SURF, SLEEP, EAT: THE CORNISH HOTEL WHERE THE FOOD IS AS GOOD AS THE VIEW

You don’t just arrive at Watergate Bay — you descend into it.

One moment you’re winding through narrow Cornish lanes; the next, the Atlantic unfurls before you in widescreen, with the hotel reveals itself, perched just above the sand, blending easily into the landscape.

We came as a family of four – my wife, Alice, our daughters Robin (13) and Nina (9) – and a vague hope that “quality family time” wouldn’t devolve into arguments about screen time.

What we got instead: wetsuits, rockpools and sunsets so luminous they felt like special effects.

Our base was one of the hotel’s village apartments, a short uphill walk from the beach, with full access to all hotel amenities – including the Swim Club and breakfast each morning in The Living Space. That quickly became a ritual: excellent coffee, beautifully made eggs, flakey pastries, and a waffle station that became the kids’ morning HQ.

Dinner on our first night was at The Beach Hut – a relaxed, beachfront spot with a broad and crowd-pleasing menu. Coastal classics like crab linguine and fish and chips sat alongside steak frites, vegan curry, burgers, salads and smaller plates – all served with the kind of breezy confidence you get when the view does half the work.

The next evening we swapped casual for candlelight at Zacry’s – Watergate Bay’s more refined restaurant, now in the hands of Cornish-born, Michelin-starred chef Chris Eden.

Watergate Bay was once the site of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen. Now it’s now a grown-up space with panoramic views and a menu that’s seasonal, local and thoughtful. We ate crab ravioli and tuna carpaccio, followed by BBQ monkfish and pressed lamb, and finished a white chocolate parfait made with "rescued bee" honey.

Even the children’s menu, they had tomato pasta, was in step with the kitchen’s tone. Familiar, but finessed.

(The service here was excellent – warm, efficient, and never over-rehearsed.)

Next morning, we joined a beginner surf lesson with Wavehunters, the in-house school. It was a first for all of us, and while Alice and I took to the water with more enthusiasm than skill, Nina, a skateboarder, was soon up and riding. Tilly, our instructor, was patient and encouraging.

That afternoon, Alice slipped away for a massage at the Swim Club and re-emerged looking like someone who’d remembered how to breathe. Meanwhile, the hotel team booked Nina into the Kids’ Zone – a thoughtful, well-run space that proved they take younger guests just as seriously as the adults.

“We say we’re adult-friendly but child-focused,” the hotel's CEO Will Ashworth told me later. “Adults tend to bring children, so we make sure we look after both.”

That ethos runs deep – and it has history. Built in 1900, Watergate Bay Hotel was originally intended to be a railway terminus for a line that never came. During WWII, it served as an RAF Officers’ Mess before falling into disrepair in the 1960s. John and Mary Ashworth bought the building in 1967, converting it into a 55-room family hotel by the early 1970s. Around the same time, one of the UK’s first skateparks opened just beside it – a concrete bowl that welcomed early British board culture and now feels like a footnote that turned out to matter.

We often associate surfing with California, but Cornwall has been catching waves for just as long. By the 1920s, surfers were active at Towan Beach in Newquay; by the 1960s, Fistral and Perranporth were hotspots of a growing British surf scene. Watergate Bay joined that lineage with quiet confidence and hasn’t looked back.

Today, the hotel has evolved into a year-round retreat with 80 rooms, including dog-friendly doubles and sea-view lofts. Its food scene punches above its weight, and the facilities – from Swim Club to surf school to yoga space – are less about show and more about substance.

“It’s a bit like a ski resort by the sea,” Ashworth said. “You get out in the elements, then come back to comfort and good food.”

That spirit defines the place. Swim laps as the Atlantic rolls in, soak in a hot tub, stretch in a yoga class, or just find a window seat and let the weather do what it will.

Even in grey or rain, you can imagine it works.

By the end of the trip, Robin and Nina were already lobbying to return in summer – this time, with friends. And honestly, we didn’t need convincing.

Watergate Bay doesn’t rely on gimmicks or forced charm. It’s a place that has evolved with purpose, shaped by its setting and the people who return to it.

What it offers is simple and well considered: space to slow down, get outside, and reconnect – whether with your family, the sea, or yourself.

2025-05-12T18:04:04Z