Polurrian Villas — Graham Custance Photography

We had visited this beautiful hotel back in the summer, so was delighted to be asked back, to this time photograph the villas that are also on site and offer a completely different type of accommodation. Coupled with the fact, that in November it is a lot quieter time down in Cornwall when the main holiday season has ended. And to further enhance the experience, this time we were taking our labrador puppy Riley on his first ever holiday.

We were quite apprehensive, being concerned that he might not travel well, with a 325 mile journey down to the Lizard Peninsular ahead of us, but everything went fine. We had several comfort breaks on the way down at service stations and after a long sleep in the car he was ready to explore as soon as we arrived at the villa.

There are six villas at Polurrian on the Lizard and each one has a balcony with a view looking towards the sea. Sleeping six in three separate bedrooms, including the master bedroom with en-suite, a double bedroom and a further flexible twin or double room and there is also a large family bathroom. The quality of interior design and furnishings were very impressive and I’m always interested to see the pictures or paintings that adorn the walls and I wasn’t disappointed because the villas have original Cornwall inspired artwork.

The bedrooms are on the ground floor and the living space is upstairs, which Riley soon became accustomed too and made himself at home on one of the large furnishings.

There are two parking spaces per villa and a large garden area with a patio and table and chairs. In the summer this would be the perfect retreat after a day exploring the coast and there is also a communal fire pit to share your stories with the other guests.

The kitchen area was simply stunning, with the highest standard of appliances, including an induction hob, integrated dish washer, fridge and freezer, washer dryer, kettle, toaster and microwave. The sink was housed in an island that also had lots of space to sit around.

We loved the underfloor heating throughout the villa, which made for a nice cosy experience in the evenings and as well as the large flat screen television in the lounge there was a television in each of the bedrooms. Excellent Wi-FI in both the villas and the main hotel Vista lounge.

From the villa, a short stroll and you are in the main hotel. Obviously the unique selling point for Polurrian on the Lizard is its location, with a lovely stroll down the clifftops to the isolated beach below. But in my opinion the very high standard of accommodation is certainly on a par with its position on this picturesque part of the Cornish coast. On both of our visits, the staff have been friendly and made us feel so welcome…Riley made a lot of new friends when we were having our meals in the hotel. On that point, the restaurant has a dedicated section especially for pet owners, where you can dine comfortably with your pooch.

Each morning we would take a leisurely stroll down to the beach, which would take about 15 minutes. Riley loved digging in the sand and he even paddled his paws but wasn’t too keen on going into the sea at this stage, perhaps on his next visit to the coast.

You are ideally located here, to visit and photograph some of Cornwall’s most dramatic seascapes. This time around we visited the small fishing village of Cadgwith Cove, tucked away through a woodland walk down to the sea. We had fresh fish and chips in the Lizard village before we visited Lizard Point and of course a trip to the spectacular Kynance Cove had to be fitted in. To see the surf breaking on the rocks here, was one of the highlights of the trip. Fans of Poldark might know this location as Ross and Demelza’s beach at Nampara.

The hotel is renowned for its live music, know as the ‘Woodfired Sessions” and we were fortunate to attend one of these on the Sunday afternoon featuring the local Cornish celebrity Will Keating who sang some of his traditional Cornish folk songs. They are hosted in the Vista lounge which offers a panoramic view over the ocean.

The combination of contemporary self-catering accommodation set in a dramatic picturesque location ticks all of the required boxes for me. To be able to bring Riley with us too was a bonus