Falmouth's surprise charm

I DON’T mean to be rude but if you were planning a romantic weekend in Cornwall, Falmouth would probably not be at the top of your list of irresistible locations.

With all those gorgeous, picture-postcard fishing villages to chose from why would anyone pick a port, albeit a famous one, as your destination? Good question but that’s the secret of Falmouth’s charm. The fact that it is a real working, living all-year-round community, that it isn’t Notting Hill by the Sea like the more obvious spots – Rock, Fowey, St Ives etc is what creates its special flavour.

So, when Sylvia lost the heel off a favourite pair of shoes there was proper old-fashioned cobbler in the High Street to fix it in a jiffy. We suspect Polperro hasn’t one of those. But Falmouth is defined by the sea like nowhere else. Its original raison d’etre as a settlement was the natural harbour – the third deepest in the world – and its location almost at the tip of Cornwall on the very edge of the Atlantic, famed as the First and Last port of call for ships leaving and arriving in British waters.

The Falmouth Packet Service, which carried mail to and from Britain's growing empire, operated out of the town for more than 160 years between 1689 and 1851. The trade is now commemorated in the delightful title of the town’s newspaper.

And it doesn’t matter where you are in the town, it seems you can always see the sea, harbour or docks rammed with a huge variety of boats, yachts or ships being repaired.

Ah yes, this is heaven for boaties, a marine marvel which finds its purest expression in the National Maritime Museum – a purpose-built oak-clad structure on the harbourside site of a former boatyard. Appropriately, it vaguely resembles a giant upturned boat and inside there are cavernous display spaces where famous and historic small boats are suspended in mid-air with galleried walkways providing great views of the exhibits.

The museum tells the story of the sea and boats through a even Cornish prism and while those with a keen interesting in the sea, sailing and anything nautical will be fascinated, there is plenty to engage the determined landlubber, even Sylvia. As I young boy my first taste of sailing was in a Mirror dinghy and the story of this remarkably ugly, but incredibly popular, little boat is well told. Designed in the 1960s, the quirky kit-built Mirror enabled thousands of people to become boat owners for the first time – and the museum has the very first one.

As part of the display there is some choice footage shot at a Sixties Earls Court Boat Show where the Mirror was being sold with the aid of a lurex bikini-clad model sprawled over the gunwhale and the memorable advertising tag-line: “Remember, she [the Mirror] weighs less than most wives.” Some marketing executive would be keelhauled today for such non-PC frivolity.

There’s also the Finn dinghy that local hero Sir Ben Ainslie won his fourth successive Olympic Gold Medal at the 2012 London Games, and alongside all these little boats there is the enormous and beautiful Thames steam launch Waterlily, a memory of an age of elegance, idleness and long, sunny, summer days. Dating from 1866, she was one of the earliest such pleasure craft on the Thames and helped set the trend for the Edwardian era that followed.

Having checked out the stupendous views of the Fal estuary, harbour and Carrick Roads from the museum’s lookout we adjourned for lunch at Rick Stein’s fish restaurant just opposite and ate the freshest Malaga-style (dusted in semolina flour and deep-fried) fish and seafood we could remember. I guess if Rick Stein can’t get his hands on fresh fish in Cornwall, who can?

It was one of a number of memorable meals. Falmouth is stuffed with good restaurants. We also ate at the Harbour View (where, ironically, the food was infinitely better than the rather constrained view) and a cheap and very cheerful Spanish/Cuban style tapas place Cubanas where we shared some sticky, smoky ribs and a rich and spicy jumbalaya.

There are also some great pubs and we particularly liked Dolly’s, a retro-genteel tea room which becomes a gin palace after six.

We stayed at The Oceanic – an aparthotel. If that conjures up images of those dreadful hovels found in some European cities with their two-ring hobs, blunt knives and postage-stamp TVs mounted high up on the wall so they can’t be tinkered with, dismiss them.

The Oceanic is handily placed, equidistant between the town centre, Pendennis castle and fabulous beaches on the other side of the headland which forms the harbour, and is the last word in self catering accommodation.

It was an old coaching hotel but Tim and Heather Wood have torn it apart (and also stopped it sliding down the hill – the back of the hotel was built on a garden wall) to create something truly special.

Beautiful appointed, lit and furnished, it had everything we needed for our short stay. Great bed, boutique bathroom with a sexiest walk-in water-jets-from-every-direction shower and daily breakfast baskets with fresh bread croissants, fruit, cereals etc.

We went Falmouth in April and visiting this part of the world in the spring and autumn has two big advantages – fewer people and fewer cars. If you want to do the honey-pot resorts, they are mercifully unpacked and the car parks have empty spaces. Travelling from the North-East is a manageable six-and-a-half hours by car.

• Malcolm and Sylvia Warne were guests of the Oceanic Hotel: 1 Lansdowne Rd, Falmouth TR11 – W: oceanichotelfalmouth.co.uk, T: 01326-389330, Double room with en-suite bathroom, living area and fully equipped kitchen from £150 a night.
• National Maritime Museum: Discovery Quay, Falmouth TR11 3QY – W: nmmc.co.uk, T: 01326-313388. Admission: £12.50, under 18s £5.
• Rick Stein’s Fish: Discovery Quay, Falmouth TR11 3XA – W: rickstein.com, T: 01841-532700. Two-course seafood set lunch £11.95.
• Harbour View Restaurant: 24 Arwenack St, Falmouth TR11 3JB – W: harbourdining.com, T: 01326-315315.

Cubanas: 27 Arwenack St, Falmouth TR11 3JE, T: 01326-212794.