DESTINATIONS PERRAN SANDS UK & IRELAND RIGHT:
Beach House, Perran Sands
FAR RIGHT: The Eden Project
BELOW:
Lost Gardens of Heligan
next came the free-standing refractor telescope, outdoor hot tub and colour-changing mood lighting. With so many gadgets to play with, the only worry was how to convince the kids to go out and explore.
w GOLDEN SANDS Perran Sands has extensive facilities at the heart of the park, including a large indoor and outdoor swimming pool with waterslide, a show lounge and amusement arcade. The walk down to Perranporth beach is along a footpath that winds through windswept dunes and down steep limestone cliffs. At the bottom there’s a wide, golden-sand beach, the sort you can imagine being packed at the height of summer with sun- seekers, surfers and sandcastles. The short walk to Perranporth over the nearby headland is well worth the moderate effort required. It’s not the
You can imagine the beach being packed in summer with sun-seekers, surfers and sandcastles
prettiest of seaside towns, but is well- served with shops, pubs and cafes, so a great place for a Cornish cream tea. Perran Sands is also ideally placed
for visiting some of Cornwall’s most- popular tourist attractions. Surfing haven Newquay is a short drive east along the coast, and Cornwall’s only city Truro is just inland. We opted for the Eden Project and the place that inspired it, the Lost Gardens of Heligan. The former, just outside St Austell on the south coast, is a truly world-class attraction. Around 45 minutes’ drive from
SAMPLE PRODUCT
A three-night stay in a three- bedroom Beach House at Perran Sands starts at £704 per family, based on a September 30 stay.
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Perran Sands, the reclaimed kaolinite pit turned eco-park, which opened in 2001, is genuinely jaw-dropping. In the larger of its two huge biomes there is an indoor rainforest, complete with sticky, humid environment. A canopy walkway gives visitors a bird’s-eye view of the forest and waterfall, while a yet- to-be-built extension will eventually allow visitors to walk behind the waterfall, traverse a wobbly rope bridge and experience a tropical rainstorm. There were Halloween school-holiday activities there and at the nearby Lost Gardens of Heligan, a sort of outdoor Eden Project 10 miles away. Combined tickets for the two attractions offer 10% off, so a family ticket costs £89.
Doubling up with both attractions is not only cost-effective but helped maintain the children’s interest levels, which were sagging by the end of the day. So we were more than happy to make our way back to the Beach House for a fish-and-chip supper and to check out a live cover band back at Perran Sands.
Kids’ corner
Millie Hayhurst, 10, gives her verdict on Perran Sands When we stepped into our posh beach house, we couldn’t wait to start exploring.
I was very excited with my room, and the whole place was much bigger than I expected with lots of space to play hide and seek. My two brothers had their own room with bunk beds and even a TV at the end of each bed! We had an amazing view of the sea and a telescope for star-gazing, and outside there was a hot tub but the weather wasn’t warm enough to use it. The park’s swimming pool was a short walk away through sand dunes. It had a massive slide which was great fun, and there was a sandy beach nearby where we played Frisbee. One night we went to the bar and
watched a very good band which played a lot of songs we knew, including some by my mummy’s favourite, Take That. It was my first holiday in a Haven caravan park and I would love to go back with my friends.
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