The Engine Inn

Drive down to St Ives for watersports on one of its white-sand beaches – there are surf schools galore in this wave-obsessed town – or peer at the artwork in both the Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden (five minutes in the car). To eye up the birds instead travel to the RSPB Hayle Estuary 10 minutes’ drive away; if kids aren’t interested in watching out for wigeons and teals, you might rather let them flit about at the Paradise Park and Jungle Barn animal park and play centre around the same distance. Five minutes further from the park is St Michael’s Mount, best visited at low tide to cross over the bay and onto the isle by foot, while the Geevor Tin Mine’s educational underground tours take 25 minutes to reach.