Experience North Cornwall

In North Cornwall's coves and inlets seafarers have always sought refuge - bustling Padstow, sheltered Budehaven, dramatic Boscastle, picturesque Port Isaac - and here you'll experience day-to-day life wedded to the sea.

Travel the length of North Cornwall's Atlantic coast and you can trawl the clues of maritime life past and present - the cliff-edge hut of Parson Hawker, at Morwenstow, the stone piers and breakwaters at Bude and Boscastle, the National Lobster Hatchery at Padstow. Try to decipher the flotsam and jetsam of a fisherman's trade - the colourful flags and floats; the needles, unchanged for centuries, for mending nets.

Your first port of call is Bude Haven, once a thriving port where trading ketches unloaded cargo at the canalside. Today you'll find fishing boats beached on the sand below the Bude Canal lock gates. After you've visited the graves of shipwrecked mariners at St Genny's church, and beach-combed the shoreline beneath 400ft cliffs at Crackington Haven - one-time haunt of smugglers - it's time to discover the drama of Boscastle's tortuous harbour entrance. From the quayside you can walk up to the lookout on Willapark for a spectacular view.

Further west Port Isaac beckons, whose whitewashed houses and intriguing tiny alleys are now familiar from television's Doc Martin; try to find the passageway known as Squeeze-ee-Belly. You'll also see old pilchard cellars here, and at nearby Port Gaverne and Port Quin; evidence of an industry now long gone. A short ferry-trip across the Camel Estuary from Rock lies Padstow with its busy harbour, pastel-coloured houses, trawlers, crabbers and yachts. Time your visit to coincide with the return of the fishing fleet and you might encounter a conger on the quayside. You might even spot Rick Stein buying fish for his famous seafood restaurants - from the sea to the table in just a few hours. Fancy catching your own supper? At Boscastle, Padstow, Rock and Port Isaac take a fishing trip and enjoy the thrill of returning with a basket of mackerel.

And there's still more to do in North Cornwall. Whether you're riding on the crest of a wave, or riding into the sunset, sailing close to the wind or just messing about on the river, playing a round of golf or playing around in the pool - North Cornwall offers an extraordinary range of adventure and leisure activities for you to experience.

Surf's up!

Time to wax that board and paddle out to ride the tube. North Cornwall is Britain's surfing capital, where world champion surfers come to ride the best waves in Europe. And if you're taking the plunge for the first time, there are boards and wetsuits for hire, and half-day, full-day and even residential week-long surf courses at Bude and Polzeath, Widemouth, Constantine, Harlyn and Watergate bays. But there's more than one way to catch a wave. How about windsurfing, kayak surfing or even kite-surfing? You can paddle your own canoe on the Camel Estuary, where there are dinghies and sailboards for rent, or even try your sea-legs at water-skiing and parascending. If you prefer a more sheltered existence, you can sail or windsurf the Tamar Lakes and Siblyback Lake, or go for a gentle row on the Bude Canal. And if you consider watersports are just too wet, what about mountain-boarding (you don't need waves, just a hill!).

Leisure unlimited

If all these extreme sports sound too much like hard work, you'll discover North Cornwall excels in relaxing leisure pursuits as well. Take golf: only Scotland has more courses per head of population. You can try the seaside links at Trevose and Bude or tee off on the parkland fairways at Bowood, Lanhydrock and Roserrow. There are pay-as-you-play courses and driving ranges for beginners at St Kew. If you're a keen angler, pack your rod and tackle and you'll be spoilt for choice - there's rock, beach, sea, river and lake, coarse and fly-fishing. Horse-riders can saddle up at stables which offer moorland hacking, coastal and riverside trekking; and if you're a novice, they'll show you the reins. If the sun goes in, make tracks for one of North Cornwall's many leisure centres, where you can have a ball with indoor tennis, bowls and squash; fit in a sauna, gym or jacuzzi; or just chill out in a tropical swimming pool. And when winter's here, get your skates on and chill out in Eden's spectacular covered ice rink.

Join in the festivities

There are many ways to experience the uniqueness of North Cornwall life - celebrate the coming of summer or the crowning of a May Queen, relive the age of steam or the thrill of the fairground - experience the country carnivals and exhilarating attractions of North Cornwall! Summer in North Cornwall kicks off with one of the oldest folk traditions in Britain. Come to Padstow on May Day, and you'll find the town throbbing to a pagan drumbeat as the 'Obby 'Oss is unleashed amongst the crowds of singing revellers, amidst a carnival atmosphere which continues long into the night.

You'll find there are festivals and fairs all year round in North Cornwall - Easter egg rolling, spring shows, steam rallies, harvest suppers and winter pantomimes. Don't miss the many events which celebrate the rural way of life, such as the Poughill Revel & Cuckoo Fayre or the crowning of Marhamchurch's Revel Queen. This celebration culminates at Wadebridge in June with the showpiece of Cornish farming, the Royal Cornwall Show. Here you'll have the best of Cornwall handed to you on a plate - from flowers to rare breeds, sheep-shearing to show jumping - with traditional fairground attractions for afters. e're proud of our maritime heritage too, with events taking place on and in the sea. It's plain sailing at Rock, with races for catamarans, shrimpers and dinghies; there's traditional Cornish gig racing at Boscastle, Padstow and Port Isaac; and canoeists make a splash in the Bude Canal regatta. And for real drama, look out for RNLI Lifeboat Day at Padstow, Port Isaac and Bude.

Plenty to get steamed up about!

You can enjoy a four-mile ride into the Kensey Valley, hauled by a Victorian locomotive of the Launceston Steam Railway. You can unravel a murder mystery on the Bodmin & Wenford Railway or come up with your own verdict in the Courtroom Experience at Bodmin's Shire Hall. Experience the awe-inspiring world of Carnglaze Slate Caverns, or the hair-raising log-flumes and water-slides of the Crealy Great Adventure Park. The kids will enjoy close encounters of the furry kind at the Tamar Otter Sanctuary, and for a really gripping experience, take them to the Lobster Hatchery in Padstow.

At the end of the day

Why not relax with a cream tea at Trevathan Farm, St Endellion, or a tour of the winery followed by a glass of award-winning Cornish Triomphe on the terrace of the Camel Valley Vineyard at Nanstallon?