Cornwall

Best British Days Out (The Times, June 2007)

SWORDS AND SORCERY @ King Arthur's Last Battle
Who cares whether Tintagel was really Arthur's stronghold? It looks fantastic, especially with 600 costumed warriors in full cry, recreating the battle of Camlann, where the king and his bastard son, Mordred, fought hand to hand to the (mutual) death. The participants enjoy it so much, they clash not once but five times over the weekend of August 3-5, amid a general ferment of fancy dress, falconry and have-a-go archery. The Dark Ages were never so dazzling. £5.50 each day (children £3.50); 01840 779084, www.visitboscastleandtintagel.com

SOLAR-POWERED STAY @ Mesmear
Here's the latest in eco-boutique seaside sybaritism ? a converted mill in trendy Rock. It has its own borehole, enough solar and geothermal power to save 12 tonnes of carbon emissions a year ? oh, and interiors designed by the decor queen Emma Oldham, of Space Boudoir. The main building sleeps 10 and comes with a cook and a driver at your beck and call; the adjacent barn sleeps four and is for self-caterers ? but still has bathrobes, an honesty bar and an iPod docking station. As close as you'll come to your own private boutique hotel. Main house from £3,200 per week, full-board; barn from £1,353, self-catering; 01208 869731

CAMP SITE @ Budemeadows Holiday Park
If your holiday accommodation comes in a bag with a rubber mallet, this place is bang on. A mile from the surf-strafed strand at Widemouth Bay, and a Camel Trail bike ride from Padstow, Budemeadows combines immaculate facilities ? heated outdoor pool, playground, bar ? with a proper bucolic sense of getting away from it all. Not big, not crowded, even in high season ? but book fast if you want to pitch up here in August. Tent pitches £9.90pp in high season (children £4.95); 01288 361646, www.budemeadows.com

SHAKESPEARE @ Minack Theatre
Seventy-five years after it raised the curtain on the Minack Theatre, The Tempest is staged this August on Rowena Cade's spectacular outdoor stage just outside Porthcurno. With the theatre carved from granite cliffs 200ft above the crashing Cornish surf, you couldn't wish for a more dramatic setting. The highlight of a season of theatre and opera running throughout the summer, The Tempest is on from August 13 to 17. Terrace seats £7, main auditorium £8.50; 01736 810181, www.minack.com

SEA-VIEW ROOM @ Mullion Cove Hotel
Rooms 11 and 33 are the ones to ask for, with vistas northwest as far as St Michael's Mount and south as far as Predannack Head, but any room facing south or west in this AA three-star hotel, high above Mullion Cove, has staggering sea views, interrupted only by the odd passing mackerel trawler. The South West Coast Path passes through its back garden, with the classic Cornish golden beaches at Polurrian, Poldhu, Church Cove and Kynance nearby. Rooms 11 and 33 £120pp, half-board, in summer; sea-view rooms £99pp; 01326 240328, www.mullioncove.com

FAMILY HOTEL @ Fowey Hall
Inspiration for Kenneth Grahame's Toad Hall, this spa hotel sits within a hide-and-seek heaven of a walled garden. It's a short walk from the sandy beach at Readymoney Cove, and a short drive from the Eden Project, Newquay Aquarium and the National Seal Sanctuary, so the reasons for children to be cheerful are legion, but first you've got to prise them away from the hotel itself. With a kids' club for under8s (10am-4.45pm daily), computer games, table football, and table tennis, as well as supervised beach activities (7pm to 9pm), evening movies, an indoor pool and a giant trampoline, you'll have a job. From £280, half-board, for a room sleeping two adults and two children; 01726 833866, www.foweyhallhotel.co.uk

50 Great Places to Eat Outdoors (The Times, June 2007)

The Croust House
Hidden in twist of lush lanes on Lizard Peninsula, on-farm café home of Roskilly's superb Cornish ices. 75 flavours served in ice-cream parlour change regularly, can inc orange mascarpone, gooseberry, clotted cream fudge. Evening BBQs w music during summer hols, see Jersey herd being milked 4.30-5.30pm daily -Tregellast Barton, St Keverne, Cornwall (01326 280479; www.roskillys.co.uk)

Hotel Tresanton
Breakfast to dinner served on elegant terrace, w stunning views across Falmouth Bay. Seafood + Cornish cream teas popular, w/end BBQs from July. Gd way to sample Olga Polizzi's hotel chic as non-resident - 27 Lower Castle Road, St Mawes, Cornwall (01326 270055; www.tresanton.com)

Porthminster Beach Cafe
Beachside cafe w outside terrace in wonderful position overlooking Porthminster beach in St Ives. Fresh fish, sustainably-caught if poss, served for long lunch (12-4pm) or dinner - Porthminster Beach, St Ives, Cornwall (01736 795352; www.porthminstercafe.co.uk)