Polkerris
What a contrast to Par, just a mile away across St. Austell Bay. Par is heavily industrial, its waterfront dominated by the vast former china clay works and its associated harbour, and by a holiday park set immediately above the beach. Polkerris might be another world entirely. Both are in the old parish of Tywardreath - it means 'House on the Strand' and was the inspiration for Daphne du Maurier's novel. Polkerris is reached down a narrow steep lane off the road from Par to Fowey. Parking in the village is non-existent, unless you are a resident or are lunching in the Rashleigh Arms and are lucky enough to get a space in their small car park. Happily there is a large car park a few hundred yards back up the hill, a clear sign that Polkerris gets very busy in season. I visited in March 2005, and even then the car park was fairly well used. The village has a long fishing history, though it no longer has a fleet. As far back as Elizabethan times, however, it could boast the largest pilchard cellars in Cornwall, still there. Also there is the harbour wall and quay built by the Rashleigh family, on whose estate, Menabilly, it stood, in the 18th century. Prosperity didn't last and now Polkerris relies on its pub, caf�s and summer visitors. The Rashleigh Inn is open all year. Sams on the Beach is recommended for its food
Round walk from Polkerris includes Gribbin Head and Readymoney Cove.
Polkerris village from the quay
Off A3082 St. Austell - Fowey. More images of Polkerris
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Polkerris
In July 2018 we drove Mick and Margaret, our friends and next-door neighbours to the south coast, to Polkerris near Fowey, and enjoyed an excellent leisurely lunch at Sams on the Beach. Sams also has a city venue at 1-2 New Bridge Street in Truro; we hope to try it before too long. To older and creakier folks like me Polkerris has one big disadvantage: unless you are lunching at the Rashleigh Inn, and are able to find space in its car park, you have a five hundred yard walk down from the pay car park. Not too bad but, for me, much tougher on the way back.
Polperro
We are not very keen on the commercial aspects of Polperro. Streets bustling with day visitors almost elbowing one another for room to move; shops, restaurants and caf�s all designed to part them from their money. We prefer to approach by the coast path from Looe, avoiding the crowds and enjoying the views from above. We love Polperro's harbour with its small fleet of fourteen working boats, coming and going through a sea-lock which keeps the harbour in permanent water. Around the harbour are a museum of smuggling and fishing, a fish market, net stores, a stall selling fresh fish and shellfish and two of the better pubs, we have enjoyed the Blue Peter though we also like the look of the Lugger. At the landward end of the harbour a bridge crosses the little River Pol that feeds the harbour. Shops and homes back onto it, one of them jettied out over the stream and known as the 'House on Props'. As there are only fourteen working fishing boats, most fishermen's cottages are now artists studios or holiday homes. Not a place for busy times but great in the quiet season. There is no parking in the village itself. Instead you park in a large car park at the head of the valley and walk down or take the bus or horse bus.
Polperro Revisited - 2016
In March 2016 I decided it was high time I revisited Polperro. I was last there in 2009 and that was only a matter of passing through when nearing completion of my Cornish Coast Path project. So I was back there on a sunny day in March 2016. I would have liked to be there at high tide - it always seems to be low tide when I am there - to see the harbour in water but no luck. I shall have to go back again. One major problem with that, the extortionate cost of parking: a minimum charge of �4, a bit strong if you only want to be there for an hour or so. And for that price you have a half mile walk to the harbour. Disgracefully Polperro's web site mentions parking but fails to mention the cost. But then Polperro is generally an expensive place, probably because it has such a captive audience and takes full advantage of its luck. Many of the eating places charge more than their equivalents elsewhere and I found it a little odd that the Polperro Bakery, which had very reasonable take away prices, should charge twice as much to eat in their courtyard. I made a good choice of eating place, the Old Millhouse Inn, where a masive bacon butty and a good coffee cost me just �5. Despite my criticism, I think Polperro a lovely, if rather deliberately quaint, village. It's not a place to visit when the holiday crowds are out in force but a sunny day around high tide in spring or autumn should be ideal. Back to original Polperro entry