Holidays in Crantock, Cornwall – Crantock Beach, the Gannel & the Village

HOLIDAYS IN CRANTOCK

Crantock is a small, old village on the North Cornwall coast, about two miles south-west of Newquay, across the tidal estuary of the River Gannel. It is the kind of place many visitors hope to find in Cornwall – thatched cottages and a village green, two pubs by the churchyard, an ancient church founded by a Celtic saint, and, a short walk away through the dunes, one of the finest beaches on this stretch of coast.

Crantock Beach is a wide, north-facing bay of golden sand, owned and cared for by the National Trust and backed by high dunes and the grassy plateau of Rushy Green. The Gannel winds across the sand at its northern end, the headlands of West Pentire and Pentire Point East frame the bay, and at low tide there are rock pools, caves and acres of firm sand to explore. Dogs are welcome all year, and RNLI lifeguards patrol in season.

For all its quiet charm, Crantock is right on the doorstep of Newquay. In summer you can cross the Gannel by footbridge or foot ferry and be in Fistral and the town within the hour, then come home to a peaceful village in the evening. Holywell Bay, the National Trust manor of Trerice and the surf beaches of the Newquay coast are all a few minutes away by car.

The village has a long history. Its old name was Langurroc, “the dwelling of the monks”, and according to tradition the 6th-century saint Carantoc landed in the Gannel and founded a religious community here. In the Middle Ages Crantock had a college of canons, and the church of St Carantoc is famous today for its Edwardian woodcarving, described by the historian Charles Henderson as “the best adorned church in Cornwall”.

Walkers are spoilt for choice. The South West Coast Path runs around the edge of the parish, from the Gannel past the beach to West Pentire, whose fields of poppies and corn marigolds are one of the sights of the Cornish summer, and on to the hidden cove of Porth Joke and Holywell Bay. Inland, quiet footpaths follow the wooded shores of the Gannel and Penpol Creek, where old quays recall the river’s working past.

Holiday accommodation in and around the village includes cottages, farmhouses and several large holiday parks, making Crantock a popular base for family holidays – see Crantock holiday cottages and holidays and short breaks in Crantock.

Best Time to Visit Crantock

Late spring and early summer are perhaps the loveliest times of all: the dunes are green, the beach is quiet outside the school holidays, and from late May into July the arable fields on West Pentire are bright with poppies. July and August bring lifeguards, the Gannel ferry and the busiest days on the beach, so arrive early for the car park.

September is a favourite month for many visitors, with warm seas, quieter sands and the village’s own Crantock Bale Push. In autumn and winter the beach is wild and empty, perfect for long walks with the dog, and the village pubs are welcoming on a stormy evening. Remember that the Gannel ferry and some cafés only run in season.

CRANTOCK BEACH

Crantock Beach stretches for well over half a mile between the low cliffs of West Pentire and the mouth of the Gannel, with Pentire Point East and Newquay’s Fistral headland rising on the far side of the river. Behind the sand, dunes up to 20 metres high give way to Rushy Green, an undulating grassy plateau crossed by sandy paths. The whole beach and dune system belongs to the National Trust, and it has a wilder, more open feel than the busy town beaches of Newquay.

It is a great family beach, with space for cricket and kite-flying even in August, rock pools and caves along the edge of West Pentire at low tide, and gentle waves that suit learner surfers and bodyboarders. RNLI lifeguards patrol in the main season: bathe and bodyboard between the red and yellow flags, and surf between the black and white chequered flags. Dogs are welcome all year, though they should be kept under control, especially on Rushy Green where livestock may be grazing.

Take care by the Gannel. The river mouth at the northern end of the beach is not a safe place to swim – tidal currents in the channel can be strong and unpredictable, and the riverbed sand can be soft. Stay well back from the edges of the dunes too: after storms they can leave sheer drops, and part of the dunes collapsed in June 2023. Always follow the lifeguards’ advice and the signs on the beach.

The beach is reached by a sandy path through the dunes from the National Trust car park at the end of Beach Road, about half a mile from the village, with toilets and baby-changing in the car park and a coffee hut, Flotsam Coffee, open all year. On the west side of the beach, a cave in a gully known as Piper’s Hole hides one of Crantock’s curiosities – a carving of a woman’s face, a horse and a short poem, which can only be reached at low tide (see History). For full beach details see our Crantock Beach guide.

THE GANNEL & CROSSING TO NEWQUAY

The River Gannel forms the boundary between Crantock and Newquay. At high tide it is a broad, sheltered estuary, busy with kayaks and paddleboards; at low tide it shrinks to a stream winding between sandbanks and saltmarsh. The estuary has been a Marine Conservation Zone since 2016, and it is a fine place for birdwatching, with little egrets, curlews and other wading birds feeding along the margins.

The Gannel was once a working river. In the days of tin mining and the great pilchard fisheries it was dredged so that schooners and barges could carry cargoes upriver, and at Penpol Creek, just below the village, old quays, steps, mooring rings and a lime kiln can still be seen at low tide. Goods were carried on by packhorse to Trevemper, at the head of the estuary, where an old packhorse bridge still crosses the river.

Crossing to Newquay on foot takes a little planning. Several tidal footbridges cross the river, including one below the Trenance boating lake, and they can be used for about two hours either side of low tide. In summer (from about late May to mid-September) the bridge at Fern Pit below Pentire Point East is the main crossing, and when the tide covers it an on-demand foot ferry runs during the day. Always check tide times and the ferry’s current hours before you set out – and never try to wade the river when the tide is coming in.

THINGS TO DO IN CRANTOCK

Most days in Crantock start and end on the beach, but there is much more to the village than sand and surf. Wander the lanes around the church and the village green, look for the old stocks in the churchyard, and stop at one of the village’s two pubs by the lychgate, the thatched Old Albion and The Cornishman.

For families, the rock pools at low tide, the dunes of Rushy Green, crabbing and paddling in the Gannel and a ferry ride across the river to Newquay make for easy, happy days, while the attractions of Newquay – the aquarium, the zoo and the Lappa Valley Steam Railway – are only a short drive away. On rainy days, head for Trerice, Newquay or further afield to the Eden Project.

For walkers, the coast path leads west past West Pentire and Porth Joke to Holywell Bay, and east along the Gannel to Penpol Creek and Trevemper. Here are some of the best things to do in and around Crantock.

1. Spend a day on Crantock Beach – surfing, rock pooling and dune walks on the National Trust sands. Crantock Beach guide.
2. Cross the Gannel to Newquay by footbridge or summer ferry, for Fistral Beach and the town.
3. See the poppy fields at West Pentire in early summer, then walk down to Porth Joke.
4. Visit St Carantoc’s Church, with its Norman font and remarkable Edwardian woodcarving.
5. Find the carving in Piper’s Hole on the west side of the beach – at low tide only.
6. Walk the Gannel to Penpol Creek and see the old quays and lime kiln of the river’s working past.
7. Walk on to Holywell Bay along the coast path, past Kelsey Head and the Gull Rocks – see Holywell Bay beach.
8. Visit Trerice, the Elizabethan manor house of the National Trust, a few miles inland – Trerice guide.
9. Learn to surf on the gentler waves of Crantock, or try Newquay’s famous breaks – see our Newquay surf guide.
10. Ride the Lappa Valley Steam Railway near St Newlyn East – Lappa Valley guide.

WEST PENTIRE, PORTH JOKE & THE COAST PATH

West Pentire, the headland on the south-western side of Crantock Beach, is one of the best places in Cornwall to see arable wildflowers. The National Trust manages its fields as a nature reserve rather than a working farm: each year half of every field is ploughed in autumn and left fallow, so that poppies and corn marigolds can flower, while the other half is sown with barley that is left unharvested as winter food for birds. The displays are usually at their best from late May into July, though they vary with the weather – there are fewer poppies after a very wet winter.

The National Trust has no car park on the headland, so use the private car parks at West Pentire or walk up from Crantock Beach or the village. From the fields, paths drop down to Porth Joke, also known as Polly Joke, a small, unspoilt cove in a narrow valley between West Pentire and Kelsey Head, entirely surrounded by National Trust land. It has no facilities, which is a large part of its charm.

Beyond Porth Joke the South West Coast Path climbs over Kelsey Head, where seals are often seen off the rocks, and drops down to the dunes and the Gull Rocks of Holywell Bay. A circular walk from Crantock taking in West Pentire, Porth Joke and the Gannel makes a superb half-day outing. Paths are sandy and uneven in places, and the cliff edges are unfenced, so keep children and dogs close.

HISTORY OF CRANTOCK

People have lived around the Gannel for thousands of years – Mesolithic activity has been dated beside the estuary – but Crantock’s story really begins with the Celtic saints. Tradition tells that a missionary oratory was founded here in the 5th century, and that the 6th-century saint Carantoc came ashore in the sheltered Gannel and built a simple chapel near a well, on the spot now marked by the Round Garden in the centre of the village. The settlement became known as Langurroc, “the dwelling of the monks”, and a legend says that the original town of Langarrow lies buried beneath the dunes, overwhelmed by a great sandstorm.

By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 Crantock was held by the canons of St Carantoc. In 1236 Bishop Briwere of Exeter refounded it as a collegiate church, with a dean and canons, and the chancel was enlarged to serve them. The church tower collapsed onto the nave in 1412 and was rebuilt, but the college itself was dissolved in 1549, and for the next three centuries the church was neglected, until by the late 19th century it was close to ruin.

Its rescue began when Father George Metford Parsons arrived in 1894. Between 1899 and 1907 the church was restored, mainly by the architect Edmund H. Sedding, and furnished with superb carving by the Pinwill sisters of Plymouth. Through the 19th and early 20th centuries Crantock also became a place of seaside holidays, and it was in this period that the London artist Joseph Prater, visiting relatives in the village, carved the figure of a woman in the cave at Piper’s Hole; the horse beside her was added by James Dyer of Crantock in the 1940s, and the poem was re-cut and the horse given a tail in 2011. Romantic stories link the carving to a drowned lover, but its real meaning is unknown.

KEY BUILDINGS & LANDMARKS

• St Carantoc’s Church – Grade I listed, with 12th-century work in the transepts, a tower rebuilt after its collapse in 1412, a 12th-century font (later carved with the date 1474), a 16th-century carved door to the rood stair, a silver chalice of 1576, and a rood screen, rood loft and bench ends carved by the Pinwill sisters during the restoration of 1899–1907.
• The churchyard stocks – 17th-century village stocks, now sheltered under a small gabled roof, beside a medieval stone coffin and a granite cross on a base probably older than the Norman Conquest.
• The Round Garden – the round orchard in the centre of the village, by tradition the site of St Carantoc’s first chapel; the village bus stop is beside it.
• St Carantoc’s Well and St Ambrusca’s Well – two old holy wells, one in the village centre and one beside Beach Road, the latter with a modern door depicting the saint.
• The Old Albion – the partly thatched pub by the church lychgate, which claims a long history of smuggling.
• Penpol Creek quays and lime kiln – remains of the Gannel’s days as a working river, visible at low tide.

LOCAL EVENTS & THE CRANTOCK BALE PUSH

Crantock’s own great day is the Crantock Bale Push, held on a Friday evening in September. Teams race straw bales around the closed roads of the village, in junior, ladies’, open and “180s” races (where a team’s ages must add up to 180), cheered on by big crowds, with a barbecue, stalls and live music. Since it began in 2000 the Bale Push has raised more than £170,000 for local groups and charities.

• Crantock Bale Push (September, a Friday evening) – bale racing, music and a barbecue in the village.
• Poppy fields at West Pentire (late May to July) – not an event, but one of the highlights of the Crantock year.
• Boardmasters (early August) – the surf, skate and music festival in nearby Newquay.
• Royal Cornwall Show (June) – the county’s great agricultural show at Wadebridge.

Dates change from year to year – check our Cornwall events guide for current dates.

PLACES NEAR CRANTOCK

• Newquay – Cornwall’s surf capital, just across the Gannel, with Fistral, the town beaches and the harbour.
• Holywell Bay – dunes, the Gull Rocks and a holy well, about 2½ miles west by the coast path.
• Perranporth – three miles of sand and the Penhale dunes, about 7 miles south-west.
• St Agnes – the old mining village and its cove, with clifftop engine houses.
• Mawgan Porth – a sheltered surf beach north of Newquay, near Bedruthan Steps.
• Padstow – the famous harbour town on the Camel estuary, about 40 minutes’ drive.