Can anyone recommend a good place to stay in Cornwall, late September for 1 week? Looking for somewhere scenic, with a couple of eating and drinking options, not overrun with annoying surfer dudes or the super-rich. Sea swimming nearby would be good. Does such a place even exist? Never been before. Recommendations for towns, villages, small cottages all welcome. Ta for any tips.

it’s hard to avoid surfers and the super rich – it’s where they all go.

all the same, if you head to the very far west then the chances of being annoyed by anyone diminish on account of it being absolutely miles from anywhere.

surfers tend to gravitate to the north coast as that get’s more swell than the south.

so i guess i’m suggesting all the way west, on the south coast. sort of minnack theatre way.

take a brolly.

Devon?

Falmouth has all that you want and should be quieter late September, we have family in and around Falmouth and visited recently without the children and stayed here http://www.highcliffefalmouth.com
Plenty of sea swimming options with Gyllngvase or Maenporth beaches
http://www.falmouth.co.uk/see-and-do/beaches/gyllyngvase-beach
http://www.falmouth.co.uk/see-and-do/beaches/maenporth-beach
Plenty of restaurants to choose from, The Cove in Maenporth being a favourite.

Late September literally anywhere along the N coast it’s a lovely place out of season. Avoid surfers and/or the wealthy by simply walking 500 m from the car park

St Just

Carbis bay.

St Agnes

Late September is THE best time to visit the South West. Generally good weather, warm water but none of the crowds. Cheaper too.

I can recommend Porthleven on the south coast – lively pubs, good restaurants and great walking and swimming nearby. Still a working harbour so not as gentrified or crowded as other places (yet!) and a great base to explore both the Lizard and Penwith. Kynance Cove, Porthcurno / Porthchapel and Sennen all fab beaches withing striking distance.

If you want quiet then the Roseland Peninsular is ideal- take a look around Portscatho area – Towan and Porthbeor beach both lovely and almost deserted for much of the year.

St Just / Cape Cornwall area has some stunning coastal scenery and walking – Priests Cove below the Cape itself is a lovely spot for rock pools at low tide.

St Ives fails on your criteria and gets rammed in the summer but worth a visit out of season – some great places to eat. Porthminster beach cafe is particularly good and the beaches are great.

St Agnes area is lovely. Further north then Trebarwith Strand and Crackington Haven are both favourites of ours.

If you are after a cottage then the following link will take you to some places the company I work for has available for the end of September, all close to sandy beaches.

http://bit.ly/1Llf9mo

If you want any further advice, then please feel free to PM me.

PS – Please don’t tar all surfers with the same brush. A lot of us surf down here – it’s a way of life for many and part of the reason they live here. The obnoxious minority you refer to are mainly wannabes and annoy us as much as they do non surfers! And don’t be put off trying it yourself, but as the advice goes, careful, it could change everything!

Hope you have a great trip wherever you end up.

hasn’t gavtheoldskoolskater from here got a cottage in Sennen? lovely spot but you will see some surfers.

I would go north coast, up near Bude or maybe even Hartland. It’ll be almost dead in late September and it’s one of the least pretentious/wealthy areas. My own favourite bit is the Tamar Valley but that’s about halfway between the coats (actually quite handy if you want to see a bit of each).

I live in Mevagissey and it fits the bill. Lots of places to eat, scenic, less posh than Portleven, although less cosmopolitan than Falmouth, lots of sea swimming a short walk away (I did some on Monday after work), no surfer dudes, and should be bearably quiet outside of the school hols (pretty hectic at the moment).

Places worth visiting nearby include Eden Project, Lost Gardens of Heligan, St Austell Brewery, the Roseland peninsula (excellent road biking), mtb at Cardinham/lanhydrock/kings woods in pentewan valley,

Meva also has a model railway, mini aquarium, mini museum and a beautiful harbour.

Along the coast either way you’ve got Pentewan and Gorran Haven, both also good places to stay.

we spent a week in Boscastle in April and the weather was superb. Beautiful scenery, little villages to visit all along the coast, pasties from Chough bakery, scones, the ferry at Rock to Rick Steins at Padstowe, the lot.

I even took the road bike and got out a couple of times #thumbsup

I love the north coast and will be there in 8 days time for 10 days. As above Boscastle is lovely, so is tintagel and the rest of that coast walk over to trebarwith and onwards, stop at Mawgan Porth and all will be fine. Surfers aren’t all that bad, it’s the idiots (again as above) who travel across the m4 in their t5 and proceed to look like they’re drowning that are annoying.

Stayed at mother iveys bay just beneath padstow, that’s nice, Sea swimming as the site has its own bay plus very quiet.

Bude, dude.

Fresh mackerel burgers at Rosie’s, sea pool, safe beaches at Widemouth, Summerleaze, Crooklets, Sandymouth. Near enough to drive and visit Boscastle, Clovelly, Bodmin etc.

We’re in St Ives at the moment – it’s bloody rammed. Should be lovely in a few weeks time when it quietens down.

Carbis Bay is nice as is Sennen Cove.

We’re off up to Bude to stay with friends in a couple of days – not been before but looks lovely. They’re surfer dudes.

May I recommend the flower shed in mousehole. Proper little chilled out self contained accommodation.

Portreath
Scenic, with a couple of eating and drinking options, not overrun with annoying surfer dudes or the super-rich. Sea swimming with lifeguards. Excellent flat cycle “Flat lode” from Portreath to Devoran. Bike cafe on route. Here In the middle is the quarry where you can spend an afternoon hooning it if you want something a little testing. Unity woods on the route also has some super single track.

Padstow Lifeboat launch usually every Wednesday at 6pm.

Wow! Some great tips and ideas here, so thanks to everyone.

Sprocket and anyone else it applies to – thanks for the offer of more info by PM. Might not be necessary now, but a kind offer.

Surfers – don’t worry, I’m not tarring you all with the same brush – I’m sure loads of you are good eggs.

Annoying surfers – you’ll know who you are, and the chances are you’re not on here.

Just spent 2 weeks at Heligan Woods camping… Went last year and have already booked for next year.

Gorran Haven… Struggled to think of a place our young family have been happier.

Not commercial, quiet, safe, and pretty much a nob head free holiday.

Been a regular visitor to Cornwall for over 20 years – the places best avoided are Newquay and St Ives. Having spent time in both ends, recently tended to stay around Portreath as it lots of nice places nearby and easy to access to the A30. Perran Sands and Bedruthan are really nice beaches, some really nice woodland / river walks around Lerryn (Fowey River) and for scenery, Mullion and Kynance Coves. Weather can be very variable, you can be fogged-in at Sennen and yets clear blue skies down on the Lizard

Would agree with sprocket and wonny, the lizard and rose peninsular are not such magnets for surfers or posh people.
I’m in Mullion cove in a B&B for a few days, walked all the way to Porthleven today and ate in Steins place there, was a nice walk as people are generally lazy and stick to 500m away from their cars so very few people and great views, we saw a pair of choughs too which was a bonus, The Lizard peninsular gets the thumbs up so far though the bigger the town the more holiday makers there are, other half has been down here a week already walking bits of the SW coastal path and has had whole beaches to herself after a half hour walk.
Haven’t seen too many fat face wearing surfer dudes either. The food in all the pubs has been very good.

Went to padstein last year, cycled from Wadebridge. The highlight of that day was cycling back to Wadebridge, make of that what you will!

Should have cycled past wadebridge and gone to grogley. Some really really good riding there…

Take a look at Portscatho, that is a lovely wee village without being too busy

ST Mawes

Went to Cornwall for the first time properly last summer – stayed near Helford village on the Lizard. It was full high season but didn’t feel it at all where we were. Had a bit of a shock when we drove home, leaving the Lizard and basically joining a queue all the way to Bristol – really couldn’t work out where all these people had come from 😉

Imagine it would feel really quiet round there at tout of season. We stayed in some very “nice” self catering at Kestle Barton here. I wasn’t paying 😉

Nice walk to the village, nice walk to Frenchman’s Creek for isolated swimming. Easy drive/walks to lots of other sea bits. Nice food in the pub in Helford, ludicrously good food and provisions in the village shop (Islington on holiday style), but very low twunt count.

Porthtowan’s nice.

You can cycle the coast path from Pentewan. Spectacular but hard going. Fantastic pub at Polgooth. Haven’t really encountered the Southwold set in Cornwall but just sharpen your elbows before you go. Sennen offers nice climbing as well as surf, I had a very memorable mental experience on that beach in 1972.