Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall: family-friendly hotels

By Simon Briggs Published: 11:13AM GMT 04 March 2010

Previous of Images Next The Bedruthan Steps Hotel overlooks the seashore at�Mawgan Porth "The customary bedrooms might be no some-more than functional, but the series of diversions on suggest equates to that summer bookings have to be made�a year in advance"

The initial thing you think, as you spin the hook in the highway and see the Bedruthan Steps Hotel, is "Oh my goodness, what have I requisitioned here?"

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The cinema on the website show emerald swimming pools, a large sauna and a fantastic north Cornish beach. What they do not show is the front of the building, that resembles a Seventies hospital.

Still, it doesn"t take prolonged for the feeling of ascent be scared to subside. By the time you arrive at reception, you have walked past sufficient noticeboards to know that the roller is perfect, the children"s bar is out on a inlet travel and there will be salsa lessons after dinner.

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Bedruthan Steps, unaware the seashore at Mawgan Porth, is not built for show. (If you wish glamour, ramble a hundred yards down the highway to Scarlet, the adults-only highway house owned by the same contingent of sisters.) Rather, it is an upmarket legal legal legal holiday review for stressed-out relatives and their children. The customary bedrooms might be no some-more than functional, but the series of diversions on suggest equates to that summer bookings have to be done a year in advance.

Let"s take the immature kids first. Or, rather, let"s palm "em over to a little eager immature childminders. Split in to opposite age groups, the Penguins, Dolphins and Sharks begin fool around at 9.30am, giving you 3 hours" beauty for a fresh coastal walk. Or, even some-more appealingly, the possibility to have a crack at that towering of nap debt.

For the afternoon session, parenting is behind on the agenda. But the government have left out of their approach to have it as easy as possible. You"ve got pools and journey playgrounds, both indoors and out. Then, only a five-minute run down the cliff, there is Mawgan Porth beach, where the silt slopes kindly sufficient to emanate tidal channels and lagoons. On a balmy day, these comfortable up fast and they done a undiluted sourroundings for my daughters Leela, four, and Ducie, one.

Once you have all built up an appetite, it"s time for children"s dinner, that runs from 5 to 6pm and offers robust classics such as lasagne and macaroni cheese.

Were you feeling quite mean, you could happily hide a couple of starchy leftovers at this stage, and call it a night. But that would be a shame, since the dusk dish that is apart in between a family room and an adults-only grill is one of the pleasures of the hotel, with great make use of done of internal Cornish ingredients. The main dining space additionally offers a fantastic perspective of the bay. One dusk during the stay, everybody pennyless off from their dish to watch a pod of dolphins frolicking around the headland.

The hum of review is spasmodic interrupted by the hum of a pager alerting someone to the actuality that his or her brood are out of bed. The built-in intercom is one of the hotel"s quirkier aspects: any sounds from the room are relayed down to reception, that can be annoying when you dont think about to spin the complement off after dinner. At a little point the subsequent morning, a unrelenting voice will issue from the wall, indicating out your error. Even some-more alarmingly, the wires turn crossed occasionally, so that you collect up a waylay of review from somewhere else.

The most appropriate sign of any family legal legal legal holiday is what the immature kids think. My daughter Leela might be misty when it comes to embankment but she has sealed Cornwall in her mental recall bank giving it the standing of a apart country, no less and has mostly asked me when we are going back. The answer: subsequent year.

Basics

Bedruthan Steps Hotel (01637 860555; bedruthan.com); prices change according to date of revisit and age of children, but a family of four, with immature kids elderly 3 and six, staying in a sea-view highway house suite, pays from �1,522.50 a week, half board. Children"s supervised sunrise wake up clubs cost from �20 a event for 3 to twelve , �25 for underneath three. An dusk event from 7.15 to 10.15pm additionally operates during propagandize holidays. A new programme of activities for adults, teenagers and younger immature kids will be introduced at the highway house this year; it includes kayaking, presence skills, towering biking and craft-making.