Delight doubled

Self-catering v hotel holidays? It doesn’t have to be an either/or choice, says David Kernek 

#SELF-CATERING holidays are great, giving you the flexibility, privacy, and freedom that hotels and B&Bs can’t offer, but there’s a but: there are times when the last thing you want when on holiday is a home from home, and the tedious stuff – the routine cooking routine, washing up, putting out the rubbish – that you have to do at home. Well, I have to put the rubbish out.

That’s where hotels such as the Tregenna Castle in St. Ives – one of Cornwall’s premiere resorts – come into their own. They offer the perks and treats (restaurants, bars, swimming pools, spas, golf courses) that come with the hotel deal, along with luxury self-catering lodges dotted around their extensive grounds.

Tregenna – an 81-room hotel high on the hill overlooking the harbour – has 70 first-class lodges, cottages, and apartments across its 72-acre estate.

Built – as a very large family mansion – in 1774 and expanded 1844, the Grade II Listed Tregenna Castle was leased by the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1878, the intention being to run it not just as an old railway hotel, but as a holiday resort in its own right. (The GWR named two of its locomotives after the hotel. For train-heads, they were the Duke Class number 3280, which was Tregenna from 1897 to 1930, and Castle Class number 5006, which was given the name Tregenna Castle in 1927.)

Its ownership has changed (given the reckless dismantling of British Rail), but its function remains unchanged. Guests – both self-catering and hotel – have an 18-hole golf course, two swimming pools (outdoors and in), tennis, squash and badminton courts, a croquet lawn, a gym, a sauna, woodland walks, sub-tropical gardens, a beauty salon, an Ofsted-approved facility that there to keep children entertained and active - and out of their parents’ way – for up to £4 an hour. The hotel can arrange surfing and kite buggying sessions, and fishing trips.

The self-catering choices includes three- and four-bedroom lodges with saunas and balconies, stone cottages (one of which is called Lady Chatterley’s), apartments, and converted barns. Some of the properties have sea views and private gardens.

The walk from the hotel down to the town (named Best UK Seaside Town in the British Travel Awards in 2010 and 2011) and its harbour takes ten to 15 minutes (and a little longer on the return journey). Buses and taxis are alternatives, but try very hard to avoid driving into the town: the streets are very narrow, parking is very limited, and the harbour area is very busy.

Once there, you have four beaches, the stylish Tate St. Ives gallery, the Barbara Hepworth Museum, excellent pubs and restaurants, and the coastal views and light that has attracted artists – mainly painters and sculptors – to the town since the 1920s.

This was my first visit to #St.Ives since my honeymoon, centuries ago. I was pleased to see that – apart from the horrendously high property prices that are far beyond the reach of local people – very little has changed since then … unlike, sadly, me.

Tel: 01736 795254
E-mail: hotel@tregenna-castle.co.uk
www.tregenna-castle.co.uk

Go Holiday news : www.govillasandcottages.co.uk

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Picture Credit: www.tregenna-castle.co.uk