Rainy day · Days out · All weather
Cornish weather has a habit of changing its mind, and a passing shower is no reason to write off a day. Some of the best days out near Padstow happen indoors — and a few of them are so good you might find yourself hoping for rain.
The trick to a wet-weather day in Cornwall is to have a plan or two in your back pocket before you need them. The area around Atlantic Bays is well supplied with indoor attractions, cosy food stops and characterful towns to explore under an umbrella, so when the clouds roll in you can simply switch tack and carry on enjoying yourselves.
The Eden Project
The obvious headline act is the Eden Project, a short drive away near St Austell. Its vast biomes — giant geodesic greenhouses housing a steamy rainforest and a Mediterranean garden — are entirely indoors, which makes it a brilliant rainy-day choice. You can spend hours wandering among towering tropical plants while the weather does its worst outside, with cafés and changing exhibitions to round out the visit. It’s popular, so it’s worth checking opening times and booking ahead in the holidays.
Farm shops, delis and long lunches
A grey day is the perfect excuse for a slow, indulgent lunch. The area is dotted with excellent farm shops and delis — Lobb’s Farm Shop, near the Lost Gardens of Heligan, is a well-regarded example — stacked with Cornish cheeses, baked goods, local meat and produce. Many pair their shop with a café, so you can browse, buy something lovely for supper at your lodge, and settle in for coffee and cake while the rain passes. Padstow’s own delis and bakeries are equally happy places to wait out a shower.
Towns, galleries and indoor browsing
Padstow itself is a fine wet-weather town: its narrow streets and covered corners are full of independent shops, galleries and food counters, and a fish-and-chip lunch by the harbour tastes even better with the rain pattering on the awning. Cornwall’s wider arts scene gives you galleries and craft studios to duck into, and the larger towns offer cinemas and indoor leisure for when you need to keep children entertained for an afternoon.
Aquariums, history and hands-on fun
Cornwall has a strong line in indoor family attractions — aquariums where children can meet the creatures of the local waters, historic houses and gardens with plenty under cover, and museums that bring the county’s seafaring past to life. These make reliable, energy-burning days out when the beach is off the menu, and several are within comfortable driving distance of St Merryn.
The simplest plan of all
Sometimes the best rainy-day plan is no plan: a board game, a good book and a pot of tea back at your lodge or cabin, watching the weather sweep across the fields. Cornish showers tend to blow through quickly, and there’s a particular pleasure in heading back out to a freshly washed, glittering coast once the sun returns. Either way, with so much within easy reach of Atlantic Bays, a bit of rain never has to spoil the day.