Historic Cornish Hotels: Greenbank, Falmouth, Newquay

The Falmouth Hotel
Castle Beach, Falmouth, TR11 4NZ

Before Peter Rabbit...

The foundation stone of this grand seafront hotel was laid on August 6 1863, and ever since it has been welcoming visitors to the historic port from all over the world.

Numerous well-known figures have stayed over the years, including the Prince of Wales � the future King Edward VII � and more than a handful of household names in the post-war era.

However, the hotel�s most notable historic connection is that to one of childrens� literature�s greatest names: Beatrix Potter. Indeed, it was while on holiday with her family at the Falmouth Hotel that she penned her very first �picture letter�. Dated March 11, 1892, it was the first such illustrated note in the style that would later become her trademark. It concludes:

�These are two little dogs that live in the hotel, and two tame seagulls, and a great many cocks and hens in the garden. I am going today to a place called the Lizard, so I have no time to draw any more pictures, and I remain yours affectionately, Beatrix Potter.�

The Greenbank Hotel
Harbourside, Falmouth, TR11 2SR

Birthplace of Toad, Mole and Ratty

�There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as messing about in boats.� So said the Water Rat in Wind In The Willows.

And there are few places more worth messing about in boats than Falmouth. Overlooking the third largest natural harbour in the world, The Greenbank Hotel is widely accepted as the place where some of the most beloved characters in children�s literature were brought to life.

Writing to his son during his stay in 1907, author Kenneth Grahame created Mr Toad, The Water Rat and Moley as short stories to entertain young Alastair who remained in London. Reproductionsof the letters penned at The Greenbank Hotel are on display along with the signature of Florence Nightingale - another notable past visitor to Falmouth�s oldest hotel. The building, which dates from the mid-seventeenth century, previously served as a base for the captains of the world-renowned packet ships during the time when the town was one of the British Empire�s most important ports. Indeed, news of Lord Nelson�s victory - and death - at The Battle of Trafalgar was first landed at Falmouth.

The Housel Bay Hotel
Housel Cove,The Lizard, TR12 7PG

The Housel Bay - Britain�s most southerly hotel - has entertained numerous high-profile guests since opening in 1894. These include George Bernard Shaw (1913) and the radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi (1900)

The Wellington Hotel
The Harbour, Boscastle, PL35 0AQ

Hardy�s Other Country

Along this part of the rugged north Cornwall coast, Boscastle is the only natural harbour for twenty miles - and an unmistakable one at that. And at its centre lies the Wellington Hotel; one of the area�s oldest coaching inns whose roots lie back in the 16th Century

A fair few of Britain�s nobility have rested at �The Welly�, including King Edward VII. But arguably the most renowned figure to stay at the hotel is Thomas Hardy: the author and poet whose works continue to grip the imagination of present day readers.

Indeed, Boscastle�s connection to the creator of Far From the Madding Crowd and Tess of the d�Urbervilles is rather under-appreciated - it was here that he first met his wife, Emma Gifford, while restoring nearby St. Juliot�s Church. Moreover, Hardy�s third book, A Pair of Blue Eyes, gains much of its inspiration from the striking scenery around the village.

Other famous guests include the acclaimed Victorian actor, Sir Henry Irving, and one of Britain�s greatest military heroes, Guy Gibson VC (leader of the World War II Dambuster�s raid) who once described the Wellington as his �favourite hostelry�.

The Headland Hotel
Fistral Beach, Newquay TR7 1EW

Built to be the �finest hotel in the South West�, in little over a century the Headland Hotel has played host to King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (on several occasions), and the royal princes who would later become Edward VIII and George VI. The latter occupied rooms 102,103 and 104.

The hotel also served as a Royal Air Force hospital during World War II.

Jamaica Inn
Bolventor PL15 7TS

Joss Merlyn�s place.

Built in the mid-1700�s as a coaching inn to serve weary travellers crossing Bodmin Moor, Jamaica Inn is thought to derive its name from the copious amounts of rum it was reputed to have sold.

Whether or not the building was really the haunt of smugglers is open to debate, but it was here that Daphne du Maurier set her famous novel (published in 1936) of the same name.