Tricky things hotels. It’s hard to get the right combination of fun and family alongside romantic and relaxing. Difficult to provide everyone’s perfect getaway-from-it break.
Enter the Watergate Bay Hotel.
We start our romantic minibreak for two by enjoying smoothies and making our own waffles at breakfast – it might help that we’re big kids at heart but everyone else seems to be enjoying it too. Suitably stuffed, we waddle out onto the beach to admire the view and let digestion happen for a while before donning wetsuits and hitting the surf with our wooden bellyboards for some wave-play. Serious surfers (and serious tryers) can hire boards or take lessons at the Extreme Academy, whilst less energetic types will enjoy sitting on the sand, with an ice cream in their hand – or a cocktail at the Beach Hut. One of the clever things is that all the services are linked to the hotel – so you can charge everything to your room and save the need for carrying pesky cash in your bathing suit.
Once we’ve had our fill of a beach feels like our own private playground (not because it’s empty, but because we’ve stepped out of the hotel and right onto it) we leave the wetsuits in the hotel’s storage room (ask for a padlock at reception) and head up to enjoy a read and a dip in Swim Club. This area of the hotel perfectly demonstrates the joy of balance – with dedicated times when it’s a child-free zone, so everyone can feel like they belong. If you are here on a family break there’s a Kid’s Club too, and a Teen zone, with lots of activities as well as a dedicated, supervised space that younger members of the family can call their own.
The Watergate Bay Hotel is the sort of place you don’t need to worry – just go with the well-organised flow. It’s still family-owned and it feels like someone is paying real attention to the details. Sandy feet on the lovely, carpeted staircase is part of the charm and adds to the feel of a decadent seaside stay (although I hate to think how many times a day they must have to vacuum!)
We choose to round off our day with a wonderful meal at Jamie Oliver’s fifteen Cornwall, with the beautiful Bay as a backdrop (tip: book early so you can see the view before it goes dark and ask for a window seat – they can’t always accommodate but they will do their best). Alternatives include a burger or great steak at the laid-back Beach Hut down by the sand, or a shared dish in the Living Space. Or book table at the new Zacry’s restaurant, named after the little rocks you can see at the south end of the beach.
Then it’s back to our cheery, beachy room to drift off wrapped in quality cotton. And dreams of not having to go back to the real world…
Adventures in Cornwall 