Devon is the place for surfing holidays.
Lydia Evans/APA
Themed Holidays
A growing interest in specialist holidays has led to several organisations offering breaks with a theme. Choose from painting, conservation work, yoga, interior design, foraging and cooking, spa sessions and more.
VOLUNTEERING
If you care passionately about the conservation of Devon and Cornwall’s historic houses, gardens, coast and countryside, the National Trust offer working holidays for volunteers. Jobs include welcoming visitors, stewarding, gardening, environmental and artefact conservation. Help is needed too for the day-to-day running of buildings and open spaces, in offices and with special events.
Groundwork South West also offers volunteering opportunities arranged so that participants can work different days of the week and weekends too. And Responsible Travel offers short breaks in Cornwall assisting with coastal conservation.
CONSERVATION
If you opt for a Helpful Holidays cottage break you can relax and enjoy your holiday knowing that they operate a Green Cottage Scheme, which encourages their home owners to think sustainability. At Cornwall Holiday Cottage Kingsmill in the Tamar Valley, Valerie Taplin has created a wild-flower meadow and established a large freshwater lake.
‘The cottage is on the banks of the tidal creek,’ reveals Valerie, ‘so guests can spot buzzards, owls, ducks, herons, swans, little egret, kingfishers, badgers and deer.’
PAINTING
If painting is your thing, consider Newlyn where Rose Farm Studios offers painting holidays. Experienced tutor Tim Hall supervises courses to help budding artists tackle a new medium, improve their skills or try painting outside. All materials are provided and class sizes are restricted, and artist in residence Henrietta Graham is available for tea and talk about painting matters. Accommodation is also available at the Rose Farm.
Still on an artistic theme, the Hamptons Hotel in Ilfracombe offers interior design courses by owner Janine Powell who in a previous life taught the subject at university level. Participants can choose from one called ‘fall in love with your house again’, ‘preparing your home for sale’ or “be your own Interior designer”. Another specialist course is available for people thinking of setting up their own hotel, or hoteliers and B&B owners who want to improve their property. All packages include accommodation, materials and meals.
FORAGING AND COOKING
Do you know your wood sorrel from your Cornish round leaf mint, or how about wild borage from pennywort?
Fowey’s Old Quay House Hotel has teamed up with the Wild Food School in Lostwithiel to introduce a quirky but popular package of accommodation and wild food foraging. If you’ve never done this before then you’ll be amazed at just how much fun it can be learning about wild ingredients and gathering a selection for the pot: Thai hedge garlic fish curry, lentil and ramsons soup, borage sambal and rice, sloe gin, even dandelion coffee.
Foraging for wild food is the complete counterculture to supermarket homogeneity and uses new skills to find seasonal, nutritionally rich and interesting ingredients for free. It is a totally immersive experience exploring sheltered stretches of the River Fowey, nearby country lanes and the forest floor of our local deciduous and evergreen woodlands. As the seasons change so too does the wealth and availability of edible wild plants.
Trips are led by food historian and wild food aficionado Marcus Harrison. Head chef Ben Bass then takes participants into his kitchen for some impromptu cooking of wild greens such as sweet violet leaves, ground ivy and wild strawberry to prepare nutty-flavoured acorn tagliatelle, or Thai-style oak forest curry. Bon appétit!
YOGA AND SPA HOLIDAYS
Yoga holidays, spa breaks and meditation holidays can be booked at several venues around Cornwall. Classes are led by a qualified British Wheel of Yoga teacher and in many cases packages include spa treatments. Choose from sites at Helford River, Crantock, Newquay and Polzeath. If you are a spa aficionado, top places include St Moritz Spa Hotel in Polzeath, located above Daymer bay in Trebetherick, and The Bay Hotel and Fistral Spa in Newquay. The Budock Vean Hotel spa has a heated indoor pool, log fires and over 60 acres (24 hectares) of parkland along with all the pampering you can handle.
For Thalgo treatments using the riches of the sea, check out Newquay’s Retallack Resort and Spa at St Columb. And at Falmouth’s St Michael’s Spa Hotel fitness fans can pump iron at a well-equipped fitness suite, try a body wrap, swim, indulge in a massage and facial or enjoy a complete detox.
ADVENTURE SPORTS
If you fancy getting your adrenalin going with an exciting new activity, for the very brave (or foolhardy), Coasteering Newquay offers action-packed holidays that include accommodation, breakfast, instruction and equipment. In this madcap sport, you navigate the coast by jumping off cliffs, swimming into tiny caves and crossing white-water currents.
For those who prefer to stay closer to the ground, or the water, they also offer surfing, kayaking, quad biking, kite buggying and lots more at which to try your hand.
Devon is the place for surfing holidays.
Lydia Evans/APA
Useful Websites
www.southwest.groundwork.org.uk
www.cornwallpaintingholidays.co.uk
www.geniusloci.co.uk (for yoga, spa, music, photography, painting and many more holidays in Cornwall)