Metropole Hotel
Padstow, Cornwall

The Metropole is an imposing Victorian building perched majestically on the crest of a gentle hill, overlooking the popular Cornish village of Padstow. In addition to being one of the county's prettiest fishing villages, Padstow is best-known for its seafood, which features, of course, on the hotel's AA Rosetted menu. The village harbour is a working one and it's always a pleasure to watch the fishing boats return home to unload their catch, much of which is available in the village. A picnic lunch purchased in Padstow can be a veritable feast! In fact, Padstow has quite a maritime history and there are some quirky facts to discover in the local museum.

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Padstow is a small town on the north coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, approximately 14 miles north and east up the coast from Newquay, at the mouth of the River Camel. Traditionally a fishing port, it is now a popular tourist destination: although some of its former fishing fleet remains, it is mainly a yachting haven on a dramatic coastline with few easily navigable harbours. Note the old sailor's maxim: "Twixt Hartland Point and Padstow Bay is a sailor's grave by night or day." This reputation is in part due to the rocky coastline but also to the alleged tradition of "wreckers" – wreckers being locals who would use lanterns to lure ships into coming too close to the shore and wrecking themselves on the rocks, before stealing their cargo. Padstow itself is a safe harbour; however, it is notorious for shipwrecks due to the dangerous sandbar called "Doom Bar" in the Padstow estuary.