Mobile site
Stay here

Book by phone
1 800 464 2040

Travelling with children?

Why book with us?

It pays to book with Smith.
Literally.

Find out how

Free membership

Want money back, gifts on arrival and exclusive offers?

Join now

More hotels in Cornwall and North Cornwall...

0000024562_Listing
Driftwood Hotel
0000024809_T71
Hotel Tresanton
Fowey Hall-3
Fowey Hall
View all Cornwall hotels
0000020522_House-1050000020523_House-107

Mesmear

Cornwall, United Kingdom

 

Intro

The north Cornish coast offers sheltered coves, wide sandy surf beaches and rugged headlands – the perfect ingredients for a family holiday.

Best picnic spot

The orchard at Mesmear is great but if you want to work up an appetite, head to the cliff top on the Rumps walk near Polzeath.

Best beaches

Polzeath is a wide sandy beach, very popular with surfers. Daymer is ideal for families, with a gentle shelf for paddling and plenty of rock pools to explore; if it’s windy, this is the place for kiteboarding and windsurfing. Rock beach has a maze of sand dunes, in which you can play hide and seek. Lundy Bay and Epphaven are harder to reach via the coastal path. The small sandy beach is only exposed at low tide but these coves are less crowded and there are several caves to investigate, too.

Best walks

The walk between Daymer Bay and Rock, either along the beach or over the dunes, is very enjoyable. There’s a great walk from Mesmear to Lundy Bay which takes a little over an hour, but the prime views are on the Rumps beyond Lundy Bay car park. An Ordnance Survey map is provided in the Mill.

Shopping

Supermarket: The nearest store is the Spar in Polzeath but there’s a wider choice at Tesco on West Hill in Wadebridge; it’s six miles or 15 minutes drive away (Monday to Saturday: 8am–10pm; Sunday 10am–4pm). Deli: Rock has some excellent specialist shops including Di’s Dairy and Pantry (www.disdairyandpantry.co.uk), who will deliver. Rock also has a fishmonger, baker and butcher. Rick Stein’s Deli is on Riverside Quay in Padstow, on the south side of the Camel estuary (Monday to Saturday: 10am–4pm; Sunday 11am–3pm).

Activities

You can go mackerel fishing aboard Topaz in Rock (+44 (0)1208 863 556) and grill your catch on the barbecue back at Mesmear. Roserrow Country Club has a wide range of activities including golf, tennis and swimming (www.roserrow.co.uk). Polzeath is one of North Cornwall’s most renowned surfing beaches; you can get started at Surf’s Up Surf School in Polzeath (+44 (0)1208 862 003; www.surfsupsurfschool.com). There’s also water-skiing on the estuary at the Camel Ski School on the jetty in Rock. (www.camelskischool.co.uk). Go-karting for all ages is available at the St Eval track, about 30-minutes' drive from Mesmear (www.cornwallkarting.co.uk).

Smith Tip

Mesmear proves that luxury can be environmentally friendly; we were fascinated by the ground source heat pump (no, really!). A network of pipes buried in a neighbouring field is heated by the surrounding soil and the heat is slowly accumulated by a pump. This system is enough to keep the houses nice and warm and even produce hot water. OK, enough of the science lesson… but we think it’s brilliant.

Join us – it's free!

Sign up now for exclusive hotel offers, money back on every booking, and Smith extras (like the one below) whenever you book with us.

Smith extra at Mesmear

A local Cornish Seboni Spa Essentials gift for every couple

  • IATA
  • Verisign Secured