Reviews
Padstow to St Ives
Ann - 15/5/25
Hi Tim,
We're finally home after 6 weeks away and I just wanted to give you some feedback on the trip that you planned for us. In short, it was wonderful - most everything worked out perfectly and the scenery and weather were spectacular.
Here are a few notes for you:
The Youth Hostel at Treyarnon turned out to be a great choice. It was right on the coast path with a fantastic view. As expected, the rooms were pretty basic and the menu very limited, but it had a nice vibe and couldn't have been more convenient. One thing to know in case you end up booking it again, was that the reception staff were confused by the fact that the booking had been made by you for us. They have a rule that the person who makes a booking has to show up to claim the room. We got it sorted when I showed them the emails between us and it was no problem in the end. I only mention this in case you book anyone else in there.
You might mention in your notes that the section of trail between Perranporth and Portreath is fairly challenging, with three steep valleys with large steps coming at the end of the day between Porthtowan and Portreath.
When we got to Hayle, the Mad Hatters Teashop had closed and there was no note on the door for us, or any indication how to contact the owners. We would have been worried, but we could see our luggage through the windows, so we knew that we were in the right place. Luckily, we had a phone that worked in the UK (we are all Americans) so we called and found them (at the back of the house). It was fine, and they were great hosts once we found them, but not a great welcome. I realize that options in Hayle are limited. The Terrace had a wonderful view of the river.
We loved the Tregenna Hotel. The grounds were incredible.
So, as I mentioned before, it was a fantastic trip - beautiful, challenging and fun. Thank you for organizing it for us, along with all the changes that I requested.
Best regards,
Ann
Minehead to Bude
Toni and Hellen - 16/6/25
Dear Tim
We safely arrived back home and send a big Thank you!
Everything you arranged for us worked well and we had a wonderful time along the coast!
The B&Bs in Woolacombe (superb breakfast), Clovelly and Combe Martin were our favourites, and the location of the Hartland Quay hotel and the breakfast hall of the Hotel Du Vin in Exeter simply spectacular!
Thank you!
Toni & Hellen
Padstow to St Ives
Jacquie - 4/5/25
Hi Tim
I wanted to come back to you following our recent trip last week.
Firstly, thank you very much for arranging this, it went smoothly and was really good.
I wanted to give some feedback on the accommodation for future clients which might be useful.
Overall the quality of the accommodation was better than the 2 previous years. I am not sure if there were higher priced or the availability and choice was greater.
The Old Ship Inn -Padstow
Nice personal service, better than the London Inn from last year . Breakfast good but basic. Would be happy to stay again . Great location . Meals in the bar/ restaurant good quality and reasonably priced.
The Esplanade- Newquay
Excellent location, right on the SWCP with sea views. Good quality hotel. Good service and facilities. Food for dinner and breakfast excellent. Would stay again if vising Newquay.
Seiners Arms- Perranporth
Basic hotel but very clean and fresh, great location and views. Very helpful and friendly staff who were very well informed about the SWCP. More basic food choices in the pub but only eat breakfast .
We visited Jaipur Indian as per your suggestion and it was excellent. Possibly one of the best Indian restaurant's we have ever been to. The cost was much lower than we expected for such quality. Would definitely recommend.
Portreath Arms- Portreath
Good location, easy to find right off the SWCP. This far exceeded our expectations for a pub with rooms. The attention to detail in the rooms and the service was exceptional. Extra touches such as fresh milk in the fridge on a self service basis, bath robes in the rooms, bath salts for weary bones. The resultant for both evening meals and breakfast was very professional with an excellent menu choice.
This was a true gem of a find.
Mad Hatter- Hayle
I appreciate it must be difficult to find suitable accommodation in each location, but this is one hotel I would not recommend using. The facilities were clean but barely adequate, The bed was ok but the space inadequate to walk round it so you had to climb over the bed to get to the bathroom. Unfortunately, the hotel is located on a busy main room so was very noisy most of the night.
The Terrace restaurant was really good and we would recommend it. IT served a wide variety of meals , it was much more than a pizza type place even though the pizza's were great. There is a lovely outside terrace at the back over looking the river. The service was good, staff very friendly and inexpensive.
Tregenna Castle -St Ives
Lovely hotel with good grounds and location. Food quality was very good, as well as the facilities. Great place to spend some restful days. Bedrooms were a little more basic than you would expect and compared to the public rooms. The dinner menu and quality were great whilst the breakfasts were good but not as impressive as others had been.
Thank you once again for a hassle free holiday. Looking forward to next year
Jacquie
St Ives to Penzance and Plymouth to Torquay
Liv Berit - Sep 2023
Dear Tim,
We had a fantastic walk. We are four very happy Norwegians. We were very lucky with the weather it was only on the two last days of our walk that we had rain. The weather walking from Brixham to Torquay was terrible we were all dripping wet, luckily that was the last day so we could pack all our soak clothe sand boots in our luggage.
The walking distance were ok, except the walk from Plymouth to Wembury, we did take the Mount Batten Ferry and that made the walk a bit short. We arrived early in Wembury, by the way the cafe in Bovisands was closed.
The walk from Wembury to Banthham proved impossible. We took the Ferry from Warren Point at 10:00 and the ferry man, Bill Gregor, told us that we would not make it to the River Erme in time to wade across and he proved right.
Accomodations:
Tregenna Castle, Gunards Head and the Airbnb in Kingsbridge were excellent.
The others were fine except Shearwater, the rooms were not very pleasant and it was only one bathroom and the owner seemed a bit tired of having guests. Ashleigh Guest House had one of the bathrooms a step down from the bedroom, and that was not ideal.
We have walked through lovely and beautiful landscapes and meet nice people and dogs on our walk.
The transfer of luggage was excellent, our bags were waiting for us every day.
Kind regards
Liv Berit
Exmouth to Poole
Arne Kambo - July 2023
Dear Tim,
Thanks for another successful walking holiday. Well organized as always. In spite of some rain showers and two of the daily distances exceeding 30 km and were a little bit strenuous, we enjoyed the walk very much. A lot of cliff walking and beautiful view along the coast. The accommodation was mostly excellent, but can be improved in Abbotsbury. We were placed in an annex in the backyard and the facilities and the service were not the best. Except that, friendly and service minded hosts and excellent breakfast all over.
This was the fifth walk and we reached the goal in Poole. However, the walk from Padstow to St. Ives is still outstanding, so this may be the holiday next year.
Thanks again and best regards,
Arne
Penzance to Mevagissey Walk
Karen Van Der Merwe - July 2023
Hi Tim, I am finally back home and wanted to say thanks again for an amazing walk!
We loved it.
The mix up of walking lengths, grade of accommodation, and the extra day in Falmouth were great!
We obviously loved The Harbour Inn, The Lugger and being able to do our washing at the Budock ! We were so bleak though that we missed the Sea Shanty singers in Cadgwith, apparently they are amazing,
We also got to swim loads at all the lovely coves.
I’ve attached some pics
All the best
Karen