Cornwall, a place of epic landscapes and dramatic coastlines.
I'm Caroline Quentin and I'm travelling west
to a county that really does showcase the best of Britain's natural beauty.
So come with me on my Cornish adventure.
It's a land that's dear to my heart,
where beaches meet moors...
It is, I think, the best part of the British Isles. It's absolutely stunning.
- I'll stay here for ever. - Where would you want to be any better?
The sun in my face, the clean, blue air coming off the ocean.
Heaven on earth.
...and cliffs surrender to the mighty Atlantic.
It's a magical place. It really is.
I look at it every day and I tell myself, "Do not ever take this for granted."
It's beautiful.
The therapeutic qualities of living with the water and being by the sea
is just amazing, awesome.
Come along for the ride as I take in the sights...
That is awesome! That's awesome.
...the sounds... - ♪ White stockings she wore
...and the stories...
It's just so exhilarating!
And when you're swooshing along, it's wonderful.
...of a Cornish summer.
So enjoy the views. I know I will.
As beautiful as the sea looks today, it can be a pretty scary place to work.
The fishermen who work off this coast have one of the most difficult,
perilous and pungent jobs I can think of.
But it's worth it because there are up to 40 different species of edible fish in this water,
and I'm ashamed to say I think I've only actually eaten 39 of them.
Mackerel, obviously.
Cod, hake,
halibut, Dover sole.
Helford Mussels, I love.
Prawns...
Razor clams you can get off the beach, actually.
Sticklebacks. No, not sticklebacks. That's a freshwater fish.
Silly woman.
There's one chef who's hoping there's enough seafood to go around.
We'll be catching up with Simon, who's serving up a whopping paella at this secret little shack.
I've got a family here from Valencia. Not that they're putting too much pressure on.
They seem to be watching me like a hawk.
And I'll be dropping in on campsite owner, Debs, to sample a bit of the good life.
Oh, God. You can have tomato and basil salad just walking along.
Earlier in the series I met up with Jess and Claire from the Unique Home Stays,
one of Cornwall's most successful holiday rental companies,
and had a look at the latest, lavish property to come on their books.
Claire is the business's marketing manager,
so it's up to her to find new ways of getting guests into properties.
Her latest thought is making the most of Cornwall's natural beauty
to say "I do".
With our weddings we found more and more people were moving away
from wanting to get married in a church and wanting it to be a lot more bespoke.
Claire is meeting up with humanist wedding co-ordinator, Zena Birch,
at one of their properties,
a stunning Victorian country cottage in lush woodland near Helford.
They're taking a grand tour with its owners
to see if the place could be marketed as a potential humanist celebration venue.
- Nice to meet you, Jane. - Anthony, hello.
Zena has been known to marry couples in all kinds of unusual locations.
She finds that Cornwall is an ever popular place to exchange vows.
I find that quite a lot of the clients who come through me
are often asking to get married somewhere down in Cornwall
because either it's somewhere that they grew up with their family
and they have memories attached to it, or it's somewhere they holidayed with their partner.
As you drive down towards the property, down through the woods,
you just can't be prepared for how magical it actually looks.
Is it all the original windows as well?
The top parts are hand-carved oak.
And then it's pine on the straight bits that come down, and then oak sills.
Gorgeous.
Did you put those trunks in?
- Yeah, we did. - Are they from the woods?
Lovely.
For Claire, practicality is the key.
The property has to be able to accommodate wedding guests come rain or shine.
Wow.
So, this is the old part of the house.
Everything in here is original.
It's at least 200 years old.
There's so many different places in this venue itself where people could get married.
A lot of people would be interested in trying to do something in the woods.
Your garden is perfect.
Even just the tiny little bit of stream that you cross over...
The old clapper bridge.
Exactly. There's just something exceptionally charming about that.
This would be a beautiful place for the bride and groom to walk in onto the bridge.
- Everybody else gathered here. - Really special.
To have it in a private home as well.
- It's exclusive and it's only... - Feels intimate.
It's a great destination, so I think today's gone very well.
The property is amazing, perfect for ceremonies. I don't think it could have gone better.
Perfect.
Claire looks to be on to a winner here,
and so will the first lucky couple to exchange vows in this perfect, peaceful place.
It's one thing enticing people to come and stay in Cornwall,
but tempting them to take up a more permanent residence requires a special touch.
Good morning, Sylvia. It's Rosie at Marshall's.
How are you?
In the tiny village of Mousehole, in the far reaches of West Cornwall,
Rosie Blewett knows only one way to do business: The village way.
I work here in Marshalls in the Mousehole office, in a tiny fishing village.
It's not somewhere you'd expect to see an estate agent's,
but we do actually do very well.
Rosie makes up part of this team of estate agents
and has lived in the village all her life.
Mousehole's world famous. They get holidaymakers from all over the world.
And once they've been, and once they've stayed here,
everyone falls in love with it.
It's like being on holiday every day.
It's because it doesn't feel real. Mousehole doesn't feel real.
I'm sold, and so are scores of holidaymakers, who take a trip here every year,
encounter this jolly bunch of ladies and take the decision to migrate west.
Hello, is that Claire?
It's always good fun because you're trying your best to really show off a place,
and one of the local fishermen might say something very rude to you,
or rude about the property or something like that.
If a property's up for sale for a quarter of a million,
he'll shout out, "You're being robbed."
Let's face it, estate agents often get a bad press
for their, shall we say, inventive use of sales speak?
But in a close-knit community like this, that's not an option.
We could never tell any lies in our office.
They end up as your neighbours, really.
You queue up in the shop with them and stuff, but I like it.
Today, Rosie's introducing a couple from Northern Ireland to the charms of Mousehole
and she's hoping they'll be sympathetic to the compact style of living.
They don't call it Mousehole for nothing, you know.
They are definitely keen on having a second home to let out,
so, hopefully, they'll come and fall in love with it
and job will be a good 'un.
Mind the steps.
She's showing them around this two-bedroom property right in the heart of the village.
It's on the market for just under £190,000.
Nice work surfaces.
Ladies always like them.
This rather bijou home is typical of Cornish cottages,
and would have been built for the village's fishermen.
It's perfect second home territory,
which has become an increasingly controversial matter here in Cornwall.
The generation before me,
people in their 60s,
I think they actually did find it hard to stomach because suddenly their village was taken over.
I'm a bit more used to it, and with a bit more of a modern approach I can see
that without that income from the tourist trade and the second homes
our restaurants wouldn't survive, the pub wouldn't survive,
all these local people wouldn't have jobs, the village shop.
We erm... We need it.
Rosie is certainly selling her socks off here, but, for her, it comes easily.
Welcoming new friends to the village is second nature.
You definitely feel you're selling more than a house.
You're selling them a new lifestyle and you really want them to enjoy it, definitely.
Mousehole is so secluded and so hidden off.
It just seems to be the gem in the Cornwall coast.
We've got to keep it that way.
I say to everyone with my hand on my heart,
"If I won the lottery tomorrow I wouldn't move out of Mousehole because it is so lovely."
Well, what an endorsement,
spoken like a true estate agent.
Well, I couldn't bring you to Cornwall without talking about my passion, my favourite hobby,
and a lot of us head up to here to the north coast
to erm... to search for the Cribbar.
It's a big wave. Often we find it at Fistral Beach.
It can reach 30 foot and we're all really out there to just... shred it.
Which is what I plan to do this afternoon
cos er... surf's up...
dude.
So erm... I'm out of here.
Catch you later.
When it comes to beaches, Cornwall is Britain's answer to California
with over 300 beautiful stretches of sand
bridging the lapping waves and the imposing cliffs.
The beaches alone bring millions of sun worshippers flooding southwest every year,
rain or shine.
But they also tempt another breed of sun seeker to the shores.
Surfing is a Cornish passion.
It brings £200 million into the UK economy.
£21 million of that is generated in this county alone.
There's a really strong surfing community here, made up of locals and incomers,
but some members of that club are not who you might perhaps expect.
Meet 87-year-old Cyril and 88-year-old Charmain Cannon,
who bring the silver to surfing of the traditional variety:
Bellyboarding, as it's become known.
Cornwall. If you're coming to Cornwall you have to bellyboard.
It never used to be called bellyboarding. It was just called surfing
because it was the only kind of surfing.
These bellyboarding veterans from North London have been coming
to the shores of Chapel Porth on the north coast for holidays since before the war.
When we used to go on family holidays when I was a child,
we did it up in Mawgan Porth, wherever we went, you know.
It was part of the holiday.
They met nearly 60 years ago,
fell in love, and old romantic, Cyril,
knew there was only one place to pop the question.
- You proposed marriage on St Agnes... - Yes, I did.
...Head...
...in 1960.
- He went on one knee. - I did.
Cyril and Charmain have experienced a magnetic pull to this hidden cove,
so much so that they've put down roots here.
We used to pass this house every time we came down to Chapel Porth,
which became our favourite beach,
carrying surf boards and all that stuff down the valley,
and thought, "What a wonderful place."
That was us doing it in 1956.
When I first came, it was absolutely wild!
They're fans of traditional plywood boards,
and still have the originals that they began surfing with.
Hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds.
We've only got hearts left. The others have fallen apart.
As Cyril and Charmain approach their 90s,
they're still taking on the waves with fearless enjoyment.
In a week's time, the World Bellyboarding Championships are rolling into town
and we'll see them joining the throng of competitors.
I, for one, can't wait to see that.
It's not just Cyril and Charmain that have a wealth of stories about this place.
Some of my fondest memories are of family holidays spent here.
But I've never tried the good old British tradition of camping.
Apparently, there's nowhere quite like it to pitch up,
be at one with the elements, and run free in the glorious countryside.
So I couldn't do a tour of the county without popping in to meet Debs
at Treloan Campsite on the magnificent Roseland Peninsula.
- Hello! Debbie? - Hello!
- Yes! - Welcome to Treloan.
- Good to meet you. - Thank you very much.
Lovely to be here and it's so beautiful.
It's the height of summer and there's a real sense of relaxation and unwinding here.
I wonder how Debs has managed it.
So, you've never run a campsite before
and you suddenly decided, "Ah, I know what we'll do!
We'll take over the running of this quite big campsite."
How many tents can you get here?
It's about 60-odd pitches, but because we're open all year
we've got a few hardstandings where the older people come.
As soon as the school holidays are over we get what we call the wrinklies - their word, not mine.
They phone me up and say, "Debs, the wrinklies are coming.
Have you got my pitch?" And I say, "Yeah."
It's not massive, and that's what some people like.
Some people like to go camping and have a coffee shop, a shop,
a club house, arcades.
But people come here for the opposite thing,
where you have your tent, the kids are outside playing, it's safe,
and they make friends, and they don't need to give them money all the time.
- And pets welcome? - Pets are welcome, yeah.
- You'll see my pets in a minute. - Oh, really? All right.
I have more.
If I was to run a campsite, I think this is how I'd do it.
Debs has spent three years turning this place into one of Cornwall's most popular campsites.
This year it's fully booked, and there's no wonder.
It's more than just a pit stop place. Debs has made it part of her manifesto
to involve the happy campers in a bit of the good life.
Right, so this is where we keep our sheep,
- in the allotment. - Fantastic.
So, every morning we feed the chickens and collect the eggs.
- With the children of the campsite. - Yeah.
This is Shaun and Shirley.
Their little horns are coming through. Oh, little buds there.
I'm a sheep lover. It's official.
I feel quite at home here, wondering around all this land.
It's a sanctuary for Debs away from the camping chaos.
This is Mac. He does our fire sites and garden.
- This is who we share the allotment with. - Hi, Caroline.
- I enjoy your work. - Thank you very much.
- Can I have a look at your work? - You can.
You might want to leave your coat behind. It's a bit hot.
Look at your tomatoes!
Now I've got tomato envy. That's gone badly wrong.
- Can I eat one? - Course you can.
- Do you sell it to the campers? - We don't really sell it.
We use it ourselves and we've got an honesty store just by the office.
People can just take what they want.
They can leave some money if they want in the box.
And you've got basil. Oh, God. You can have tomato and basil salad just walking along.
This is bloody marvellous, this garden!
- Nice boat. Whose boat is that? - That's the race boat, isn't it, Debs?
Every year we have regatta in Portscatho.
We've got a lot of work to do on it, haven't we, Mac?
A little touch up here and there.
- Nothing serious. - It doesn't actually look watertight.
Do you think it's going to be all right?
Well, the first year we went extremely fast...
in the wrong direction.
- Unfortunately, it was a navigational error. - Mac was steering.
You were heading out to the Scillies really quickly.
- Bless your heart. - Unfortunately, I...
- They call me SatNav now. - MacNav.
MacNav. I'm gonna patent it. Yeah.
- Well, good luck with it. - So, hopefully this is the year...
We're gonna win this year, third time lucky...
Ah, what a cheery place.
It's what holidays should be all about.
Earlier in the series I discovered a very special little place
a couple of miles away at Porthcurnick Beach on the south coast.
It's the first season for Jemma and Simon, running The Hidden Hut,
so I couldn't resist dropping in.
Although I got more than I bargained for.
How many have you got to do for tonight? Do you know?
- Only 400. - OK. I'll do 4.
On selected summer evenings it comes alive with feast nights.
And tonight is one of those nights.
We've got seafood paella on the beach.
So lucky that the sun's come out.
These intriguing feast nights are chef Simon's idea.
He works during the day for a fish supplier,
so tonight's seafood paella is the perfect recipe.
There's so much amazing fish around at the minute.
I've just got to drop this in the van, get down to the beach, and get the pans fired up.
Word has spread fast and the community has reacted well.
The simple idea is that guests purchase a ticket, bring along a bowl and enjoy the food.
We get a huge mix of people who come to these things: Locals, holidaymakers.
We had someone from the Netherlands call up this morning.
We've gone international, yes.
Right, let's get involved.
We've got lots of hands on to help, though,
so it should be plain - well, I probably shouldn't say that - it should be plain sailing from now.
Oh! How many times have I heard that?
This lovely local squid, it's right in the middle of its season at the minute.
It has the wings on here.
Just run your fingers under the membrane and just peel the wings off.
Membrane in the back which you just ease out.
And then you literally just scrape the squid, just to get it lovely and clean.
It's quite a showy recipe, which is perfect for the gathering guests.
Not that Simon appears to have noticed them.
Good seafood and a really good stock...
I would say is probably the real key to a good paella.
Suddenly Simon seems to be feeling the pressure.
We've got a family here from Valencia.
They seem to be watching me like a hawk.
And there's even more pressure.
Without telling Simon I may have slightly overbooked on numbers.
He thinks there's only going to be 120. We've actually got 139.
I'm not going to tell him, though. We'll just see at the end.
Jemma just has to hope that the masses don't pile up their plates.
That's a very modest plate, Dave.
I was going to bring a dustbin lid.
That is a delicious hat, Dave, you've got yourself there. Yeah.
Nearly as delicious as the food here.
I'm glad he said that.
So far, so good.
We are over half way.
The queue is still quite long.
And there's tables which still haven't stood up yet, so I don't know.
It's authentic. Autentico.
At least the guests haven't noticed.
With everybody fed, Jemma and Simon have pulled it off.
There are even some leftovers.
I think everyone seems to be pretty satisfied with their plate of paella.
It's all good. Really good.
You always over cook. What's your saying? "Never knowingly under cater."
That's it.
It's been a successful first summer for this pair.
If they can come to the end of the season with smiles still on their faces,
something must be right.
This has definitely become living the dream and I'm loving it.
What better to work in a place where you overlook a lovely beach
and a beautiful ocean?
And long may it last.
Ripped & Corrected By mstoll March 2017
Ripped & Corrected By mstoll Released on www.Addic7ed.com