The Cornish village that's braced for a wealthy teen invasion

For many locals and visitors alike, the seaside village of Polzeath is the Cornish dream. By day, holiday-makers eating ice-creams and pasties wander barefoot down its one main street.

- Anna Fazackerley

On the large sandy beach, the distant sea is the canvas to a mass of black dots, as children in wetsuits ride the waves with bodyboards and surfboards.

Yet now, as hordes of wealthy teenagers from independent schools across the country descend for their annual two weeks of partying before state schools break up, locals have been braced for the darker side of tourism.

This time last year, police imposed a two-day 10pm curfew after drunken late-night beach parties of around 200 teenagers got consistently out of hand. Frustrated residents woke up each day to broken prosecco bottles littering the sand; beach bonfires were loaded with benches, fences and shed doors stolen from local properties, then left to smoulder until morning; and emergency life-saving equipment was vandalised.

This year, the villagers are upping the ante. As well as a towering CCTV camera to watch the beach, they have installed rechargeable floodlights.

"We are saying, 'Yes, come and party, but at 1am the floodlights will be on the beach so they can see the mess," said Andy Stewart, a former police officer for 30 years who now battles antisocial behaviour as Polzeath's community-funded beach ranger. "We will give them bin bags to clear up and say, 'It's time for bed."