Falcon Inn at St. Mawgan	London Inn at St. Neot	Halzephron Inn at Gunwalloe

REVIEWS INDEX and SITE CONTENTS

Queen's Arms at Botallack in West Penwith

This was my second visit to the Queen's Arms.  I was first there several years ago with my sister Mary on a warm summer day.  The pub was incredibly busy, the chef was off sick and, although our lunch was quite good, we had a very long wait for it.  I felt it unfair to write a review at that time.  So I was pleased to have another chance to try the Queen's Arms in October 2006, when I did a round walk from Pendeen Watch, taking in clifftop mine remains between there and Kenidjack Head and including Botallack and Bosullow villages in the inland return.  This time it was midweek, the pub was quiet and the chef was OK.  I really liked the Queen's Arms.  I had a warm welcome and found a comfortable table between the fire and the window.  The menu is impressive, mostly based on local produce and including local beef, wild rabbit, whole lobster, fish (some caught by joint landlord Peter Beech) and good cheeses.  As I was walking, my own choice was simple - a steaming bowl of fish broth with doorsteps of excellent fresh granary bread - and speedily served. Next door a converted barn is well equipped self-catering accommodation for two people.  Just down the narrow lane is Botallack Manor Farm, used as Nampara in BBC TV's Poldark adaptation.

Botallack is just off the St. Ives to St. Just road, shortly before St. Just

Queen's Arms, simple outside, attractive inside

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Crooked Spaniards at Cargreen on the Lower Tamar

Someone, we just wish we could remember who, had recommended the Crooked Spaniards (where did that name come from?).  So, when we visited Port Eliot at St. Germans in March 2008, we decided to lunch there first.  First impressions can flatter to deceive.  The approach is delightful, down narrow lanes off the busy Saltash to Callington road.  The village is quite charming, sloping down to the broad River Tamar.  The building (well, the first part you see) is clearly old, dating from 1590 when it operated a ferry crossing of the Tamar.  Terraces front and side have river views.  Inside is another matter.  Most of the pub turns out to be modern extension and rather soulless.  We were the only people in the bar and the woodburning stove put out no warmth at all.  The welcome was effusive but formulaic.  The menu looked promising but perhaps we made the wrong choices.  Mary's wedges and dip had tastless dips and limp salad, my liver and bacon was grossly over-done, only Jane got it right with superb ham, egg and chips.  If you look at the Spaniards website, you will see that it now calls itself the Spaniards Riverside and lays claim to fine food.  We wonder!  We imagine it would be pleasant, in summer, to enjoy a pint (they have real ales) and the river view.  Otherwise, we cannot recommend it.

The Crooked Spaniards overlooks the River Tamar

From A388 Saltash-Callington, turn east just north of Hatt roundabout

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Trengilly Wartha near Constantine

My sister Mary came to stay with us over Easter 2005.  As you might expect, we spent most of the time walking.  Highlights were on the coast path.  10 miles from Crackington Haven to Bude, 11 miles from Chapel Porth to Portreath and back, and a 6 mile walk with Jane that I had done before, taking in Fowey and Polruan.  The afternoon Mary arrived we had a lovely walk around Lanhydrock.  On her last day we visited the National Trust's Glendurgan Garden and were treated to a delayed Christmas present of lunch at Trengilly Wartha, not far from Constantine, where we had all stayed before.  You need to know where you are going to find Trengilly Wartha.  It is most enjoyably approached from Glendurgan and Trebah Gardens.  From either, turn left and follow signs for Porth Navas - charming, expensive creek-side village - and Constantine, then look out for the pub's sign.  The long, beamed main bar has high-backed settles and there is a sunny conservatory.  We ate in the snug, comfy chairs and a library-full of books.  The menu tends to feature local oysters, scallops and sea bass, along with roast duck, ham hock, sausages and mash and more exotic dishes.  We enjoyed superb hot filled ciabattas and plum crumble and sticky toffee pudding.  As good as remembered.

Strongly recommended by both AA and Good Pub Guides

8 comfortable bedrooms in a separate building, reasonable rates

The Edgcumbe Arms at Cremyll

In March 2007, Jane's sister Mary and her husband John were down from Northumberland and staying in a lovely rented cottage at Brixton in Devon.  We met up in Maker Church car park, walked the lovely Mount Edgcumbe Estate and lunched on the waterfront at Cremyll at the excellent Edgcumbe Arms.  The situation offers unusual views of Plymouth, looking across the broad estuary of the River Tamar to the Admiralty at Mount Wise, to Devil's Point at Stonehouse and to the dockyard at Devonport.  Up stream you look towards Brunel's famed Royal Albert Bridge.  Down stream you look to Plymouth Sound and the sea.  A passenger ferry makes regular crossings to the Stonehouse area of Plymouth.  Inside the Edgcumbe Arms, a St. Austell Brewery house, are a long bar, a comfortably furnished lounge and several dining areas.  Staff are pleasant and service is good.  Big food attraction is the generous and reasonably priced carvery. A choice of beef, lamb and pork plus eight or nine vegetables, at a very moderate price.  There is also a printed menu with filled baked potatoes, baguettes and things like ham, egg and chips, and a blackboard menu offering daily choices of pies, fish and more exotic fare.  Jane and Mary went for the carvery, John had a chicken pie and I had the comfort food - ham, egg and chips.  This is the fourth time we have lunched here.  It's worth returning to again and again.

Mount Edgcumbe - the House, the Garden and the Estate

Tables in the courtyard and on the waterside terrace

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The Old Quay Inn at Devoran

We only discovered the Old Quay Inn by chance.  We loved the village and thought the pub looked promising.  When we returned to try it the Old Quay Inn didn't let us down.  Though very much a local dining pub used by the villagers, we were made welcome by the friendly landlord and staff and enjoyed speedy service and first-class food.  We had our usual hot baguettes (one bacon, brie and cranberry, one mediterranean vegetable) but quite envied the fresh scallops served to the next table.   We came away with a plant from the next table's garden!  This is a strong recommendation.  Tucked quietly away from the busy Truro to Falmouth road;  Devoran's present belies its past.  Now a tranquil creek-side village, popular with small-boat sailors, it was once a busy commercial port, shipping copper ore from mines on the Great Flat Lode around Redruth, linked by a horse drawn tramway, now part of a Coast to Coast trail.   The old village is a triangle of streets, Quay Street and the higher St. John's Terrace linked  by Market Street.  Several homes are conversions of old warehouses or of former port worker's cottages.  On the Quay, a series of odd stone enclosures are the old ore hutches where the copper ore awaited shipment.

The Old Quay Inn at Devoran

Devoran is signed from A39, 5 miles south of Truro

Punchbowl and Ladle Inn at Penelewey near Feock - See box below

Things change and, sadly, this former recommendation is no longer what it was.  The 'Punchbowl and Ladle' is technically in the tiny village of Penelewey but you won't find that on the map.  Best to think of it as being in Feock as it is within sight of the Feock village sign.  If you leave the A39 Truro-Falmouth road at the Playing Place roundabout and follow the signs to the National Trust's Trelissick Garden and King Harry Ferry, it is just half-a-mile or so along on your left.  Thatched and white-washed outside, the pub rambles attractively inside with several rooms off a centrally placed bar.  It used to be a favourite of ours when we were in the Truro or Falmouth area or were visiting Trelissick.  Sadly, since its takeover by new owners in 2003, we have had to revise our opinions.  The menu once appealed to us with food like vegetable and coriander soup, fresh baguettes, good crab sandwiches and good service.  A 'specials' board offered dishes of the day and promising puddings.  Now, under the new ownership, both main menu and specials have become standard 'pub fare' with not a single enterprising dish on offer.  What used to be a restaurant is now merely an extension of the main bar area and although, in July 2004, we had booked a table to entertain guests, when we moved to our table it had not even been laid up.  It may still be an attractive place to enjoy the local St. Austell ales but we can no longer recommend it as a place to lunch.

Punchbowl and Ladle Inn

CHANGED HANDS FOR THE BETTER SINCE THIS REVIEW - see below

Fishermans Arms at Golant

I had dropped into the Fishermans Arms for coffee when walking the Saints Way.  I liked the look of the menu, with plenty of fish dishes (including good value local crab) so when Jane and I lunched, after visiting Marsh Villa garden in July 2006, it was a bit of a surprise that we chose hot paninis and baguettes.  They were terrific and very good value.  Staff are pleasant and service efficient.  Inside is fairly standard pub but we ate on the large pleasant terrace, overlooking the harbour and River Fowey.  Golant is a pleasant riverside village with a sheltered tidal harbour entered under a bridge carrying the china clay railway to Fowey.  There is clearly, to judge by the small boats in the harbour, a fair number second homers and several properties are holiday rentals.  A hotel, the Cormorant, is tucked away in woodland above the river.  St. Sampson's church, up a steep hill, was rebuilt in 1509;  it's exterior is quite ordinary but the interior ios attractive with some good woodwork.  Legend has it that Cornish King Mark and Queen Yseult worshipped at St. Sampson's church;  Mark's palace may have been at nearby Lantyan.  The walk along the river to Fowey is through pleasant woodland but rather lacks in river views - and the last part is on road.

Fishermans Arms at bottom of steep hill, by harbour

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Halzephron Inn at Gunwalloe on the Lizard Peninsula

Halzephron is a corruption of the Old Cornish 'Als Yfferin' meaning Cliffs of Hell.  The inn, with its reputation as a former haunt of smugglers, is in the tiny hamlet of Chyanvounder on the eastern side of the Lizard peninsula;  the Cliffs of Hell are by Halzephron Cove, just half-a-mile away and gain their name from the multitude of shipwrecks in the vicinity.  Down a lane opposite is abandoned Gunwalloe Fishing Cove.  A mile south is Church Cove, a delightful spot with a famous small church, dedicated to the oddly named St. Winwaloe.  If you go to the Halzephron Inn, you should definitely go to Church Cove, too.  The Halzephron Inn is a favourite with the local 'county set' and with weekenders from London and the Cotswolds, witness the SUVs, BMWs and Mercedes in the tiny car park.  Give it a miss at vacation times and on Sundays;  otherwise make a beeline for it if you are in the area.  A friendly but business-like landlady (Angela Davy-Thomas), efficient staff and first-class food make it a must.  The lunch menu is relatively simple but high quality;  we enjoyed delicious seafood chowder and terrific freshly baked bread.  The evening menu is more elaborate and enterprising.  Puddings look delicious and varied.  There are just two letting rooms at moderate rates.  A word of warning;  if you do plan to try the Halzephron on a summer weekend, arrive early as it gets very busy.

The Halzephron Inn at Gunwalloe

There was talk in 2007 of Angela selling.  Nothing more heard.

The Halfway House at Kingsand

We have now been to the charmingly colourful twin villages of Kingsand and Cawsand on three occasions.  Each time we have had either lunch or coffee in the Halfway House.  Its name places it on what used to be the border between Devon and Cornwall, when Kingsand was in the former, Cawsand in the latter.  It's a place we can strongly recommend for its friendliness, helpfulness, atmosphere and food.  The first time we were there, it was a busy Sunday yet they still found a table for us and service was surprisingly speedy.  Last time was when Mary and I walked to Rame Head and we were just as welcome for tea and coffee.  The Halfway House is a simply furnished place with a large central fireplace and a somewhat Victorian air.  Business starts with breakfast, continues with morning coffee then lunch.  It closes in the afternoon but reopens in the evening.  Enterprising food - marinated sardines, pork tenderloin, warm baguettes and steaks, and a wide range of local fresh fish.  This is one we like very much, as we do the twin villages, colourful and intimate and mostly with views of Plymouth Sound.  There is access to Mount Edgcumbe Park from the northern end of Kingsand.  The Halfway House is difficult to photograph but is just out of shot in the photo.

Pay car parking next to the Ha;fway House

Relaxing by the harbour in Kingsand

The Lamorna Wink in Lamorna Village

I'm very much in two minds about this one.  On the one hand, while it has been a welcome refreshment stop on several quite demanding walks, the welcome in the maritime-themed bar has tended to be more grudging than welcoming.  On the other hand, the simple food is a top value delight, as is the lady who prepares and serves it.  Beautifully fresh sandwiches or pasties are just what a walker needs.  Tables outside are in dappled sun.  And, to be enirely fair, when I asked to leave my car in the car park while I walked, the answer was 'yes' even if the response a little grudging.  On balance then, worth a stop.

Lamorna Cove	The Lamorna Wink inn

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The Crown Inn at Lanlivery near Lostwithiel

In the past I have taken visiting Americans to lunch - to their pleasure - but we had not had the chance to try it for ourselves.  So, when we were visiting two gardens in the area in 2006 - Marsh Villa and Hidden Valley - we decided to try the Crown for ourselves.  Paradoxically our lunch was both a series of disasters and a great success.  Jane's leek and potato soup arrived lukewarm but was heated with apologies and good grace;  the result was delicious and the soda bread with it excellent.  Then her smoked salmon and cream cheese ciabatta arrived as steak and brie.  Again this was rectified with expedition and good grace.  No problem with my superb traditional Cornish pasty.  We liked both pub and staff.  The main bar is sub-divided into two areas and there is a restaurant with a charming conservatory extension.  Food on a varied menu is mostly locally sourced, especially the many daily seafood specials.  There are a few vegetarian dishes.  Outside there are pleasant enclosed gardens with several tables for al-fresco eating.  There is a large car park that does not intrude.  The village - in full, Lanlivery Church Town - is a pleasant one, a mile from the main road.  Despite our problems, we like the Crown and have no hesitation in recommending it.  Sister pub is the Springer Spaniel at Treburley, which we haven't tried but gets many plaudits.

The Crown Inn, across the road from the church

Lanlivery signed from A390 and B3269, west of Lostwithiel

The Ship Inn at Lerryn

We had been to Lerryn previously and had lunched then at the Ship.  After we returned from Jersey at the end of April 2004, Mary, who had looked after the house and the cats with Frances and her friend Anne, stayed on for a couple of days and joined us on a Lerryn outing.  We arrived late morning and were among the first lunchers in the Ship.  Just as well;  it was a Sunday and the place was soon buzzing with parties there for the carvery lunch.  The dimly-lit front bar is mainly for locals but we took a small table for a light lunch.  While Mary had her usual vegetarian dish, we both had a superb smoked fish platter with shell-on prawns and salad.  Behind the front bar is a restaurant, extending out into a conservatory.  Meals are ordered from a counter and are served speedily by pleasant young ladies.  The menu - on a blackboard above the counter - includes locally landed fish, good steaks and quite a range of more exotic dishes.  Puddings are home-made and delicious.  Altogether, this is a pub to be recommended in a village to be recommended.  If you fancy a delightful walk, cross the River Lerryn by the bridge or stepping stones and follow the tidal river through woods to St. Winnow.

The Ship Inn at Lerryn

Parking by the river, not far from the Ship Inn

The New Inn at Manaccan near Helford

We found this one in the course of a walk around the village of Helford on the south side of the Helford River in October 2003.  Frances had taken a cottage in St. Mawes with her friend Victor and Mary was staying with them.  I was collecting Mary for a few days with us in Wadebridge and we all decided to take the opportunity of a joint walk.  Two thirds of the way around a circuit that took in both coast and country, we found the New Inn at Manaccan.  It may have been new once but now its thatched charms are distinctly old world.  Inside, the New Inn is low-ceilinged, ancient feeling and furnished in rustic manner.  The printed menu looked ordinary but turned out to contain a superb selection of granary bread sandwiches with hot or cold fillings, all served with leaf garnish and good fries.  Choice included stilton and cranberry, bacon and brie, and sausage and onions.  Great sandwiches, fresh coffee and good friendly service made this a real find.  We much prefer the New Inn to the far better known Shipwrights at Helford which we feel tries too hard to appeal to the yachting set.  I visited again in March 2007, when re-doing the Helford walk and found the New Inn to be as good as the first time.  So it remains a firm recommendation.

New Inn at Manaccan

About 7 miles east of Helston,mostly by minor roads

The Crow's Nest near Minions

We already knew the Crow's Nest - in the tiny village of the same name - when we lunched there in early January 2005.  When we first looked at South Caradon Mine we had passed it too early for lunch.  We had lunch there subsequently on the way back from Plymouth Airport .  On this ocasion we had just enjoyed a muddy walk at Golitha Falls.  A 17th century building, the Crow's Nest first became an alehouse of sorts when Glasgow Mine was opened nearby in the 1860s.  It operated as the mine captain's home, the company pay office and the company store where the miners, who received some of their pay in  'Crow's Nest money', could only exchange it for beer.  On the wall outside is the bell that called miners to work.  In the porch is a giant bellows from a local forge.  Inside are low ceilings with beams hung with horse brasses, bits, stirrups, snaffles and spurs.  Though most customers are locals, the welcome was again very friendly.  We ate by the open fire in the bar.  Hot baguettes (steak and onions for me, brie and cranberry for Jane) were first class.  The printed menu also has homemade soup, pasties, shell-on prawns, ploughmans, filled jacket potatoes and fish and chips.  A blackboard menu has daily main-course and pudding specials.

The Crow's Nest Inn near Minions on Bodmin Moor

Revisited January 2006 while on the Copper Trail - still good

The Plume of Feathers at Mitchell

Just a brief mention for this one, not because I don't like it (I do) but because I haven't tried it properly yet.  Like the excellent Gurnard's Head this is really a combination of restaurant with rooms and gastropub.  Set on Mitchell's attractive main street - just off the A30 - I imagine the Plume was once a coaching inn.  Jane and I had tea and coffee after I had done a Land's End Trail walk;  service was speedy, prices reasonable.  Lunch specials may  perhaps include rabbit stew, home made steak pie or roast mackerel.   Dining tables are elegantly laid.  Jane and her old school 'ladies that lunch' met here and pronounced it excellent.  Rooms are in the rear courtyard. There is a large garden and ample parking.

The Plume of Feathers is on The Land's End Trail

Mitchell is signed from A30, just east of A39 to Truro

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The Countryman at Piece near Camborne & Carn Brea

The Countryman is quite unlike our usual recommendations.  Outside it looks like a roadhouse.  Inside it is distinctly old fashioned with dark furniture.  But it has several qualities that appeal to us.  A friendly welcome from owners, probably from London.  A loyal following of local regulars.  A warm fire in winter.  Simple very good value food.  And it is the only place to eat if you walk on the Great Flat Lode trail or Carn Brea Hill.  We have been a dozen times and like it.  As a good example of sheer value, on one visit we had two cold drinks, a very good hot beef onion and mushroom baguette, a first-rate giant pasty and two coffees, all for £10.  You really can't ask better than that.  January 2008:  I was at the Countryman yet again in December 2007, in the course of a walk on the Great Flat Lode Trail.   I asked how business was and received a gloomy response.  Now the cold weather is with us, and the smoking ban is in effect, the law of unintended consequences has come into operation.  The Countryman was always a smokers pub;  now mny smokers are not coming or are spending less time here. I have talked to the landlords of other ordinary country pubs and the story is the same.  Takings are badly affected by Westminter's the unnecessarily draconian laws.  Shame on our legislators who can't trust to people's own self-regulation.

The Countryman at Piece, simple but excellent

Thje Countryman is close to The Land's End Trail

Ship Inn at Porthleven

Each time I have been in, or passing through, Porthleven I have thought how atractive the Ship Inn looks, perched above the seaward end of the west side of the harbour.  In March 2007, when walking the Penrose Estate, I detoured to try lunch there.  It is plainer inside than I expected, with rudimentary tables and stools for seats.  The long menu seemed a little pricey though my toasted ham and cheese granary sandwich was good.  Inside seems to be for locals;  you may prefer to eat outside on the terrace, as long as you are early enough to catch the sun there.

Porthleven is signed from A394, west of Helston

Ship Inn perches above the west side of the harbour

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The Pandora Inn at Restronguett Passage

Jane and I both have fond memories of the Pandora, first separately, later together, so when we walked at Mylor and Restronguett Creek, the Pandora was an obvious spot for lunch.  First a 13th century farmhouse, then a ferry inn as the Passage House and then the Ship, and finally the Pandora after a sea-captain owner's last command, its rambling interior has scrubbed pine tables;  outside, more tables on a long jetty and lovely creek views.  The menu has gone up-market but we were a bit disappointed in our reheated Cornish pasties, though salad was good.  And you cannot run a tab unless you leave a credit card, something we would never recommend!

Pandora Inn at Restronguett Passage

Folow Mylor, then Restronguett Passage, from A39 south of Truro

The King's Head at Ruan Lanihorne in Roseland

Jane and I had been to the King's Head at least a couple of times before but I had never thought to post a report on it.  After a visit in January 2009 I decided it was high time to do so.  Jeremy, Jane's oldest, and his wife Mimi were over for the New Year from Antibes and they invited us to join them for Sunday lunch.  We were delighted that they chose the King's Head:  I started with scallops (Scruffy catches them off Nare Head), the others with chestnut, apple and parsnip soup.  Jeremy then had duckling (from the Cornish Duck Company of Grampound Road), Jane had some superb salmon, Mimi and I had a generous helping of roast beef (from Lobbs of Heligan).  Then we shared a large helping of sticky toffee pudding with, of course, Cornish.clotted cream.  It was all quite superb.  We very much like the fact that local produce is used (fish from Rob Wing of St. Mawes) and that it is freshly prepared each day.  There are separate lunch, dinner, dessert and Sunday lunch menus.  Owners are much travelled Andrew and Niki Law - he is from Jersey, she from Devon, where wines supplier Christopher Piper hails from.  The King's Head is a great place - fine food at moderate prices, a warm welcome from host Niki, good service from pleasant young staff.  Recommended.

Heading south on the A3078, turn right after Tregony bridge

The King's Head on a very dull day

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The Old Inn at St. Breward

There was a time when we thought Bodmin Moor was short of good pubs.  Since the discovery of the London Inn at St. Neot, the Crow's Nest near Minions and now the Old Inn, we have changed our minds.  On the western edge of Bodmin Moor, not far north of the village of Blisland, the Old Inn was a great discovery for us.  We had been to Pencarrow for the early February snowdrops and had looked in at Blisland to investigate its church.  We were ready for lunch and tried the Old Inn, new to us.  We are delighted with it and shall certainly return.  Despite being Sunday, always the busiest day, service was prompt and friendly.  The main bar is at the front, divided so it doesn't seem too big;  behind are a family room and a restaurant which is no children and no mobile phones.  The standard bar menu is straightforward but first-class;  we enjoyed home made vegetable soup and hot bacon and mushroom baps.  Some more elaborate daily dishes appear on a blackboard as do several vegetarian dishes and a few delicious sounding puddings.  Prices for such good food were surprisingly reasonable.  This would be a good place for hikers;  it is on the Camelford Way (extension of the Camel Trail) and on the Copper Trail and a poorly way-marked 'Moorland Walk'.  If you are in the area and looking for good beer rather than good food, try the Blisland Inn, which is renowned for real ales.

The Old Inn at St. Breward - on The Land's End Trail

Recommended:  hot filled paninis, served from 11 to 6

Victory Inn in St. Mawes

Gastro pub with a food bar, a lunchtime eating area, upstairs evening restaurant with sea view and outside it a terrace with patio-heater and sea view.  Lunch menu - specials board of daily varying fish, shellfish - looks really good if pricey.  Specials board of enterprising sandwiches and bar snacks.  Printed menu - enterprising starters include crab and smokeed salmon;  mains include steak, home-made sausages, a veg option.  Good home-made pasta.  Good fish and chips.  Proper home made chips superb.  Good range of creamy desserts.  Warm welcome, good service, perhaps no longer for locals who now use the bar of the Rising Sun or local clubs.  We visited in early April 2006 on a day when we also went to look at nearby Driftwood Hotel  We had long wanted to try the Victory and were doubly delighted to be able to use Daily Telegraph 'Two courses for £5' vouchers - what a bargain.  Jane had a salad and a home-made pasta dish, I had fish and chips - the chips were the best I had ever had - and a creamy lemon posset.   The Victory is definitely a strong recommendation and the location, in a quiet alley just off the harbour, is a good bonus.  And, of course St. Mawes is a charming and expenmsive small sailing resort with a lovely garden - Lamorran House - and a Henry VIII castle.

Victory Inn

Nearest parking by harbour.  Large car park behind Rising Sun.

Falcon Inn in St. Mawgan

After a walk in the Vale of Lanherne, from St. Columb to Mawgan Porth and back, I was surprised to realise that I had posted no entry for the Falcon Inn in St. Mawgan, although I had lunched there 3 or 4 times before and Jane had lunched there with her 'ladies that lunch' group.   So now, not before time at the end of November 2006, I right that omission.   St. Mawgan is a charming small village, tucked away in the peaceful Vale of Lanherne, with a handsome church, a small Japanese Garden, a couple of shops - and, well worthy of such company, the excellent Falcon Inn.  You are immediately attracted by the Falcon's exterior:  Late Georgian front covered in wisteria, a low-spreading magnolia in the child-friendly garden.  Inside is a fire, a long bar, comfortable table seating and a separate dining room.  The menu is fairly extensive.  Starters will probably include include some seafood;  mains include good steaks, several vegetarian dishes and, to appeal to the summer holiday trade, several spicy dishes;  puddings, such as lemon tart and apple pie, are all made in-house or locally.  The staff are pleasant and service is good.  Bedrooms are moderately priced and there is ample parking.  We can recommend the Falcon though beware busy high summer weekends.

The garden front of the Falcon Inn at St. Mawgan

Our friend Mary Mitchell entertained is to lnch at the Falcon in May 2008 after we had collected her from Newquay airport.  We sat in the attractive garden and all enjoyed comfort food - good ham, egg and chips.  Smokers note:  good covered heated area.

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London Inn at St. Neot

Good pubs are thin on the ground around Bodmin Moor.  But then, to be fair, most things are thin on the ground around Bodmin Moor except scenery and antiquities.  So, after some disappointment at the Cheesewring Hotel in Minions, we were delighted to find a good pub in St. Neot on a very minor road from Cardinham to Minions. St. Neot  is one of the moor's bigger villages and has some fairly large homes, so it was no surprise to find that is is a 'dining pub'.  Food is served in both restaurant and bar with pleasant and efficient table service in both.  The menu is wide-ranging and reasonably priced.  We stuck to our usual simple fare - jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn for Jane, chicken, cheese and bacon ciabatta for me - and it was excellent.  There is parking for only six or eight by the pub but a free village car park is just a hundred yards or so.  Atmosphere is pleasantly relaxing and, after a cool December walk to Golitha Falls, we were glad of the open fires.  The London Inn is only fifteen minutes or so from the southern moor's antiquities - King Doniert's Stones, Trethevy Quoit, and the Pipers, Hurlers and Stowe's Hill at Minions.  It is also reasonably close to one of our favourite 'industrial remains' walks which takes us from Minions to Crows Nest and South Caradon Mine.  A great find and one we tend to take friends to when on an outing in the area.

The London Inn at St. Neot on Bodmin Moor

Revisted twice in January 2006 while walking Copper Trail - still excellent

The Olde Malthouse at Tintagel

Tintagel is not one of our favourite places but it has grown on us over the years.  You have to make a serious effort to avoid being overwhelmed by the tawdry tourist aspects but there are several places of interest - the Castle, the Old Post Office, King Arthur's Halls, the Church of St. Materiana on the cliffs and the Vicarage gatehouse, chapel and dovecote.  And it is a good place to start or finish superb coast path walks.  There is little in the village that can be recommended for eating or drinking but I quite like the Olde Malthouse on the main street.  The building itself is claimed to date back in parts to the 14th century.  Inside is attractive: restaurant on the left, bar in the middle and a lounge with woodburning stove to the right.  I have been in the Olde Malthouse on a couple of occasions after walks and have felt welcome each time.  Lunctime food is relatively simple - sandwiches, burgers, filled jacket potatoes, ploughmans (including smoked trout) and, surprisingly, a range of pizzas.  Puddings include sticky toffee pudding (yum!) and apple crumble.  The Olde Malthouse is open all day and serves cream teas in the afternoon.  Prices are reasonable.  There is little doubt that this is the best place in Tintagel for a drink or an informal lunch.  Ample parking nearby but remember that the village gets very busy in summer.

The Old Malthouse is on Tintagel's main street

Smugglers Cottage at Tolverne

The Newmans like to describe their Smugglers Cottage as "not a pub" but, while its intent is much broader than that, it sufficiently fits our definition of a pub that I have included it here.  After all, it has a bar at which you can buy alcoholic drinks and order food from a limited menu;  it has tables both inside and outside, both undercover and under umbrellas;  and Peter Newman strikes us as the epitome of a pub landlord.  To be fair it does also serve cream teas and the bar closes at 8.30 p.m. The Newman family have been here since 1934 and it feels like a family business.  And business is the word, it's not just Smugglers Cottage, they also operate the Queen of the Fal, a trip boat operating between here and Falmouth - and they run the deep water anchorage where redundant freighters are laid up when world shipping is in the doldrums.  The anchorage and the deep water of the Fal appealed to the military in WWII.  The concrete road down from the St. Mawes to King Harry Ferry road was laid to bring heavy equipment to ships which took part in the D-Day landings and there is much memorabilia and information.  Food is from a simple but satisfying menu:  homemade soups, sandwiches, baguettes, baked potatoes and pasties - and good looking desserts.  We enjoyed our lunch.  It gets very busy when the Queen of the Fal docks.

Almost opposite Roundwood Quay.  Dreadful weather so poor photo.

Smugglers Cottage;  almost all the tables are outside

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Gurnard's Head at Treen in West Penwith

Thank goodness the Gurnard's Head is back to form - and better.  We first knew and liked it when the Kells had it.  Sold to Coast and Country Inns, it went down badly and we swore never to go again, preferring the nearby Tinners Arms at Zennor.  Then the Inkin brothers bought it in March 2006.  Already it has been made Good Food Guide 'Best Cornish Newcomer 2007' and Good Pub Guide 'Cornish Dining Pub 2008'.  I tried it twice during walks in October 2007 and was delighted with the changes.  This is not your ordinary country pub,  rather a combination of restaurant with rooms and gastropub.  It might not be my usual walk pub but I would certainly entertain friends there.  At lunchtime the menu - on a daily chalked board - is simple and short  It includes such things as faggots and mash, real kippers, beer-battered hake and chips and pork pie and apple jelly.  I was delighted with my kippers on my visit and, from the brief dessert menu, chose a delicious Tuniaian orange cake.  Coffee, unlike many places, is sensibly priced and I am told the wine list is good.  On my Saturday visit it was quiet.  The next half-term Tuesday the car park was full and the bar buzzing with the sort of people I used to see in Cotswold gastropubs.  Bar and restaurant are separated by a small comfy lounge and there is a pleasant garden behind.

The Gurnard's Head at Treen in West Penwith

Supper menu might include rib eye of beef, lamb noisettes or fish stew

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The Star Inn at Vogue on the edge of St. Day

When I am walking in winter I often abandon sandwiches and look out for unpretentious beach cafés when on the coast path or ordinary country pubs when inland.  In November 2007 I was walking another section of the Land's End Trail, this part from Chiverton Cross to Lanner Reservoir.  I was passing the Star Inn shortly after 11 a.m., the door was open so I went in.  Landlord Mark explained that they didn't open till 12 noon but, when I mentioned coffee, he made me a mug - and refused to charge me.  Not surprisingly I stopped for a light lunch on the way back.  I chose a bacon and cheddar hot baguette.  It was large, piping hot, well filed and delicious.  If I have had better I don't remember.  With another large mug of Cornish coffee it cost me £4.50.  What value, what a nice ordinary place and what charming hosts Mark and Rachel are.  If Vogue seems like an odd name, you need to look to its Cornish origins.  You are very much in mining territory here and, in all probability, Vogue is derived from the Cornish word fok, meaning furnace.  Just west of the Star Inn is Vogue Shute, the village's original souce of fresh water.  bear left uphill just after that and you will come to Gwennap Pit where John Wesley claimed to have preached to as many as 30,000.

Just west of St. Day on the minor road towards Redruth

The Star Inn at Vogue

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The Bowgie Inn at West Pentire near Newquay

I am very much in two minds about the Bowgie Inn (the name means cowshed).  On several occasions, when doing a Holywell Bay round walk from here, first with Jane, later with Mary, with Frances and with Craig, I have enjoyed soup and a roll for a light lunch.  I don't know whether the Bowgie has changed or whether I have changed but, when I called in for a coffee during a walk from Holywell Bay, I decided I liked it less than I once did.  It appears to me to fall between two (maybe three) stools.  Of an evening it seems to be an up-market 'Sports on large plasma screen TV' venue.  Then, too, it boasts a potential 400 covers as a restaurant.  But the food seems to me to be very much the 'pretentious ordinary' that I rather expect of the Newquay area.  At lunch it has a typical  'pub grub' menu.  Prices are fairly hefty but, in fairness, servings are gigantic.  When Frances and I called in for a coffee in September 2007, service was very pleasant but £2 for a small plain black coffee is more like Starbucks prices.  Outside is an attractive terrace with wind-breaks, awning and fine views over Crantock Beach.  I would have expected the terrace to be for smokers but a sign might suggest otherwise.  Not really my kind of place at all but a welcome refreshment break along the coast path.

Really a Newquay pub, with all that means, not a country pub

The Bowgie overlooks Crantock beach, mouth of the Gannel river

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The Tinner's Arms at Zennor

When sister Mary and I did a circular walk starting in Zennor, and including some five miles of the Cornish Coast Path, we were looking for a cream tea when we returned (exhausted) to where we had parked the car in Zennor.  The backpackers' hostel had run out of scones but it turned out that the Tinner's stays open during the afternoon to serve cream teas - so we walked up the street and collapsed into a corner there.  Service was friendly, scones were warm and nicely textured, cream was generous, Mary's pot of tea was large and my coffee came with free fill-up.  Later I had coffee here on several walks and, at last, had the chance to lunch in December 2005.  Menu is simple pub fare, with more elaborate daily specials including fish.  Everything is prepared in the Tinner's kitchen, from local ingredients.  My cottage pie was delicious;  treacle tart is recommended.  The pub is attractive from the outside, its small courtyard a sun-trap.  Inside, the furnishing is simple, the atmosphere is warm and friendly and fires burn in winter.  The Good Pub Guide lists it as a recommended also-ran and commends its ales and cider.  After the deterioration of Gurnard's Head Inn, the Tinner's became our choice.  (The Gurnard's Head changed hands in 2006 and is now good again).

The Tinner's Arms, Zennor's only pub

Zennor is just off B3306 St. Ives to St. Just-in-Penwith