Cornwall Outdoors…
With confirmation that hospitality venues with outdoor seating can re-open from 12th April we thought you might welcome a bit of insider knowledge about some of our favourite open air hang outs. Not all have overhead cover so go prepared with wet weather gear and your best of British resilience!
BinTwo, Padstow
Hey look… it’s my blog so of course I’m going to lead with the fact that the two times winner of ‘Best Independent Wine Merchant in the UK’ has outdoor covered seating for up to 24 people, the best speciality coffee in town, a stunning new array of wines by the glass, a few hundred options for wines by the bottle and a cracking range of bar snacks including fresh Padstow Crab rolls.
Open 11am - 10pm Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 6pm Sunday (closed Mondays). No reservations required.
Brain child of Rick and Katie Toogood of Prawn on the Lawn. Their response to the pandemic wasn’t to space tables out in their tiny restaurant on Duke Street. Rather they built an all day pop-up restaurant in a marquee on Trerethern Farm, Padstow with three times the capacity of their regular venue! This year Prawn on the Farm 2.0 is much improved with better parking and better outdoor lighting. Same amazing food and views and a pretty damn fine wine list which we might possibly have contributed to…
Open from 21st April until 3rd October. Group sizes of six until 21st June and then up to eight after that.
Right next door to us on the Drang. Dave and Emma-Kate fitted a cutting edge outdoor glass dining area with drop down side and a retractable roof a few years ago. I don’t know where they got their crystal ball from but by heck didn’t that turn out to be a smart investment! Formerly known as The Basement Bistro, Dave and Emma-Kate re-focussed their menu to offer a tighter range of ‘no-fuss’ dining options. As the new name implies, local mussels take a lead role on the menu. But there’s something for everyone on changing menu where Brisket Mac n Cheese nuzzles up alongside local Sea Bass.
Open now for takeaway and from 12th April for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
PW1, Padstow
Is promoting the bar and coffee shop right next door to us an act of commercial madness? Perhaps but we’re all in it together this year! PW1 has a few outdoor tables (no overhead cover) on the Drang - a pedestrianised area just off Padstow harbour - right next door to us and The Mussel Box.
Offering a range of cakes, coffee, beers and wines, PW1 doesn’t have a website I can link to but you’ll find them over on Facebook and Instagram. If you’re heading to us, our tables are occupied and you don’t have time to wait with one of our buzzer pagers, then maybe consider giving our neighbours a bit of support. They opened for business during the peak of the pandemic and I think it’s fair to say they’ve had a helluva hard first year!
Open from 12th April.
The best views in town - period. Greens Cafe is a fabulous dining spot open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with an outdoor terrace offering stellar views of Padstow and the Camel Estuary. They even have a cracking little crazy golf course (yes really).
Open outdoors (no overhead cover) from 12th April and indoors from 17th May.
Just a few yards up the road from us you’ll find Rick Stein’s second Padstow restaurant with a casual bistro style. Tables in the sheltered courtyard garden will be available from 12th April Thursday to Sunday between 11.30am and 10.00pm.
Proper pub in the heart of Padstow with a sheltered outdoor terrace and retractable overhead cover. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and very well kept ales. When conditions allow they are also Padstow’s premier ‘rugby pub’ with all key fixtures played discretely on screens whilst still keeping the pub vibe for those strange people who don’t like rugby.
Open 9-11 for breakfast and noon - 8pm for full menu and drinks.
Padstow Brewing Company Tasting Rooms, Padstow
Padstow’s very own brewery have opened up the outdoor tables at their Tasting Room on Broad Street which gives you a fabulous opportunity to try their range of beers.
Open daily 10am -6pm. No bookings required - just first come first served.
Just a few miles from Padstow St Merryn is the home of Rick Stein’s pub - The Cornish Arms - serving a range of St Austell Brewery ales and a simple British menu of seasonal pub classics. Outdoor dining opens from 12th April with garden tables available Thursday to Sunday noon until 9pm.
The Pig needs no introduction from us - if you know, you know. But you may not be aware that they’re open for outdoor lunches from 12th April. If you’ve already discovered the Lobster Shack then you’ll know that the guys at the The Pig have created something very special. Brace yourself this April for The Big Outdoor Lunch Pig style - an open-air, all weather affair. Think long lazy lunches where someone else has finally done the cooking, a bar list of sunshine-inspired cocktails to brighten up even the greyest of days, coffees enjoyed out on the lawns and finally spending time with your nearest and dearest. Now we know the South Coast in April isn’t always ‘St Tropez’ but under the warmth of an outside heater and a cosy blanket you might just be able to imagine it is!
Open outdoors from 12th April between noon and 4pm.
The Little Gin Shack, Wadebridge
As well as being the best little gin emporium we ever did see, The Little Gin Shack now has outdoor tables available for guests to reserve and enjoy right in the heart of Wadebridge on the now pedestrianised Molesworth Street. Gin guru Neil and his small team of enthusiasts are on hand to make you ‘the perfect serve’ of a huge range of gins from Cornwall and further afield. Wines by the glass are also available and we may well have given them a little bit of help on that front!
Open for retail sales and outdoor drinks service 11am - 8pm.
Behind The Bike Sheds, Wadebridge
What happens when former Michelin Star Chef Paul Ripley and his fellow Chef Veteran mate Steve Morley take over a old Railway Signal Box and turn it into a takeaway eatery? A special kind of magic my friends… that’s what. I seriously had to think hard about including Behind The Bike Sheds as I don’t want them to get so busy that I can’t get in for my fix of ‘proper’ Salt Beef Bagel, Korean Fried Chicken, OMG it’s good Hot Dog and a range of other dishes that just make your sigh and retreat to your mental happy place.
They’re just about to install a few outdoor tables but if they’re full benches with views of the Camel Estuary are a few yards away.
They don’t have a website but you’ll find Behind The Bike Sheds over on Facebook and Instagram.
Open 9am until 2pm Monday - Saturday (except Tuesdays when they’re closed) and noon until 3pm Sunday.
Camel Valley Vineyard, Nanstallon, Bodmin
When you’re sat on the terrace at Camel Valley looking down the valley as pristine rows of grapevines stretch into the distance, you could easily convince yourself that you’re in the Loire. But it’s better than that… you’re in Cornwall. The team at Camel Valley have opened up their outdoor tables for bookings in 90 minute slots. Those with enough determination can even cycle there from Padstow along the Camel Trail safe in the knowledge that there’s an almost imperceptible (but oh so helpful) downhill slope on the journey back.
No food and no overhead cover so go prepared. Maximum group size of five.
Open for wines by the glass Monday - Friday 11am - 4.30pm
Paul and Emma Ainsworth’s pub in Rock will re-open for outdoor dining from 15th April for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The terrace and balcony areas will be open on a first come - first served basis offering a knock out combination of stunning views over the Camel Estuary and a menu inspired by all your favourite pub classics but given the dazzle dazzle by Paul and his team (The Dog’s Pollock ‘fish hotdog” and Fairground Burger are firm favourites in our household and the Fish and Chips with all the sides take some beating too).
Take away is also available and with the beach just a short walk away you have all the makings of an epic ‘beach picnic’ if you arrive to find the tables are full.
Maximum group size is six and the lunch and dinner menu is available between noon and 8.00pm.
I’ve thought hard about whether to include this venue too. The St Kew Inn is my local and the more of you who go then the less likely I am to get in. And that would be bad… very bad. Because I love this place. Picture the prettiest 15th Century Inn you ever did see. Give it a perfectly maintained sunny garden bordered by the soothing sound of a babbling stream. Add in well kept cask ales, welcoming hosts and (and this is a big ‘and’) an outdoor wood-fired kitchen placed in the able hands of one Andi Tuck - a man who has made it a personal mission to master cooking over embers.
St Kew Inn will be opening their garden from 12th April on a weather dependent ‘pop up’ basis. So your best bet is to keep a close eye on their social media and if the opportunity presents itself get yourself there and thank me later (in fact you can put a pint for me behind the bar).
Rick Stein’s Fistral Bay, Newquay
A firm family favourite hang our when we head to Newquay in a venue that brings together fabulous fish and chips, curries and south east Asian dishes all onto one menu. Throw in an outdoor terrace with far reaching views across Fistral Bay and we are very much in our happy place.
Outdoor seating and takeaway food is available from 12th April every day between noon and 9.00pm.
Porthminster Beach Café, St Ives
You know when you find some amazing Mediterranean beach side restaurant while on holiday overseas and you sigh wondering why England doesn’t have places like this? Well they do… you’ve just not found it yet. Porthminster Beach Café is such a place. Located right on one of the cleanest ‘blue flag’ beaches in the UK, this multi-award-winning seafood restaurant is the epitome of ‘relaxed and friendly’.
The café specialises in Mediterranean and Asian seafood cuisine and writing those words makes me want to be there right now!
And because one mediterranean dining experience isn’t enough the guys behind Porthminster Beach Café have also opened Porthgwidden Beach Café nearby. I’ve no idea how you’re going to choose between the two. My strategy is one for lunch and the other for dinner (yes on the same day - what of it?)
Both outdoor terraces open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from 12th April.
The Hidden Hut, Porthcurnick Beach
The Hidden Hut may now be the worst kept secret in the food world. It’s a schlep from Padstow but it’s well worth a day trip over to the Roseland peninsula. But only if you like the idea of the best beachside ‘café’ food you’re ever likely to eat prepared by the the pioneers of the UK outdoor dining scene right in front of you in a field kitchen located on one of the most picturesque beaches on the South Coast.
All food served in a takeaway ‘beach picnic’ format. Not licensed but ‘bring your own’ welcome.
Open daily between 11am and 4pm with lunch served between noon and 2.30 pm.