"Focus on Bude Forget
Newquay - the North Cornish town of Bude, its coastline battered by the
Atlantic, is where the real surfers catch their waves. Even Prince William hired
boards for his top-secret Devon stag do at Zuma Jay, the town's best surf shop,
as did Kate Moss. Bude, nicknamed the 'Bondi of Britain', has the oldest
lifesaving rescue team in the UK, set up in 1953. Less than 30 miles up
the coast from its posher sisters, Padstow and Rock, Bude has a down-to-earth
charm, more flip-flops than deck shoes" The
Times 27.5.11
The
Trevalgas Cottages' complex, where Blackberry and
Bramblewood cottages are
situated, featured in the following editorial:
"Trevalgas Cottages: Peace without
Isolation"
"While cheap flights from Luton or Stansted can
get us to exotic destinations, the travelling can also be quite
wearisome. There's the hassle of getting to the airport,
high parking costs, a lot of queuing and hanging around, the risk of
delays, indifferent food, etc. And while the flights may be cheap,
there's no escaping the airport taxes and fuel surcharge, plus high costs
of accommodation, particularly where a family is involved. The
net result is that the benefit of a holiday or break has
evaporated by the time you get back home.
One alternative to the overseas package
holiday is a self-catering cottage - and it doesn't have to be just
swapping one kitchen sink for another. There is a small
complex near Bude called Trevalgas Cottages, which has much to
commend it, and being in North Cornwall, it's much easier to get to
than places further southwest - and it's also handy for exploring
the quieter parts of North Devon too. Here there is peace without
isolation as the complex is about a mile and half from Bude town
centre, glorious sandy beaches, rugged cliffs, the SW coastal path
and superb countryside - yet many of the locals do not even know
that the cottages are there - tucked in a quiet hollow in the
rolling hills.
It's an ideal place
where one can switch off from the hectic pace of life -
and recharge ones' batteries. With plenty of space to relax,
and enjoy the colourful well-tended gardens, there's also a
wonderful heated indoor pool so no need to worry if the sun
doesn't shine - and the cottages themselves provide
home-from-home comforts, including a dishwasher in the
larger units. And while they all have fully fitted and
well-equipped kitchens, and barbecues, it doesn't have to be
cooking all the time as there are dozens of good value
places to eat out.
Although you may be tempted to never leave this
peaceful setting, the unspoilt countryside offers plenty of
walks, including the coastal path, and Bude Marshes where
there’s a chance to watch the wildlife in the nature
reserve, or just unwind and enjoy the peaceful surroundings.
Bude has its own links golf course, and stables
offering horse riding along miles of sandy beaches at low tide. If
you are more adventurous, then drop into the town’s adventure
centre and sign up for an afternoon’s climbing or abseiling course
on the folded fault lined cliffs, or hire a full sized surf board,
wet suit plus a couple of hours tuition.
Alternatively hire
some
bikes locally, with trailer bikes for children, and enjoy one of the
cycle paths in the area - along the Tamar valley, for example, or on
the old Bodmin to Padstow railway track.
Bude is close to many gardens open to the public, and is
not far away from the Eden Project. Jonathan Ball (its Cornish
architect) is already planning the ‘Great Atlantic Way’ a new visionary project to help the regeneration and
preservation of north Cornwall and enhance the experience of
visitors to thirty miles of coastline from Bude to Newquay.
With all-inclusive pricing, beds made up for your arrival, and some
bargains for under-occupancy to make even the larger cottages
affordable for smaller groups, a short break will feel longer and
more relaxing at Trevalgas.
If you’d like to find out more, then contact
Katherine Copley on 01628 675620. "
Bedfordshire Journal 20.04.05
"Summerleaze beach is a
beautiful sweep of fine sand, with fishing boats pulled up on the tideline, children playing with
buckets and spades, and wet-suited surfers riding the rolling waves." Sunday Telegraph Travel
10.8.09
(see full article below)
"How
to arrange a great Escape
Does the thought of Christmas at home surrounded by
discarded wrapping paper, dirty dishes and turkey leftovers, make
you want to head for the hills? Then do just that.
Run away to a seaside cottage in Cornwall, a castle in the
Scottish highlands or a house deep in one of Britain's
national parks... " The Sunday Times 26.11.06
"One of the wildest and most beautiful stretches of the north
Cornish coast is between Bude and Boscastle." Sunday Telegraph Travel Section 30.7.06
"Top Surf Spots
in Britain....
7. BUDE.
Often overlooked, Bude has great surf spots, bars and restaurants,
and has been a mecca for British surfers since the sixties."The Independent
Home News Pages 27.7.04
Here's what the press has said
about Bude in more detail:
Bude: Tales from Cornwall's wild side
Bude's modest exterior hides a bizarre history involving a dotty vicar and a famous inventor
"I had heard of Gurney
stoves, and always assumed that harvest festivals were an ancient
tradition, but until this week, I had no idea that both were
invented by eccentric Cornishmen living on a remote stretch of the
county's wildest and most dramatic shore.
Here, narrow lanes with high stone walls are dotted with
primroses in spring and foxgloves in summer and lead into steep
wooded valleys and over rolling maritime grassland. The coast is
rugged and treacherous, with spectacular rock formations –
barrel-shaped folds of rock, diagonal strata, zigzag chevron
patterns, stripy layers of pale sandstone and dark siltstone.
The Cornish side of my family has farmed on this coast for
200 years, and the non-Cornish side has been coming here on holiday
since 1900, but I had no idea that harvest festivals were invented
in the 19th century at Morwenstow church. Stephen Hawker arrived in
1834, Morwenstow's first vicar for more than a century. He devoted
his life to converting local smugglers, wreckers and looters into a
congregation of lifesavers, who warned ships away from the rocks,
gave drowned sailors Christian burials – and celebrated harvests.
Hawker was delightfully dotty, dressing in red coat, pink fez
and yellow horse-blanket poncho, posing on rocks in mermaid costume,
inviting his nine cats to church services (excommunicating them if
they moused on a Sunday) and taking his pet pig for walks. He had
two happy marriages, at 19 to his 40-year-old godmother, and then at
60 to a girl of 20.
From Morwenstow churchyard and Hawker's turreted rectory, I
strolled to the coast footpath. Far below me, Atlantic waves churned
and crashed against the rocks. Farther out, swirls of glittering
blue-green faded to a fuzzy horizon that my Cornish grandmother
would say heralds fine weather.
Soon I reached the National Trust's smallest property, Hawker's
Hut, perched on a cliff and built entirely of driftwood. Here Hawker
composed sermons, watched for shipwrecks and wrote romantic poems
such as The Song of the Western Men, now adopted as the Cornish
anthem. He also smoked opium and conversed with Saint Morwenna, the
fifth-century princess who built a church with her own hands and
gave her name to the parish.
Soon I reached the National Trust's smallest property, Hawker's
Hut, perched on a cliff and built entirely of driftwood. Here Hawker
composed sermons, watched for shipwrecks and wrote romantic poems
such as The Song of the Western Men, now adopted as the Cornish
anthem. He also smoked opium and conversed with Saint Morwenna, the
fifth-century princess who built a church with her own hands and
gave her name to the parish.
The next day, the wind got up and the incoming tide looked
perfect for surfing. I headed for Bude's beautiful Summerleaze beach
with my ancient plywood surfboard. Old fashioned as my board may
look, it is streamlined compared with the coffin-like box on which
my grandmother rode the waves before the First World War.
To warm up after my swim, I visited Bude Castle, built on
Summerleaze sandhills by Sir Goldsworthy Gurney. Few have heard of
this Cornish genius, a contemporary of Hawker (they both died in
1875). To prove that it was possible to build on shifting sand, he
designed his castle on a specially invented concrete base, and it is
still standing 178 years later.
Sir Goldsworthy was an extraordinary polymath – architect,
agriculturalist, surgeon, scientist, pianist and inventor. His Bude
limelight was so bright that one lamp, reflected through mirrors,
illuminated his entire castle. Three Bude lights replaced 280
candles in the Houses of Parliament, lasting until electricity was
installed 60 years later. Sir Goldsworthy's system of flashing
lighthouses is still in use and his Gurney stoves survive in several
cathedrals to this day. Sir Goldsworthy, knighted in old age by
Queen Victoria, invented blastpipes, steam engines, mine
ventilation, fire extinguishers, musical instruments, heating,
lighthouse signals, electric telegraph and limelight, but he veered
between success and bankruptcy.
Next, I explored the Bude canal, which has been dredged and
restored to make a lovely inland walk. Away from the wild coast,
Bude's hinterland is calm and peaceful. Sir Goldsworthy contributed
to early designs for the canal, a revolutionary project to
link the Bristol and English Channels via the River Tamar.
The canal never reached the Tamar's navigable stretches, but
was a superb feat of engineering. Today, the canal's
nature reserve contains Cornwall's largest reed beds,
home to otters, dormice, and a host of rare birds and plants.
While Hawker and Sir Goldsworthy were living their extraordinary
lives, and my Cornish relations were farming, Bude turned from a
fishing harbour and small port into a fashionable Victorian seaside
resort. In 1847, Tennyson visited and was inspired to write his
Cornish "Idylls of the King".
Later, the Atlantic Coast Express railway brought my non-Cornish
relations and other well-heeled visitors direct from London, and
Bude's attractions included a sea pool, art-deco cinema, three golf
courses and a series of huge hotels. However, decline followed, the
final blow the closure of the railway in 1966.
Bude today may have lost its classy clientele, but it is a friendly,
low-key little town filled with the mouthwatering aroma of hot
pasties. Summerleaze beach is a beautiful sweep of fine sand, with
fishing boats pulled up on the tideline, children playing with
buckets and spades, and wet-suited surfers riding the rolling waves.
Chapel Rock, on the harbour breakwater, is all that remains from the
days when Bude was just a chapel on a rock, where a bede, or holy
man, lit lamps to guide ships in from Cornwall's most treacherous
coast. But today the town is taking renewed pride in its unique
cultural and natural heritage.
Sir Goldsworthy's eccentric castle-built-on-sand has been
restored, with an excellent museum and a restaurant where I had
lunch. Over coffee, I read one of Hawker's bloodthirsty ballads –
Croon from Hennacliff – about shipwrecked bodies washing up at Bude.
The next time I go to a harvest festival, or visit a warm cathedral,
I shall remember these two inspired Cornishmen, and the beautiful
landscape that was their home."
