Padstow

Padstow was a declining fishing port when Rick Stein opened a seafood restaurant there in 1975; he now runs several businesses in the town along with a cookery school, and the local nickname Padstein reflects both the transformation and local ambivalence about it. The fishing fleet still lands, and the harbour is the working core. On 1 May the town holds the Obby Oss, in which two teams process from dawn with a hooped, masked horse figure that dances through the streets to a single repeated tune while thousands watch; the ritual is documented from the eighteenth century and claimed as older. The Camel Trail, a cycle route on a dismantled railway, runs eighteen kilometres to Bodmin along the estuary, and the Doom Bar sandbank at the estuary mouth has wrecked hundreds of ships.

What you actually see

• The working harbour - a landing fleet alongside the restaurant trade.
• The Obby Oss - a May Day horse ritual with two teams and one tune.
• The Camel Trail - a flat rail-trail cycle route along the estuary.
• The Doom Bar - a sandbank at the mouth with a long wrecking record.

When to go

May to September; 1 May for the Obby Oss, when the town is full from before dawn and accommodation is booked a year ahead. Summer brings heavy traffic and the Camel Trail is busy with hired bikes.

Honest expectations

Padstow in August is crowded and expensive, and parking is difficult and costly. Restaurant tables book weeks ahead in season. The Obby Oss is a local ritual rather than a show, and the town is extremely full for it.

Nearby

Rock is across the estuary by ferry; Port Isaac lies northeast and Newquay south.