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7 things to do in Cornwall

When you visit Cornwall make sure you check out all that this UK holiday destination has to offer.
By David Wickers, Travel Editor
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1

Learn to cook fish in Padstow

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The courses at Stein's Seafood School balance demonstrations, hands-on cooking, eating and drinking, using the freshest of local fish. Courses cover different themes and range from half day to residential. My one-day Simply Fish course (£198) included filleting a spiny, brutish-looking gurnard and frying it with sage and garlic butter, and skinning and steaming bite-sized portions of monkfish with garlic and ginger. And we didn't have to do the washing up! What chef-lecturer Keith Brooksbank doesn't know about fish you could write on the dorsal of a minnow. But the big lesson I learnt, clad in a proper chef's jacket, was never to feel inhibited about anything fishy.

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2

Visit Trebah gardens

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In a county famed for its wonderful gardens, including its number-one visitor attraction the Eden Project, my own favourite is surely the most enchanting. Trebah is a lush, 26-acre subtropical paradise hidden in a green ravine with paths leading down to a private beach, from where American forces left for the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy in the Second World War.

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3

Dolphin and seal spotting excursions

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Orca Sea Safaris explores this coastline in zippy inflatables with (hopefully) sightings of dolphins, seals, basking sharks and whales.

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4

Cornish cream teas

Food, Cuisine, Ingredient, Dessert, Dish, Baked goods, Serveware, Snack, Lingonberry jam, Jam,
The Cornish claim to have started it all and make a point of telling you they put jam on first, followed by clotted cream (Rodda’s of course), whereas Devonians reckon they were first and the jam goes on second. Either way, have yours at Charlotte’s Tea House – a step back to Victorian times with waitresses appropriately attired – in Truro, the county capital best known for its immense cathedral.

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5

The National Maritime Museum

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Falmouth, home to the National Maritime Museum, is hosting the Tall Ships Regatta from 28-31 August in the world’s third-largest natural harbour.

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6

Learn to surf

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Nick Tiscoe’s surf school, located on a gently shelving beach in Mawgan Porth, near Newquay, offers one-on-one lessons, or with families (from six years), including wetsuits, boots, gloves and surfboards.

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7

Cornish pasties

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There are a lot of contenders, but you can depend on the award-winning chain Pasty Presto, in St Ives, Padstow and plenty of other locations.

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