HOLIDAYS IN PORTLOE

Like Port Isaac, Portloe must rank as one of Cornwall’s most attractive coastal villages, largely because it has escaped unsuitable development and remains truly unspoilt. Sir John Betjeman called it “one of the least spoiled and most impressive of Cornish fishing villages”, and little has changed since.

The village is squeezed into a steep, narrow valley below the dark cliffs on the western side of Veryan Bay. Slate-hung and whitewashed cottages tumble down to a tiny harbour, where a stream runs out across the slipway and a few fishing boats are hauled up above the tide. Looking at the narrow, rocky entrance, it is hard to imagine how a fishery was ever run from here – yet Portloe has been a fishing village for centuries, and crab and lobster boats still go out today.

At the top of the slipway stands The Lugger, a 17th-century inn with a smuggling past that is now a hotel and restaurant, and a little way up the hill the Ship Inn is the village pub. There are no amusements or souvenir shops – just the cove, the cliffs and some of the finest coastal walking in Cornwall.

Portloe is a lovely place for a quiet family holiday or a walking break. Children can explore the rock pools and watch the fishing boats come and go, and the big National Trust beaches at Carne and Pendower are a short drive away for a day on the sand. The cove itself is a working harbour with no lifeguards, so take care around the boats and the rocks.

The South West Coast Path runs right through the village – east to Portholland and Caerhays, and west over the Jacka and round Nare Head, one of the great viewpoints of the Roseland. Inland, the lanes lead to Veryan, famous for its round houses, and on to Tregony, St Mawes and Truro.

Film and television fans may recognise the village too – it was the setting for The Camomile Lawn and Wild West. For somewhere to stay, see Portloe holiday cottages and holidays and short breaks in Portloe.

Best Time to Visit Portloe

Spring is glorious, with primroses and bluebells on the cliffs and the gardens at Caerhays in flower just along the coast. Summer brings warm evenings and calm days for swimming and rock pooling, but the car park is small, so arrive early. Autumn and winter are wild and peaceful, with big seas breaking at the harbour mouth and empty coast path walks.

The little beach is only uncovered at low tide, so check the tide times if you want to explore the rock pools.

THE FISHING COVE

The name Portloe comes from the Cornish Porthlogh – porth, a cove or harbour, and logh, an inlet or pool. Its sheltered position made it a natural landing place, and in the 17th and 18th centuries the village grew as a pilchard fishing port, with a seine fishery, a small drift fleet and trading ketches that landed and loaded cargoes on the beach.

The pilchards have long gone, but Portloe is still a working cove. A small number of boats fish all year for crab and lobster in Veryan and Gerrans Bays, and are hauled up the slipway on winches beside The Lugger. In summer they are joined by a fleet of small leisure boats. Kayaks and small dinghies can launch from the slipway, but harbour fees apply and the fishing boats always have priority.

The harbour mouth is narrow and rocky, and in an easterly gale the sea breaks right into the cove – one reason why the lifeboat stationed here from 1870 was withdrawn in 1887 without ever being launched to a rescue.

PORTLOE BEACH

Portloe’s beach is a tiny cove of sand and shingle inside the harbour, uncovered as the tide falls. It is a sheltered spot for a paddle, a swim in clear water on a calm day or an hour exploring the rock pools, and children love watching the boats being hauled up the slipway.

It is, though, a working harbour: there are no lifeguards, the cove shelves into deep water, and swimmers should keep well clear of the boats and the harbour mouth. Keep away from the foot of the cliffs and watch the rising tide.

For a bigger beach, the National Trust sands at Carne and Pendower, which join at low tide, are a short drive west, and the little coves at Portholland and Porthluney Cove are to the east. See our Portloe beach guide and the beaches of the Roseland Peninsula.

Check the Met Office beach forecast and tide times before you go – the beach is covered at high tide.

HISTORY OF PORTLOE

For centuries Portloe was a fishing and farming hamlet in the parish of Veryan. Its sheltered cove made it a successful fishing port in the 17th and 18th centuries, when pilchards were landed, salted and pressed in the village, and goods such as coal and lime were brought in by sea and unloaded on the beach.

Its remote position also made Portloe a favourite with smugglers, who landed French brandy on the beach. The Lugger, built as an inn in the 17th century, was notorious as a smugglers’ haunt; it lost its licence at the end of the 19th century, when its landlord was hanged for his part in the trade, and was used for some years as a boatbuilder’s yard before being restored as the village hotel.

In the 19th century a row of coastguard cottages was built in the older part of the village, a Methodist chapel was built, and in 1870 the RNLI opened a lifeboat station here. The steep hill down to the slipway made launching very difficult, and the station closed in 1887; the old lifeboat house was rebuilt and extended around 1890 and is now Portloe’s church.

The pilchard fishery faded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but the village kept its boats, and today Portloe lies within the Cornwall National Landscape, with much of the surrounding coast, including the Jacka and Nare Head, cared for by the National Trust.

Key Buildings

• The Lugger – the 17th-century former smugglers’ inn at the top of the slipway, now a hotel and restaurant.
• Portloe Church – the former lifeboat house of 1870, rebuilt and extended around 1890 as a Church of England church, in slatestone with granite dressings; Grade II listed.
• Portloe Methodist Church – the mid 19th-century chapel with its front wall and railings, Grade II listed.
• The coastguard cottages – a whitewashed terrace of the 1850s tucked against the cliff in the older part of the village.
• The Ship Inn – the village pub on the hill above the cove.

PORTLOE FILMING GUIDE

With its tiny harbour, steep lanes and unspoilt cottages, Portloe has been a favourite with film and television crews for more than sixty years.

• Crooks in Cloisters (filmed 1963) – the comedy starring Ronald Fraser and Barbara Windsor used Portloe as a location; The Lugger can be clearly seen at the end of the film.
• The Camomile Lawn (1992) – the television serial of Mary Wesley’s wartime novel, set in Cornwall, used Portloe and Veryan as its main locations.
• Wild West (BBC, 2002–2004) – the sitcom starring Dawn French and Catherine Tate, set in a remote Cornish village, was filmed in Portloe.
• Irish Jam (2006) – the comedy starring Eddie Griffin was filmed in the village.
• About Time (2013) – Richard Curtis’s romantic comedy was partly filmed at Portloe in 2012, with other scenes shot along the coast at Porthpean near St Austell.

NOTABLE PEOPLE

• Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984) – the Poet Laureate and champion of Cornwall, who described Portloe as one of the least spoiled and most impressive Cornish fishing villages.
• Dawn French – the actor and writer, who starred alongside Catherine Tate in the BBC comedy Wild West, filmed in the village.
• Richard Curtis – the screenwriter and director, whose film About Time (2013) was partly filmed at Portloe.

COAST PATH WALKS

The South West Coast Path passes right through Portloe, and both directions are among the most dramatic – and strenuous – stretches of the Roseland coast. Heading west, the path climbs out of the village over the National Trust headland of the Jacka, then follows the cliffs past Broom Parc and Kiberick Cove to Nare Head, with views of Gull Rock and right across Gerrans Bay. Beyond lie the sands of Carne and Pendower, some four to five miles from Portloe.

Heading east, the path switchbacks up and down through a series of steep valleys for about two miles to Portholland, then continues to Porthluney Cove and Caerhays Castle. A popular circular walk goes one way along the coast and returns over the farmland inland.

• Portloe & Tregenna circular walk (South West Coast Path)
• Falmouth to Portloe (South West Coast Path)
• Portloe to Mevagissey (South West Coast Path)
• Portholland to Portloe circular walk (iWalk Cornwall)
• St Anthony Head walk – Cornwall Online
• Walking in Cornwall – Cornwall Online walks

THINGS TO DO IN AND AROUND PORTLOE

Portloe is a place for simple pleasures – watching the boats, exploring the rock pools, walking the cliffs and lingering over a meal with a view of the cove. For families, the big sandy beaches at Carne and Pendower are perfect for a day by the sea. On rainy days, the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Truro’s cathedral and museum, the Eden Project and Mevagissey are all within a drive.

1. Watch the fishing boats come in and be winched up the slipway.
2. Walk out to Nare Head for views of Gull Rock and Gerrans Bay, and see the Cold War bunker.
3. Walk the coast path east to Portholland and Caerhays.
4. Spend a day on the beach at Carne and Pendower.
5. Visit Veryan and its famous round houses – Veryan guide.
6. See Caerhays Castle gardens in spring.
7. Discover the Roseland – St Mawes, St Just in Roseland and St Anthony Head – The Roseland Peninsula.
8. Visit the Lost Gardens of Heligan – Lost Gardens of Heligan.
9. Explore Mevagissey and Gorran Haven – Mevagissey guide.
10. Find the film locations of The Camomile Lawn and Wild West – see the filming guide.

LOCAL EVENTS

• Caerhays spring garden season (spring) – the gardens at Caerhays Castle, along the coast, open to visitors at the height of the magnolia, camellia and rhododendron season.
• Mevagissey Feast Week (late June) – a week of music, processions and harbour events in Mevagissey.
• Fowey Royal Regatta (mid to late August) – one of Cornwall’s best-known regattas, further along the coast.

Dates change from year to year – check local noticeboards and the Caerhays website for this year’s events.

PLACES NEAR PORTLOE

• Veryan – the village of round houses, about a mile and a half inland, with a shop and post office.
• Portholland – the twin hamlets two miles east along the coast path.
• Caerhays and Porthluney Cove – the castle, gardens and sandy beach beyond Portholland.
• Tregony – the old market town on the River Fal, about five miles inland.
• St Mawes – the harbour village at the tip of the Roseland, with its Tudor castle.
• Mevagissey and Gorran Haven – the fishing villages beyond the Dodman.
• Truro and St Austell – the nearest towns, around 10 and 12 miles away.