St Agnes Holiday Park

Dogfriendly Magazine Review

Read our comprehensive review of this listing printed in our bi-monthly magazine.

Name: St Agnes Holiday Park
Reviewer: Jo Southway

Dog friendly holidays conjure up images of countryside cottages with gardens and walks straight out the door. So to stay at a holiday park was something I thought would be more of a place to sleep while enjoying the surroundings, but I was wrong. 

The holiday homes at St Agnes Holiday Park, located within easy access of the A30 in Cornwall, are incredibly welcoming, with cosy furnishings and neutral colour schemes. Welcome packs were waiting for both the humans and dogs to make sure you have everything you need for your stay. Multiple bedrooms allow you to take all the family away. And the spacious open-plan living area makes it feel roomy. 

All the equipment is there waiting for you to feed your hungry holiday horde, including a fridge, cooker and microwave. When the weather is nice you can open up the doors to the decking and combine outside with in. The icing on the cake, for those that like them, is that you get your own private hot tub. 

Outside the facilities include a fenced area for your dog to have a potter. Perhaps one of the best features, especially as an owner of some fluffy dogs, is the dog shower. The last thing you need after a day at the beach or a muddy walk is to be battling dirt with a towel and getting nowhere.  For the two-legged guests, there is an on-site gym, sauna, steam room and a children’s play area. Then for the campers not in a holiday home, there is a toilet and shower block with laundry facilities. There are added extras on top.

For example, you can order a breakfast box before you arrive so everything is ready and waiting for a tasty start to the day. You can also get other treats from local companies who visit the holiday park at certain times. We tried out the Shoreline Pizzeria which was set up in the car park with their fantastic horsebox conversion. We pre-ordered our pizzas and wandered over at our allocated time slot. Communication was really easy and our pizzas were ready to collect and take back to the comfort of the holiday home to enjoy. We also enjoyed a breakfast visit from Espresso Cornwall who arrived with fresh pastries, cakes and hot drinks. We made the most of the outdoor seating on our decking area and sat with breakfast in the morning sunshine. 

If, like me, you like your holidays full of adventures you are in the middle of dog paradise. I think that this is what I found the biggest plus point of all at St Agnes is how everywhere you might want to go and explore is within reach. Whether it be investigating the north coast of Cornwall or driving east and seeing the south coast. You can head right to Land’s End or check out famous towns such as St Ives, Padstow, Penzance and Falmouth or even Cornwall’s only city of Truro. Everything just seems to be achievable in a day trip, making St Agnes a fantastic choice as your base. For me, any dog holiday in Cornwall means plenty of beach time. So, with that in mind, here are some real treasures that we found on our holiday.

First there is Crantock Beach. Dogs are allowed here all year round and the beach is huge. The car park is National Trust so free if you are a member. Up a flight of steps from the car park, you will find a café and beach shop stocking all your family essentials if you have forgotten the all-important bucket and spade.  The Beachcomber café serves small meals, snacks, cream teas and ice creams. Then on the beach itself, we found a very unique military truck selling food, drinks and ice creams. The ice creams were delicious. The next beach on our top list is Holywell Bay. 

Again, we parked in the National Trust car park and then walked through the sand dunes to the sea. Just like Crantock, dogs are allowed at Holywell all year round. Coming across the dunes on a sunny day and having the view open up onto the beautiful blue sea and golden beach is a scene that holidays are made for. The long beach has lots of room even on a busy day and on a quiet day you feel like you have it to yourself. We chose to go for a walk around the coastal path along to Kelsey Head and round to the Polly Joke. The sea is scattered with rocks and mini islands that give it a rugged feel and provides a fantastic haven for wildlife. The mini islands are home to many birds and a favoured spot for seals. We saw lots of seals hunting and playing and further round at the Polly Joke we were able to watch them sunning themselves on the beach. 

We couldn’t miss the opportunity to pay a visit to Newquay, the Great Western beach and the famous Fistral Beach. Having a stroll around the town of Newquay itself full of shops aimed at surfing and water sports and quaint cafes for everything from a quick drink to a meal. 

Browsing the shops, we found that dogs were very welcome in the Vantastic store, especially. After our shopping trip, we took our snacks down onto the Great Western beach and had a stroll walking back across Towan Beach and to the harbour and then up the steps and back into the town itself. A nice circular route with the tide a long way out and lots of beach for dogs to run all year round. 

Heading out of town towards the headland we cut across to Fistral beach. With places to eat and shops right on the beach, this is one of the most famous surfing beaches in the UK and it gets busy. Not to pass up the opportunity to get involved we booked a surf lesson with Fistral Beach Surf School. I stayed on dry land spectating and on dog supervision which suited me nicely. There were lots of dogs on the beach for play buddies, while the surfers got to enjoy the waves. 

After some hot showers and a dry-off, we refuelled at Seaspray Fistral. Managing to get an outside table overlooking the beach we enjoyed a selection of sandwiches and cakes with a hot chocolate. Later in the day, we thought we would try out the Fistral Stable which offers takeaway, sitting outside to enjoy delicious pizzas watching the sunset over the sea. For one day trip, we headed along the coast to St Ives having a leisurely stroll around the town sampling the ice creams on the harbour front and having a leg stretch on the beach. This was the first time we came across dog restrictions since arriving in Cornwall with dogs not allowed on St Ives beach over the summer months. 

On the way back up the coast we stumbled across Godrevy, another National Trust site. Here dogs are allowed on the beach most of the year but have restrictions during the main part of the day in July and August still allowing opportunities for early morning and evening walks however. With the Godrevy café situated in the car park, this made for a fantastic stop and we were very surprised to have most of the beach to ourselves on a lovely sunny day. 

With such beautiful weather and the endless opportunities for gorgeous sea views, we took an evening drive to St Agnes Head, another National Trust location where you can walk in either direction along the coastal path. After walking along the cliffs, we settled back at the van and made hot chocolates ready to watch the sun going down over the sea. We were not disappointed. While chatting to other guests at the holiday park we were advised to visit farther down the south coast to The Godolphin, a beautiful beachfront hotel and restaurant overlooking St Michael’s Mount. The stylish interior made it a pleasant surprise to be dog friendly throughout. We enjoyed coffee and cake while taking in the view from the huge beachfront windows. 

After watching everyone else on their walks along the beach we ventured out. St Michael’s Mount is a tidal island with a historic castle and gardens. You need a ticket to visit the island and can access it by the causeway at low tide or by boat at other times. Or you can just enjoy the beach with the island views if you’d prefer not to visit the mount itself. The castle does not allow dogs so we chose to view it from the beach instead while the dogs had a good run around. 

We had a brief break from beach life to check out Trelissick Gardens. Run by the National Trust the main gardens do not allow dogs but they can explore the parkland, woodland and shoreline. If anyone in your party wants to see the main gardens then dogs are allowed in the cafe courtyard which provides a great excuse to sit and have a drink with your furry friend while the rest of the family check out the gardens. 

Probably further than many will want to drive from St Agnes but one place we were keen to visit was Land’s End. Staying closer than we had previously ever been and never visited we thought it would be a good opportunity to tick it off our list and have a trip down. The 45-minute drive was well worth it for the glorious sunny views of the rugged coastline. Of course, snapping away a photo at the iconic signpost was a must. Being such a popular tourist spot there is lots to do here. However, we were more interested in the coastal walks, much more suited to our dog-focused trip. The cliff-top paths provide a truly beautiful walk. 

In fact, our whole holiday provided some of the most stunning scenery we have ever experienced in the South West. The options for beaches and coastal walks are endless as so many places are dog friendly all year making it a top spot for us to go on a dog holiday. St Agnes holiday park definitely provides the perfect location to explore all that Cornwall has to offer.

St Agnes Holiday Park, review by Jo Southway and appears in DogFriendly magazine issue 79.  For more information on the DogFriendly magazine visit https://www.dogfriendly.co.uk/magazine