When you’ve decided to come to the most beautiful part of the UK for a holiday, and splashed out on ensuring you have the optimum in comfort, unique style and luxury, boutique accommodation, the real beauty of Cornwall comes into its own, as you find there are plenty of fun things to do for free.

Besides the delicious neon glow of a sunset, Cornish beaches offer a whole lot more. Such as rock pooling! Essentially the makings of an archetypal Cornish beach holiday, it’s just one step away from the stereotype of knotted hankies, rolled up trousers and the Littlest Hobo. Nothing speaks of freedom more than exploring the fissures and folds of rock formations for life and fathoming the threads of creatures exposed by the ebb and flow of the tides.

At low tide, when the sand is long and the rocks are exposed; just peering into the small pools of water along the rocky shore line reveals an exciting microcosm beneath the seaweed. Whilst almost always different, here you will find everything from anemones to limpets, and shrimp to crabs, scuttling about their daily life peacefully.

When you think about the rhyme of tides, and their impact upon these little ecosystems, it’s actually quite marvellous! Heavy tides, changing seasons and exposure to heat are just some of the variable living conditions which make rock pools an ever changing habitat. Therefore the creatures living within are much hardier than they may appear at first.

Equipment for rock pooling is as simple as you like. Essentially, all you really need to rock pool is a bucket. But items like a net and wellies can really help too. The most important ingredient is something money can’t buy: a little bit of patience. Remember you are on holiday and this should be fun! Upon first glance it may seem a wilderness inside the pools, but closer inspection may reveal tiny shrimp schlepping through seaweed, stunning starfish sticking to rocks and even cute crabs clattering through clandestine cobbles.

Hugged by miles of protected coastline, Cornwall boasts some of the finest beaches in the world, and just nearby here we have a variety of beaches that lend themselves well to rockpooling. Some are pretty much a stone’s throw away.

Just some of what you might find there, are listed below:

Starfish

Often clinging to rocks, and seldom scattered on sands, the starfish family are striking. Usually symmetrical and varying in sizes, starfish have a central body and varying number of arms that make different star like shapes

Sea Anenomes

Soft bodied and ruby red, anemones line the sides of rockpools and look like little lumps of jelly before they open out into bloom.

Sea Squirts

These creatures are characterised by their soft bodies and can be seen attached to rocks on lower shores.

Crabs

Hiding in shells, seaweed and crevices, there are 4 main types of crab you might encounter: Shore, Hermit, Velvet Swimming and Edible crab.

You may also see transparent shrimps and endless barnacles

Molluscs

These include sea slugs, mussels and limpets which cling to the rocks and provide grip for the feet. Some places in Cornwall offer plump mussels for eating, but they may need to be run through cold water before you eat them.

To book a room and come and explore for yourselves, call Janie on 01726 844 881