St Mawes

Lunch on the hotel terrace in lovely St Mawes

We crossed from the north shore of Cornwall to the south, still in search of that picture-perfect seaside town, since Padstow hadn’t quite fit the bill. St Mawes got us quite a bit closer. Set on a beautiful sheltered harbor, it’s been called “Britain’s finest seaside village.”

That same writer compared it to St. Tropez in France or the Amalfi coast in Italy, which is going too far for two good reasons. First of all, you’re never going to see the kind of lemon-growing glorious sunshine that frequents those places. We actually got quite lucky and saw a partly sunny day with a high of 67°F (19°C). But that was in late August and everyone here was amazed! And we’re not complaining either; Jim finally managed to get in a nice brisk swim.

And second, it’s a pretty sedate place, truly little more than a village. The harbor is lined with the stately holiday homes of well-heeled Britons. The village includes a couple nice hotels and a handful of places to dine or grab a pastry or a beverage. And not much else of great interest. No charming shops to browse in. But also no swarming crowds in search of all that either.

My view from my reading spot on a park bench by the harbor. Turns out the painting students were all from coastal Massachusetts.

A view of our hotel, with blue umbrellas on the terrace and the multi-tiered “beach club” in the foreground

The road into town from the hotel

Old gas pumps in town

Pre-dinner libation on the beautiful terrace of Idle Rocks in town

The view from our dinner table

Early evening on the harbor

Town lights reflected on the water after dinner

A cemetery on a hike just out of town

Loads of blackberries along the hike

Our biggest adventure here was taking the ferry across the Fal Estuary to the much bigger town of Falmouth for lunch. The estuary, at the mouth of the Fal River, is also known as Carrick Roads, and it is one of the world’s largest natural harbors.

It was actually nice to walk along Falmouth’s busy high street with lots of shops, bars, and restaurants to peek into. After lunch at a fun, friendly tapas bar, we returned to our sedate, tasteful St Mawes for another lovely dinner on the terrace. Two nights here was just right to get a good taste of Cornwall before we turn back east and make one more stop in Devon.