Jon Murray takes a trip down memory lane with a return visit to Cornwall and likes what he discovers there

I’m not really into toilet humour, but it was hard to avoid it when I was a teenager and my parents and I moved across Cornwall from Looe to Flushing.

My father, a graphic artist, even sketched a lavatory cistern on the ‘Moving Home’ stationery we sent to friends and relatives as we left picturesque West Looe in the east of the county, and a short ferry journey to the town’s main shops in East Looe, to the similarly pretty Flushing, a longer ferry journey across the Fal estuary to any shops of note in Falmouth.

So when the opportunity arose to return to Looe and stay just a couple of fields away from where I used to live, I jumped at it.

The Fieldhead Hotel has recently been done up, having featured in the first episode of this summer’s series of Hotel Inspector, and it is now a very fine establishment indeed. It was always one of the town’s better hotels, with customers returning year after year.

But when Alex Polizzi came in with her TV crew and delivered suggestions to greatly improve the place, which she thought was looking stale and in places old-fashioned, most were accepted, and some were met with despair by its proprietor, Julian Peck.

The disagreements between the two of them, especially over the hotel’s seemingly mind-blowingly complicated tariff card, made, admittedly, for good television, even if Julian did come across as stubborn and dyed-in-the-wool.

What came across more than anything, though, was the magnificence of the views from the hotel, across to Looe Island, and I was eager to see if in real life they matched what we saw on the box. They more than did that.

Arriving at The Fieldhead when the sun was beating down and glistening on the sea, you would have thought we were in the south of France.

My wife Maria and I were warmly greeted at reception by Julian, whose face I immediately recognised from the episode of Hotel Inspector which we had seen a few weeks before.

He took us into the lounge, and the seaward part of this room is simply amazing, a large bay window making the best of the view, and the special light that deflects off the sea, enhanced by the fact that The Fieldhead is on a hill.

The view from the balcony of our room, similarly across Hannafore to Looe Island, was equally special. Also called St George’s Island, the more commonly named Looe Island used to remind me of Enid Blyton’s Island of Adventure. Far from being explored by excited kids The Famous Five, though, it was bought by two women, Babs and Evelyn Atkins, who lived on it and wrote two books about the experience. Both have now died and the island was bequeathed to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, who are preserving it as a nature reserve in perpetuity.

We also took an early look at the hotel’s small but beautifully tended gardens, and outdoor swimming pool, which we knew we would make use of.

There are plenty of things to do in the town, so we walked down to West Looe to catch the little ferry across to East.

Some of the shops and cafes in East Looe are a bit tacky, but the little beach is not bad if you have young children.

One of the first items on our agenda was to buy an ice cream. There were no shortage of outlets, selling Kelly’s, Roskilly’s and Callestick Farm ice creams, each of them a cut above the Walls and Lyons Maid of yesteryear.

We’d made up our minds on one day of our holiday to walk along the coast path to Polperro, which is about four miles, and then to get a boat back; and on another day to re-visit The Lost Gardens of Heligan, about 40 minutes away by car, and both were great experiences.

Oxford Mail:

There are some sections of this short stretch of coast path that are very pretty, and it is undoubtedly the best way to arrive in Polperro, where parking can be a nightmare.

Having a drink in the gardens, amid some beautiful sculptures and works of art, at the Talland Bay Hotel, made a welcome and very pleasant halfway stop on the walk.

We had last been to Heligan about 12 years ago, and a considerable amount of money and work has gone into it during that time, making the gardens stunningly beautiful. The Jungle is my favourite area with exotic plants, leaves the size of a small car, and vistas that make you feel like you are in Borneo rather than England.

Back in Looe, we took a welcome dip in The Fieldhead’s heated outdoor pool.

“We have wonderful loyal guests who come back year after year,” said Julian, who has owned the hotel for ten years.

“So many people have watched the Hotel Inspector episode and I had some wonderful emails afterwards. It does seem we have come out rather nicely from it.”

FACTFILE

Fieldhead Hotel: 01503 262689 or fieldheadhotel.co.uk
The Fieldhead now has an Excellence certificate from Tripadvisor and it is 9.2 on the Booking.com website, the highest in Looe
Lost Gardens of Heligan, Pentewan, near St Austell: 01726 845100 or heligan.com