BUDE'S not obscure

Cornwall's north coast is the pride of the county, home to a magnificent array of wide beaches and sheltered bays, as Susan Taylor discovers

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I like Cornwall very much. It is not England. It is bare and dark and elemental.” So wrote DH Lawrence while living there in the early 1900s. And I have to agree - I like Cornwall very much and find it elemental and wild.

But we also discovered a gentler, calmer side to the region, staying at Bude, on the northern coast, last September. Yes, there are surfers' waves and tales of smuggling in times past, but there are also buckets and spades and crabbing lines, golden sandy beaches for relaxing on and seas made for paddling in - North Cornwall really does have it all.

Our base during this tour, Upper Lynstone Camping & Caravan Park, caters for all, too. A large field for dog walks, another taking you to the South West Coast Path and those famously rugged cliffs, and the resort of Bude itself, where surfers can ride the waves, and buckets and spades can be deployed on the long stretches of sand.

At least they can in the summer - we were staying towards the end of the season, and the weather wasn’t conducive to beach activities or bathing. In fact, our first foray into town turned out rather wet.

An easy 20-minute walk from the campsite found us crossing Bude Canal to The Wharf on the edge of town. Here there are independent shops to explore, as well as a farmer’s and craft market (currently only on Fridays), Bude Harbour, and the Olive Tree Café.

We called into the café for a late breakfast, hunkered down outdoors under a large umbrella and watching the world go by as we ate - some, like us, savouring the morning, others rushing onwards, no doubt to get ahead of the weather, which was closing in.