WE were clambering along the bare knuckle of one of Porthtowan’s cliffs when the storm hit.

Not just a dousing of English rain, but the full force of Mother Nature chasing in, throwing a whole bruised sky at us. And, with nowhere to hide, I just got soaked, took my wet jeans off and – um, how to say this without being sectioned? – listened to the voices.

Such is the power of Cornwall. I’ve always been a beach/bar kind of girl but I have now had a full-on Shirley Valentine-style lifestyle conversion.

You can stick your safe havens in sunnier climes because there’s nowhere else than along this gorgeous ragged coastline have I felt so... pagan. And for someone who is away with the fairies at the best of times, that is saying something.

Towan Valley is a family of swish, eco-style dwellings which have only recently sprouted. But far from looking like a barnacle of newness just up from the surf town, the wooden-clad apartments feel as natural as a mushroom circle – and just as magical.

Created with family play area, sedum roofs and a low carbon footprint, they are hippie heaven, but what’s more, inside, the pristine apartments are fit for a princess.

Palatial beds and all mod cons offer warm shelter from the elements... if you’ve had your fill of all that weather.

All year round, the Cornish coast is a surfer’s paradise with Porthtowan’s blue flag golden beach reputed to be the spiritual birthplace of surfing in the UK, and neighbouring St Agnes offering some of the best waves in Europe.

But out of season, Porthtowan is, I now realise, the perfect romantic getaway.

A short scramble from Towan Valley is the Blue Bar. This funky retreat plays host to die-hard sports nuts and, for the lazier visitors, offers comfy, wifi-and-chips-fuelled window seats which scoop up the seaside views. Kids are not only welcomed but embraced (no matter what time of night their slatternous parents stay drinking the bar dry).

Up on the bracken-covered cliff pathways, you won’t encounter hordes of walkers – you can roam wrapped in smugness and having this golden bracken wonderland to yourself. The pathways offer miraculous views of the scenery, dotted with ghostly shells of the tin mines which burrow into the cliffside ore. Cornwall has a tin heart – with the metal being mined here since prehistoric times and nearby Geevor Tin Mine, which was fully working until 1990, the largest preserved mining site and museum in the UK.

As for food, I now know nothing will lure you through full-on evangelical rain better than the promise of the café tucked into Chapel Porth’s smuggler cove. Here, we warmed our cockles with hot chocolate and the legendary hedgehog ice cream. This delicacy is a mound of Cornish ice cream smothered in clotted cream and dunked into hazelnuts. Yes, it’s a heart attack in a cone, but it’s worth it. And no wonder that this and the miner’s pasty are ideal fodder to keep you satisfied all day.

As well as this refreshment, we had one of the best meals of our lives in St Ives – a mere 12-mile drive away and a world away from Porthtowan.

If you’ve fallen in love with Cornwall and are planning your escape there, St Ives is where all the people who’ve had the same idea as you have landed in artistic style.

Impossibly pretty, it is also a maddeningly cool honeypot for culture vultures – not least thanks to Tate St Ives.

We arrived amid another apocalyptic storm, hunting down the informal yet multi-award-winning Porthminster Café (out on a limb under a wing of cliff) on a hot tip. It did not let us down. The Asian-infused squid was sublime, the haddock heavenly and we still sometimes rave about that sweet, small lobster.

Also worth a visit in this part of Cornwall is the Seal Sanctuary at the cute town of Gweek, which provokes squeals of delight from our four-year-old – not least for the tank of sea lions ducking and diving above us, the starfish session in the rockpools and a fairly absurd otter display.

To refresh the parts other lagers can’t reach, you’ve got to try a bottle (or five) of Truro’s own Skinner’s, which is a mellow fruity ale even non-ale drinkers such as myself will lap up (available online and at Waitrose and Tesco). Plus, it’s a truly natural blonde (as its makers at the brewery pointed out – somewhat pointedly) and is worth drinking purely for the names. Cornish Knocker or Ginger Tosser, anyone?

With the love of my life, a happy daughter and a full stomach, there is nowhere in the world I would rather be... and I still hear those voices telling me to go back.