The Gurnard’s Head

Friendly, unfussy, effortlessly stylish, Charles and Edmund Inkin’s dining pub ‘retains a sense of the peacefulness, remoteness and wildness that make this part of the world so very lovely’. Like sister pubs The Old Coastguard, Mousehole, and the Felin Fach Griffin, Felin Fach, Wales (see entries), it is earthed in the community, with a convivial bar, local staff, work by a Cornish artist of the month. Bedrooms have views of moors or ocean, Welsh blankets, books, a Roberts radio, fresh flowers and Bramley toiletries. Room 8 has a log-burner and private terrace. Eat inside by the fire, or on the terrace. ‘A real feature of the menus is fish’, with dishes such as hake, curry sauce, mussels, parsnips, sesame, or otherwise rump cap of beef, mash, bourguignon sauce. ‘Service was brisk and attentive with a particularly warm and friendly welcome from the owner.’ Breakfast brings local apple juice, home-made jams, kippers, a full English. ‘An ideal base for walking along the strenuous but outstandingly beautiful Coastal Path’, it is on the bus route so you can plan walks without backtracking. ‘The place combines style with some of the best scenery in Cornwall.’ (MC)