The Harbour Hotel

The Island

by sandysmith

The Island has been a private residence for many years and is now a tea-garden, reached by a suspension bridge, modelled, it is said, on the Clifton bridge over the Avon at Bristol. We had a lovely view over this area from our Hotel.

Surfers paradise - or is it???

by carlrea

"Newquay - into the unknown"

I visited Newquay during the Summer of 2003 and having been to St Ives 2 months previous i was looking forward to something a little more lively - and boy was it lively.
Three of us went and booked a caravan at the Smugglers Haven caravan park (more about that below). To be honest during the day Newquay was nice. Just hanging out at bars having a couple of drinks and chilling on the beach However when the sun sets then i am afraid it is all downhill from there on.
I visited Newquay a few years previously and it had changed so much i mean dont get me wrong i will go out have a few beers and dare i say it get a little drunk from time to time but nothing could prepare me for what i was seeing on any a typical night. I dont think i have ever seen so many drunks in my life they were vomiting openly in the streets urinating against walls in full view of other people and the numerous fights and brawls that we saw (John Wayne would've been proud) The young ladies did not fare much better either. The weather was great and the surrounding areas of Newquay are nice but to be honest i would not go back there until the loutish behaviour has been cleaned up and while they keep chucking the money behind the bars i cannot see this happening in a hurry.

"Smugglers (hell) Haven"

When we visited Newquay we booked a caravan at the Smugglers Haven campsite. Now thsi specializes in 18-30's so we were expecting the accommodation to be a little basic and the site a little noisy (i mean i was 18 years old once y'know) NOTHING and i mean nothing could prepare me when i walked into the caravan. It was an absolute toilet, i dont think i have ever seen conditions like it. The windows were filthy, as were the walls, there were holes in the walls and the interior doors were hanging off, the curtains were filthy and were hanging down, and there was a distinct damp smell all throughout the van which upon futher discovery we found out it was the matteresses and the bedding that they had supplied. On more than one occasion someone attemted to break into our caravan oh and to top it off one of the staff was operating an illiegal taxi service to and from Newquay which was her other half ferrying people for a 10 pound fee - yep i am sure his insurance woudl have covered him if we had an accident.
Couldn't wait to get out of the place and with hindsight should have demanded our money back when we got there and saw the conditions and booked into alternate accommodation. i will probably have the Cornwall tourist board onto my case but they didn't seem bothered when i wrote a letter of complaint to them as neither was the park.