If you love Cornwall and the curly-haired, hairy-chested heartthrob; Poldark there’s no better place to visit than Charlestown; a small village and port on the south coast of Cornwall (just outside St Austell). Poldark fans will instantly recognise it as the location of all the harbourside scenes in the hit tv series. You can see why the shows location scouts chose it.
We spent a night in Charlestown back in May 2018 and what a beautiful place it was too. Another fantastic location in Cornwall that has left a lasting impression on me.
Hopefully, this blog will give you a taste of some of the goodies that Charlestown has to offer.
Where is Charlestown?
Trip date
19th May 2018
Where we stayed
Pier House Hotel, Harbour Front, Charlestown, St Austell, Cornwall, PL25 3NJ.
First come first serve free parking is available at the Rashleigh Arms pub which is about 150 yards from the hotel. Just let reception know you have parked there so they can make a note of your registration number.
1 night | £129 | Room 26.
Inside room 26. Our fantastic room at the Pier House Hotel.
When I booked this room I didn’t realise there was an upstairs area where the shower/bathroom was located.
Another seating area just outside the shower/bathroom.
The entrance to the shower/bathroom.
The ‘step-down’ shower and enormous bath which as someone who is 6 foot tall (on a good day) enjoyed very much.
A small bar of Orla Kiely soap was provided.
As a tea monster, a well-stocked tea/coffee tray is always a welcome sight. The quality spring water, biscuits and tea and coffee was also a nice touch.
The room was spotlessly clean. The bed was really comfy, towels, robes, and slippers were provided. The view from our window across the harbour was lovely as well, see below.
We didn’t eat an evening meal there but the continental and cooked breakfasts in the pub downstairs were excellent. All of the staff we encountered were very pleasant and helpful.
We really enjoyed staying there.
The only slight negative which didn’t bother us too much was room 26 is directly above the ‘Harbourside’ bar and restaurant which was a bit noisy till about 11 pm so if noise is an issue for you, you may want a room in the main building. Apart from that, we had no complaints whatsoever.
If we go back to Charlestown (which we will) this is the first hotel I will lookup. I’d probably request a room at the side of the hotel which has more of a sea view next time.
We can highly recommend the Pier House Hotel.
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What we did
We spend a lot of time in Cornwall. It’s not a million miles away from where we live and Serena has family there. I also visited Cornwall many times with my own mom and dad when growing up so its a special place for me as well.
In fact, I love Cornwall. The smell of the sea air is good for my soul.
We generally head down to Penzance which is right at the tip of Cornwall because that’s where Serena’s dad lives but on this occasion, we decided to go somewhere different for a change. Charlestown is an hour closer to where we live and it looked very pretty and quaint so we decided to head there for a night instead.
The view from our hotel window of the historic harbour in Charlestown which features heavily in the hit tv series ‘Poldark’.
The Pier House hotel (where we stayed) and the historic ‘Poldark’ harbour.
The harbour wall and beach.
If you watch Poldark you’ll recognise the harbour wall. You’ll very often see the cast wandering up and down it in the show. Actually, since we’ve visited Charlestown we’ve begun watching Poldark and I have to say we are hooked! It really is a great tv series.
Filming Poldark in Charlestown
I think Serena watches it to see Poldark (Aiden Turner’s) hairy torso and obviously, I watch it for the scenery and its historical references :-). Not really; I could quite happily run away with Elizabeth or Demelza (preferably both) 🙂
Tides out.
Looking back towards the Pier House Hotel.
Seaweed covered rocks. Some great rock-pooling opportunities so bring your bucket and crabbing gear!
Another view of the harbour.
As you can see we had excellent weather.
Looking down onto the beach from the start of the coastal path.
One of the beautiful views from the coastal path.
Looking down onto Duporth Bay from the coastal path.
Videos
Here’s a short drone fly-over video. I didn’t film this unfortunately as I didn’t have my drone then but I did take a load of video on one of my other DJI gadgets – the Osmo Mobile 2 Smartphone Gimbal – video to come shortly.
Here’s another quick video of Charlestown at ground level.
An official aerial video from ‘Visit Cornwall’ which covers the whole of Cornwall.
My thoughts on Charlestown
We were only there for a couple of days so we didn’t do a great deal apart from:
- Wandering around Charlestown harbour and surrounding areas
- Visited the gifts shops around Charlestown
- Walked through the woods and along the coastal path to Duporth Bay and back
- Sat outside the hotel, had a pint or two and watched the world go by
- Drove to nearby Mevagissey, had fish and chips and wandered around before heading home
It was only a fleeting visit on this occasion but Charlestown is definitely a place we’ll be going back to in the near future. In fact, Cornwall is where we’ll be moving to next; so in and around Charlestown is definitely on the list of potential locations for us to relocate to.
I can highly recommend Charlestown as a short break destination. It’s also a great jumping-off point for exploring the rest of the south coast of Cornwall.