The Olde House — Graham Custance Photography

A September visit to Cornwall…yes please!

We were invited to showcase The Olde House, a self-catering farm holiday park in North Cornwall, located perfectly to explore so many of those beautiful places that this area is renowned for. Port Isaac, Padstow, Polzeath, Boscastle, Rock, Tintagel, the list is endless and they all within easy reach by car.

Situated on a 550 acre working farm in the pretty village of Chapel Amble surrounded by lovely countryside, most of the 33 cottages are dog-friendly, so Riley was more than happy to accompany us on the journey down from Bedfordshire. It had been torrential rain most of the way but arriving in Cornwall the grey skies lifted and the sun came out.

It was a 16:30 check in to our cottage, which gave us some time to visit Port Isaac for some light refreshments. Now famous for the T.V series ‘Doc Martin’ with Martin Clunes, this pretty photogenic fishing village is always a favourite of ours and we sat outside at The Slipway Restaurant in the centre of the village, with a Cornish cream tea.

The Olde House Farm Cottages are part of Penpont Farm, which has been in the Hawkey family for three generations. We had been allocated ‘Primrose Cottage’, with two bedrooms, one king size and one twin, all on one level with a recently fitted kitchen. A large living area overlooking a lovely garden area which had a patio area with table and chairs. There are radiators throughout the cottage, which gave a warm cosy feeling when we came back in the evening after a long day exploring the area. Our hosts had kindly left some goodies for our arrival, that included a delicious cream tea with treats and a towel for Riley.

There’s superb facilities on the site, including a swimming pool, spa, games room and children’s indoor play barn and adventure playground. The Indoor Play Barn is a big hit with children under 10 years. Redesigned in recent years, it now has 3 levels of climbing fun along with slides and tunnels to keep the kids busy on a rainy day. There is a separate, smaller area for toddlers.

Multiple electric car charging points here on the farm to allow guests to charge their cars from the power generated by our 1008 solar panels. In the main car park there is one 3.6kW standard 3-pin plug, one 7.2kW type 2 and four 22KW type 2 points.

Pets’ Corner is home to an array of animals including guinea pigs, goats, lambs and pigs. A tennis court, farm trail, bird hide and farm shop complete the facilities.

During our four night stay, we visited Boscastle, Trebarwith Strand, Rock, Padstow, Polperro and Fowey. A selection of photographs that I took at these beautiful locations are below.