Basset Arms (Cornwall)

The Hub is located by Portreath beach and offers Bike Hire and a Coffee Shop.

The Portreath Beach Cafe is located at the edge of the car park overlooking Portreath beach, Serves breakfast, lunch, coffee and drinks.

Portreath beach is a gently shelving sandy beach on Cornwall’s north coast. The bay has high cliffs on either side along with a small working harbour. The name Portreath means “sandy cove” and Portreath harbour is steeped in history as it exported copper and imported coal to support the Cornish copper mines and also some shipbuilding. At low tide, this is a large flat sandy beach but when the tide comes in the beach is split into two with a small cove to the west and the main area in front of the car park. You will not see so many surfers as on some other beaches on this stretch of coast but you can get a powerful wave alongside the harbour wall. What it is is a great safe family beach very popular for bodyboarding and at low tide you can get some good rock pools to explore by harbour wall. Facilities at the beach include car parking, toilets, ramp access, seasonal lifeguards, beach cafe, pubs, shops including surf hire and the Portreath Surf Life Saving Club.

Gooden Heane Cove is a sandy beach with some rock pools to explore. The cove is named after Gooden Heane Rock that sits just off the beach. A large car park on Lighthouse Hill is just above the cove and it also walkable from Portreath town, although you can’t get down to the beach as vertical rock faces. The only access is really by boat or kayak from Portreath beach around Horse Rock by the harbour entrance.

Smuggler’s Cove and Western Cove are sandy beaches with rocks. Good views from the coast path but no access down to the beach. At mid to low tide you can access the cove from Portreath beach either by walking around the headland, through a small tunnel or by canoe, although you need to be aware of the tides as you could be cut off. The collapsed sea cave is known as Ralph’s Cupboard where openings in the rock were used to store contraband, hence the name Smuggler’s cove. The most famous smuggler being Ralph, hence Ralph’s Cupboard. Facilities are within the town of Portreath the other side of Western Hill.