Penarwyn House

Hotel Description

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much when I first pulled up to Penarwyn House in St Blazey – I mean, it’s one of those Cornish villages you’d probably drive through without noticing. But you know what? Sometimes the best finds are the ones hiding in plain sight. This Georgian house sits quietly on a residential street, and from the outside it looks like someone’s particularly grand home (which, let’s be honest, it probably was once upon a time).

The moment you step inside though, everything clicks. The owners have done this thing where they’ve kept all the original character – those gorgeous high ceilings, the proper sash windows, the kind of solid wooden floors that creak just enough to remind you you’re in a building with actual history. But they’ve also managed to make it feel completely contemporary without going all minimalist-hotel-chain on you. My room had this massive window that looked out over what I can only describe as proper Cornish countryside, and the bed was one of those where you sink in just enough that getting up becomes a genuine decision you have to make.

What really got me was the breakfast situation – and I’m someone who usually just grabs coffee and runs. They source everything locally, which sounds like marketing speak until you taste the bacon that’s clearly come from pigs who had a much better life than most, and eggs that are so yellow they’re almost orange. The couple running the place actually know where everything comes from, not in a show-offy way, just because that’s how they do things. Plus, St Blazey is perfectly positioned for exploring this part of Cornwall without dealing with the absolute chaos of St Ives or Padstow in summer. You’re ten minutes from the Eden Project (though honestly, go early or you’ll be queuing with every coach tour in the southwest), and the same distance to some of the beaches that haven’t made it onto every Instagram feed yet. Par beach is literally down the road – it’s not the most dramatic stretch of coastline Cornwall has to offer, but it’s real and quiet and you can actually find parking. The train station’s walkable too, which is brilliant if you’re doing that romantic car-free holiday thing, though I’d still recommend having wheels to really explore the area properly. Look, it’s not cheap, but it’s not trying to fleece you either – it’s just genuinely good at what it does.

Facilities