Cornwall’s best food & drink: foodie experiences

Cornish pasties – meat- and veg-filled pastry shells that started life as fuel for miners, and a Cornish cream tea consisting of scones smothered in jam and world-renowned Cornish clotted cream.

For drinks, don’t leave without trying the locally-made sparkling wines, ciders and artisan gins.

You can visit most of the farms, distilleries and breweries to see the produce being made. See our recommendations below.

Whatever the season your sojourn, you can stock up on fresh goodies to eat or take home at a Farmers Market close by, with many hosting weekly events for much of the year.

Top picks include Sennen, St Ives, Bude, Pendeen, Helston and Truro. Fill your boots (and reusable carrier bags) with anything from the odd piece of art and craft to meats, hand-made farmstead cheeses, free-range poultry, eggs, fruit, vegetables and locally made fare such as chocolate, bread and cakes.

For top-notch eating and drinking, head to Padstow (which is home to four Rick Stein restaurants plus Paul Ainsworth at Number 6) or Falmouth’s Discovery Quay area. Watergate Bay near Newquay is usually a lively spot, with both Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall and The Beach Hut, and there are other great beach cafés in Bude, St Ives, Sennen Cove, Falmouth, and on the Rame Peninsula.

Cornwall is liberally scattered with traditional pubs, many serving local ales, ciders and micro-brews. Newquay is Cornwall’s party town, but with a lairy, binge-drinking scene, it’s best avoided.