Part 2 – Choosing small Cornish fishing villages

Introduction

Deciding which small Cornish fishing villages to visit is a real challenge because there are so many choices. In this post I’ll discuss the framework we have used to identify 10 possible villages to visit. It’s a start.

Framework for selecting small Cornwall fishing villages

Once we started researching the fishing village harbours, we realised a few things: first, we had to decide our budget. Secondly, we needed to figure our how long we could stay. Finally, we needed to figure out a way of prioritising the small Cornish fishing villages we would visit. Initially, we have a long list of 10 villages. But first, to consider our framework.

The Duration

Normally, our city visits take eight days: arrival day, six days in the city, and a departure day. However, this trip is different as it isn’t a single city – it is several villages. It is like our visit to the Isle of Skye where we wanted to travel around the island. In that instance we selected a base, hired a car and drove all over the island. The Isle of Skye trip was seven days: arrival day, five days on the Island, and one departure day.

Could we do the same in Cornwall? We needed to keep this question in mind.

One thing we are learning is to take as much time as the budget will permit without overstaying. Our initial thoughts are a minimum of one week and a maximum of two weeks. For initial planning purposes we chose 11 days: an arrival day, 10 nights in Cornwall, and a departure day.

But, could we afford it?

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The budget

Initially, we costed an 11-day trip. After an initial exploration of accommodation, train travel and car hire costs we set an upper budget limit of A$3,000 (GBP1,685): accommodation A$2000 (GBP1,123), train travel $A500 (GBP281), and car hire $500 (GBP281).

We’ll continually refine/adjust these costs as we research our trip, trying to stay within the upper limit.

The intent

Our reasons for visiting Cornwall are important and should always be kept front of mind. First, we want to visit the quint essential small Cornish fishing villages. More specifically, this means small fishing villages which are still active as fishing villages. Secondly, we want to pick Cornish fishing villages which offer attractive photographic opportunities. Thirdly, we are attracted to locations associated with TV programs we have watched over the years, namely Doc Martin, the various cooking adventures of Rick Stein, the Poldark series and Alex Polizzi’s Chefs on Trial.

A long list of small Cornish fishing villages

After reviewing our resources (as identified in Part 1) we compiled a long list of 10 Cornish fishing villages:

  1. Boscastle (Picturesque, photographic opportunity)
  2. Port Isaac (Doc Martin)
  3. Padstow (Rick Stein; active fishing village, photographic opportunity)
  4. St Ives (holiday resort)
  5. Polperro (active fishing village, photographic opportunity)
  6. Charlestown (Poldark, China Clay port, tall ships, photographic opportunity)
  7. Mevagissey (active fishing village, photographic opportunity)
  8. Portleven (Alex Polizzi, active fishing, photographic opportunity, wild weather!)
  9. Marazion (St Michael’s Mount)
  10. Mousehole (small fishing village)

This list presents a problem for us: quite simply, there are too many locations to visit. Many holiday makers would say: “What’s the problem, that is only one village per day and Cornwall distances are relatively short?”. So, why do we have concerns?

Why we need to visit fewer villages

A key objective for our Cornish holiday is to write and self-publish an eBook about our trip. There are two underpinning requirements: first, to profile the small Cornish fishing villages; and secondly, to capture meaningful photographs to support these profiles. Our emerging eBook approach is to articulate the culture of each village within these profiles. As best we can!

To successfully meet this key objective, with its two attendant requirements, takes time. Hence, within our finite time period of 11 days, we can only profile two or three villages. We can certainly visit other places, but they will not be the subject of a profile.

Our next task

Now we must identify the small Cornish fishing villages which will form the subjects of our profiles, and which villages we can visit but not profile. This will be our goal over the next week or so and the topic of our next post.

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Visit our other posts in this series: Our UK Holiday: Part 1 -Preparing for Cornwall

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