Exploring Cornwall with The Valley

Following our visit to Mill End Hotel in January, we were kindly invited to also spend a few nights at their sister site The Valley in Cornwall, what with the South West being a bit of an epic drive for us up on the North Yorkshire/County Durham border. We set off from Mill End very early on the Friday morning to get down to Cornwall by 8.45am, when Sam would pick up his race number and tracker for the Arc of Attrition ultra marathon: a 100 mile run along the South West Coast Path.

After seeing him off from the eco park in Porthtowan, from where runners are bussed to the start in Coverack, I drove over to The Valley. I was extremely early and wasn’t expecting to be able to check-in, but wanted to get some recommendations for a good place to take the dogs for a walk nearby. The lady from reception who I spoke to couldn’t have been more helpful: we had a great chat about the local area, and I eventually decided to head across to Trelissick, a National Trust property about a 10 minute drive from The Valley.

I arrived just before lunchtime, and the car park was surprisingly busy for a week day in January: the sun was shining in full force though, so maybe it wasn’t that surprising after all! While only assistance dogs are welcome in the house and formal gardens, all dogs can join you on walks around the wider estate. Navigation around National Trust sites is not usually something I’m particularly good at, usually ending up trapped in a 500m radius of the car park, so I decided to just do a short wander through the woods to the banks of the Fal Estuary.

The park and woodland trails really were breathtakingly lovely, with so much green and colour even in the depths of January (a sunny day always helps too). Unfortunately (for this reason I suspect) it also seems to be incredibly popular for local dog walkers! For most people I expect this isn’t much of an issue, but poor Coal with his reactivity struggled a bit. I will say though that every single person who we came across who had their dog off a lead, was more than happy to call their dog back while we walked past and was very kind about being barked at by Coal. If only everyone we saw on walks was this accommodating!

Had I had a less socially awkward dog, I would’ve happily spent all day exploring the trails at Trelissick. As it was, it wasn’t long before I got an email letting me know our cottage at The Valley was ready for us to check-in, along with a handy map of the site and some useful information.

The Valley is a purpose built holiday park, with a gated entrance accessed either through a code or key fob, and more than 40 beautifully appointed holiday cottages. The cottages range in size and price, sleeping from 4 to 6 people, with some including enclosed gardens, hot tubs or balconies. We were staying in number 36, which as dog owners we were very happy to find had a securely enclosed (Merry proof) garden, as well as incredibly spacious living areas. When you’ve got a Labrador with a very waggy tail, you very quickly learn to appreciate having enough room that said tail isn’t constantly bashing into things!

After a few hours spent chilling out in the cottage (mostly spent munching my way through the enormous pack of welcome shortbread), I headed back out to the Arc of Attrition route to do some crewing for Sam. He’d decided there wasn’t much point in meeting up before he reached the first checkpoint at Porthleven, so I drove across to Marazion for 9pm to see how he was getting on. I was very much regretting not bringing my camera out with me, as St Michael’s Mount was surrounded by stars and very pretty! After topping up his water and grabbing a few snacks Sam continued on, where I met him again in Penzance an hour or so later. A quick shoe change and then I headed back to The Valley for some kip before resuming crew duties later that night.

I have to say, I very much appreciated the fact that The Valley is in a relatively central location, which allows you to reach most places in Cornwall in an hour or so at most. This meant I managed to get two whole hours sleep before I needed to meet Sam at Sennen Cove at 3.30am, followed by a stop at Botallack at 6.15am. Botallack was another stop where I was wishing I had my camera with me, with the chimney lit up by the full moon rising overhead. It was extremely atmospheric, especially with the head torches of the runners bobbing past every minute or so. Another water top up and Sam was back on his way, this time along the most inaccessible part of the route – I wouldn’t be able to meet him again for several hours, until he’d passed the St Ives checkpoint.

Getting back to The Valley just after 7am, I gave the dogs their breakfast and then collapsed into the (very comfy) bed for another 2 hour nap. Waking up at 10am, I had an extremely strong cup of tea with about 6 sugars (I can’t describe how thrilled I was to find the kitchen fully stocked with tea, coffee and sugar after I’d forgotten to pack any). When I’d finished waking up, I loaded the dogs back into the car (who were very confused about the lack of breakfast after I’d got up, despite having only been fed a few hours before…) and set off to crew Sam on the second (and final) day of the run.

Happily Carbis Bay, our next meeting location, was only a 30 minute drive from The Valley, which meant I didn’t need to rush around in a flap. A flying stop here for another shoe change and then onto Hayle, where Sam would top up his water before heading into the infamous ‘Dunes of Doom’ (which according to him aren’t actually that bad). While I’d been waiting in the car park at Hayle, I’d wandered over to have a look down at the beach and saw that it was (unbelievably) almost empty, despite it being a beautiful Saturday. The perks of visiting Cornwall in January!

Originally, I’d expected the beach to be too busy to manage both dogs on my own with Coal’s reactivity, and had planned instead to take them along the coast at Godrevy. However, after seeing the massive beach at Hayle and how empty it was, I decided that a run on the beach was just what was in order for the afternoon. From the car park at Hayle Towans (download the Sippi app to pay for parking), it’s an easy 10 minute or so walk along the South West Coast Path to get to the beach (clearly signed where to turn off).

The dogs had the time of their lives sprinting around this lovely sandy beach. During July and August there is a dog ban in place from 10am-6pm, but outside of these times and for the rest of the year, the beach is dog friendly. I really enjoyed walking along the beach here and just couldn’t get my head around how empty it was – it’s so close to the centre of Hayle and so easy to get to, I was expecting it to be heaving. I’m not complaining though!

From Hayle I continued on to meet Sam at Godrevy (incidentally, a great place for seal spotting), followed by a final stop in Portreath to spur him on towards the finish. Then, just before 8pm, we cheered him over the finish at Porthtowan eco park – nearly 32 hours after he’d first set off from Coverack. What a phenomenal effort, not just from Sam but from all the runners! Sam was running in memory of his mum to raise money for the National Brain Appeal and raised nearly £1,500 – he said that’s what kept him going at the hardest points.

The handy location of The Valley meant that it was only a twenty minute drive back to our cottage from the finish, where Sam was delighted to find a bath so that he could ease his achey muscles. Unsurprisingly, after a very busy two days, we both slept very soundly!

The following morning Sam made another discovery which made him extremely happy: a coffee machine stocked with pods to use. We had a very steady morning, before venturing out in the afternoon for a visit to Pendennis Castle. It would have been mean to make Sam go for a long walk the day after running a hundred miles, even for me!

Located in nearby Falmouth, Pendennis Castle was built by Henry VIII to guard against the threat of invasion from Spain. Its distinctive round shape is similar to other Tudor defensive castles, including nearby St Mawes, which you can just about make out on the other side of the Fal Estuary. The castle today is managed by English Heritage – we used our Tesco Clubcard vouchers to join so that we could get free entry. Dogs are welcome throughout the site, including indoor areas (except the food bar), and we enjoyed having a mooch around the site. There’s an interesting and poignant exhibition about soldiers who were stationed at Pendennis Castle during the First World War, and their ultimate fate in the conflict.

The castle was surprisingly quiet, and the courtyard area extremely spacious. We actually found the idea of going to the castle through the ‘dog friendly guide’ which The Valley had helpfully put together a copy of and left in our cottage: it’s chock full of suggestions of dog friendly beaches, pubs, restaurants and attractions. I desperately wanted to visit the Cornish Seal Sanctuary which is also dog friendly, but we didn’t have enough confidence that one or both of the dogs wouldn’t have a meltdown at the sight of a seal – so we decided in the interests of the seals not to chance it.

The following day was what would be described as ‘dreich’ in Scotland: grey, with pervasive drizzle, and going outside just being generally unappealing. Both of us still feeling somewhat fatigued from the Arc weekend, we spent the day chilling out in our cottage. The TV in the living room connects up to most streaming services, so we watched a few films on Netflix before taking the dogs out for a quick leg stretch.

The Valley has its own dog walk, which you can connect up to local footpaths if you want to make a longer walk for yourself. It also has a very handy enclosed dog paddock: perfect if you want to let your dog burn off some steam on a drizzly day, when you’re not fancying a long walk! At the end of your walk, there is a great little dog wash area (including a brush and shampoo) which you can use to hose your dog down if they’ve gotten wet and muddy while you’ve been out.

Before we knew it, it was time to pack up the car and begin the long drive home. Originally, I’d planned to stop off at St Nectan’s Glen on the way home, but we actually managed to squeeze this in on our drive down to registration for the Arc during our stay at Mill End Hotel. This short walk visits a pretty waterfall via a short section of road walking and a woodland trail, and is a great option if you’d prefer a walk no longer than an hour or two.

The walk starts from a small pay and display car park, with a twenty minute or so walk along a quiet road (we didn’t see any cars) before following a riverside woodland trail for about a mile. Generally this is pretty easy walking, but there is a short steep section just before you get to the attraction itself. At St Nectan’s Glen, as well as the waterfall (which there is a charge to see), there’s a large cafe serving hot food, a children’s play area and a gift shop.

We had the whole place practically to ourselves, although with this set up I imagine it gets mobbed in summer. Dogs are welcome both at the waterfall and in the cafe (who were very lovely to us when Coal had a meltdown at the person who brought our food over), and while there are signs up asking for them to be kept on leads in the woods, at least there are no stiles! The river is accessible for much of the walk and both of ours appreciated being able to have a paddle.

We arrived home feeling happily exhausted, having thoroughly enjoyed our stay and 10 days exploring the South West. Although the weather for the last few days of our trip wasn’t ideal, the beautiful conditions over the weekend more than made up for a bit of drizzle. We would absolutely love to return to The Valley in the future: of all of the different places we’ve stayed in Cornwall, it’s by far the most comfortable, spacious and well located for exploring all that the county has to offer. Reading through the guest book in our cottage it certainly seems like we’re not the only people to think this, with many comments referring to third or even fourth visits to this cracking holiday park.

Dog friendly rating – 5/5. From the doggy welcome pack with balls, treats and tags to attach to their collars with the park’s contact details, to the dog walk and wash down area, The Valley is a great option for dog owners. Both of our dogs settled so well and had plenty of space, and the enclosed garden was a godsend for letting the dogs out for a wee without having to get out of my pyjamas on a morning or evening! The secure paddock is another bonus for dog owners staying here, perfect for when the weather doesn’t play along with plans for a long walk.

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