Not to worry!

We're heading off for our usual week at Polzeath, near Rock (opposite Padstow on the same inlet.) Well worth a visit if you like a sandy beach, decent waves and good surf!

Polzeath,had many lovely holidays there some 40+ years ago,used to camp at valley camp site(I think thats what it was called)just off the beach,the owner used to hire out double bed mattresses then to campers,thats when Kellys icecream was proper cornish,orange in colour,noyhing like the Kellys their selling in supermarkets now!!

We spent a week in Looe in mid September and we had a great time, so I thought I'd do a quick comparison with St Ives from our perspective.

Although Looe is smaller than St Ives, we found plenty of good restaurants in Looe, many of high quality (we particularly liked Mawgans) although we found that the menus seemed to be similar, with certain dishes (e.g. trio of local fish) always occuring - not that there is anything wrong with that. Certainly we thought the standard and selection of restaurants was as good as St Ives. And the standard seemed to be across the board, we tried both the Mexican and Thai restaurant as well and found both of them to be excellent. Although some of the restaurants we had researched on the web had closed down, many new ones we didn't know about seemed to have appeared in their place.

There were loads of good cafes, my partner who is a coffee connoisseur, particularly liked the Americano in Larssons which also does crepes and has a very eccentric owner!

I thought that the selection of pubs was better in Looe than in St Ives (which I thought was just slightly lacking in good drinking facilities). There is a good choice from cheap, characterless pubs serving burgers which are child (and dog) friendly to what I would call a proper pub - I particularly liked The Jolly Sailor which is 500 years old and has a good mix of tourists and locals. And nice toilets!

The atmosphere in Looe is very different from St Ives. Looe doesn't have the artistic community you get in St Ives and I felt it was more tailored towards families (and dog owners!). It always seemed very crowded during the day and although it wasn't noisy as such, there were far more groups of teenagers and people with the shirts off standing ouside pubs with a pint in their hand. I don't mean to sound like a snob - but there is a certain gentile charm that St Ives has that was somehow missing from Looe. Many people will of course consider that a good thing. We found all the locals to be friendly and the atmosphere welcoming everywhere, although I think we got some funny looks going to a locals pub after dressing up for an expensive meal!

We didn't really go out of the town at all, so I can't really comment on the surrounding area.

All in all, we had a really great week and would definitely go back there. I'm sure anyone who enjoys St Ives would also like Looe if they fancy a change. It certainly had everything we needed to have a good time.

Just thought I'd do a quick update. We spent a few days in Padstow and were very disappointed. The place was a bit small; although the pubs were ok we struggled to find a cafe that served decent coffee. The Rick Stein influence was everywhere, and not in a good way; although we didn't go to his posh restaurant we did try his fish and chips which were above average but not stunning or worth the inflated price and had the worst mushy peas I've ever come accross. I won't mention the very tacky Rick Stein gift shop (oh dear I seem to have mentioned it) or the Rick Stein bakery or the Rick Stein Cafe... There were high points, particularly Paul Ainsworth at No 6 which is an excellent restaurant, and also special mention to Jacks and The Basement. An ok holiday, but not a patch on St Ives or Looe.

Next time perhaps you could try Falmouth. We rediscovered it when our son went to uni there. It has some very nice walks and beaches, also some good bars and restaurants. Sadly as with many places it is quite pricey and Rick Stein is present there too! We really enjoy it for a winter break as it remains lively due to the university crowd.