2025) consisted of my not-so-good self, my good lady (I left the bad one at home.), my youngest brother Joss, a venerable Old Gentleman and our version of End Blyton\u2019s Timmy the dog, Kiera. How did we all fit into a Messerschmitt bubble car? The obvious answer to that is we didn\u2019t. We bombed off from Bedfordshire<\/a> in a large and comfortable Land Rover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visiting Cornwall and Devon: What to expect<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is that story, in words and pictures:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five Use Airbnb
<\/em><\/strong>Airbnb is a Godsend, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s also a pain in the arse. Five used it to pick their ideal holiday home, because rumour has it that it\u2019s the best place in cyberspace to track down self-catering accommodation at a reasonable price. To join Airbnb\u2019s happy-go-lucky community, in addition to the usual written particulars, you need to provide a mugshot of yourself and also attach a document, such as a copy of your passport, to prove you are who you say you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the two cottages in which we stayed also asked for a statement to be written explaining why their cottage was a \u2018good fit\u2019. I wanted to write, \u201cBecause it reminds me of a pair of underpants\u201d, but refrained from doing so and wrote instead, because we are the Famous Five, who go to places and do things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five Go to Briar Fisherman’s Cottage<\/em>
<\/strong>There are no shortage of fisherman\u2019s cottages in Cornwall, perchance because there was a time when there was no shortage of Cornish fishermen. In fact, every fisherman had a cottage, the vast proportion of which today have been converted into holiday lets, presumably because it is an easier way of making money than to go bobbing about on the briny early at the crack of hangover in all kinds of English weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Briar Cottage (let\u2019s leave the fisherman out (Oh, that dripping sow wester!)), the one in which we stayed, is located in Boscastle. If you like low ceilings, gnarled beams, lots of original nooks and crannies and plenty of old-world feel \u2013 and we most certainly do \u2013 then fall in love at first sight with Briar Cottage you most certainly will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Briar Cottage is chocolate-box picturesque. It is tucked away in a truly sequestered spot, cozily contained within a Victor Matured two-tiered garden, with all the right dimples in all the right places. It is clad, adorned and surrounded by flowers and invested with foliage and shrubbery so perfect in their natural complement that even Enid Blyton\u2019s pen would have struggled to make it more idyllic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the near distance, as the rise of the land precludes sight of any other, the sort of landscape that children draw \u2014 steep and rolling hills with little toy cows in pocket corners \u2014 reach up into the sky and touch the sun with their eyebrow hedgerows, and if you get to sleep in the room that is furnished with two single beds, this is the scene that will greet you, each new dawn as you draw back the curtains. Think character cottage enclosed in a lushly planted garden retreat, and your thoughts will lead you to Briar in Boscastle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how we rated Briar Fisherman\u2019s (Hello, he\u2019s back!) Cottage nestled in Boscastle:
Plus <\/mark>\ud83d\ude0a
Location:<\/strong> Excellent for touring, not so easy for the local pubs at port level, for which you need to be an accomplished mountain climber or own a funicular railway.
Facilities:<\/strong> Everything you could possibly need is there, including the most important thing, which, as you know, is a beer-bottle opener.
Condition and Comfort:<\/strong> A+ The cottage cannot be faulted. In fact, it is even better than the owners, described.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minus<\/mark> \ud83e\udd14
Parking: <\/strong>If you are spoilt by off-road parking at home, you may feel inconvenienced by the fact that there is no off-road parking at Briar Cottage or designated parking space. There is a small layby just up from the cottage where you can unload your gear, but pay heed that this is a privilege and one that comes with a warning, namely that should you leave your car there unattended for any length of time, they, whoever they are, possibly the Boscastle Mafia, will block it in for a month of Sundays, as this is a private parking spot. The owners of the cottage claim that parking space is usually available a little further down the road. This turned out to be true, and we were happy with that.
{Briar Fisherman’s Cottage, Boscastle,<\/strong> is listed on Airbnb and other online holiday-letting websites. Just enter the name in Google\ud83d\ude0a}<\/p>\n\n\n\n