“DADDY!” I hear my 10-year-old son Harrison yell, as he disappears behind a 3ft wave of water ahead of me, his voice growing fainter. “I love it!”
I watch in awe as he appears again at the far side of the wave, standing tentatively and heading toward the shoreline on his surfboard. He’s upright for about five seconds before toppling over and disappearing into the white water around him.
Catching the next wave, I head toward the shore myself, where I find Harrison beaming with pride. “Did you see, Daddy?” he asks. “Yes, you were brilliant!”
On the sand behind us Harrison’s mum and seven-year-old sister shout encouragement to him, as they splash around with our dog in the shallows. It’s only the second full day of our long weekend at Haven’s Perran Sands in Cornwall but the kids have already achieved so much. Ella has finally overcome her fear of waterslides in the on-site pool, she’s also learned some bush crafts at the activity centre. Both the kids have tried their hands at archery in the activity centre, and Harrison has even hit the bullseye while target shooting with an air rifle.
Oh, and he’s learning to surf too, and what a place to learn. I’d expected crowded beaches full of boards but the private beach just below Perran Sands only has half a dozen or so surfers, despite the pristine conditions.
By the time the lesson ends the tide has gone out far enough for us to walk from camp around the cliffs for about a kilometre to nearby Perranporth. The walk takes us past numerous caves and rock pools and consequently takes a lot longer than a 1km walk should do, the kids and dog just want to explore every nook and cranny.
But when we reach the beach at Perranporth we find a small crowd of people playing around a huge rock in the middle of the beach. Eager to see what the attraction is we head over and find a glorious blue rock pool about the size of a small swimming pool, with a few hardy souls swimming without wetsuits.
A few moments later and I find myself in the water as well, after the kids nagged me into it. I’m not going to lie, it feels freezing without a wetsuit on, but after a minute or so we start to adjust to the temperature. I’d never take kids into water this cold without a wetsuit if it was a lake, river or the sea but being a rock pool it’s perfectly safe, and young and old alike take it in turns to swim for a few minutes before climbing out and warming up again in the glorious sunshine.
The kids don’t want to leave, but we head back to camp via the cliff top walk after promising them fish and chips at Perran Sands’ fish shop and an hour in the lazy river of the camp’s heated outdoor pool. Ella virtually frog-marches us back to camp once I mention the lazy river!
We start the following day with another dip in the pool, before heading out to nearby St Michael’s Mount. It is every bit as beautiful as I imagined it would be and the kids are fascinated as they watch the tide come in and surround the island. Once the island is completely cut off we head to Land’s End, which feels incredibly commercialised and nothing like the barren outcrop that I’d expected. We only stay long enough for ice cream before heading back to Perranporth and playing in the rock pool again followed by dinner in town.
As we head along the cliff top walk back to camp, watching the sunset, we discuss what we’d like to do on our last day before we head to a hotel in Devon. Not surprisingly Harrison wants to surf again, while Ella wants me to take her to the lazy river and water slides. The dog doesn’t get a vote but I know he’ll have a blast with the kids’ mum, while she watches Harrison on his surf lesson.
Haven Perran Sands in Cornwall has two swimming pools, a water slide, lazy river and a large entertainment complex. There is a private beach and surf school just below the campsite and it’s only 15 minutes from Newquay. We stayed in a Bronze, three-bedroom, dog-friendly, caravan, which was clean and comfortable.
Glamping tents are also available and can be booked for three nights in the school summer holidays for as little as £159 without entertainment passes or £204 with passes.
l Visit haven.com/parks/cornwall/perran-sands
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