Portloe and Cornwall Holiday

A couple’s holidays are captured in Portloe with visits to Veryan, Pentewan and Prussia Cove to see HMS Warspite on the rocks as well as Helston Flora Day. Portloe is situated on the Roseland Peninsula and is a small working fishing port. Built in the 17th and 18th centuries, the small fishing cottages are born of a vibrant pilchard industry where smugglers also ran French Brandy contraband. 

The steep hills prohibit the village’s growth but over the years have made it a prime film location. Forever England or Born for Glory (1935) converts Porthloe into a Mediterranean World War One location and pits our valiant hero, John Mills, single-handedly against the crew of a German Armoured Cruiser with his mother played by Betty Balfour. Disney’s version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1949) is set here as is BBC’s comedy Wild West with the village named St.Gweep (2002) and Channel 4’s The Camomile Lawn (1992). Many a celebrity has stayed in the village including Jude Law, Catherine Tate and Dawn French. A memorial to HMS Warspite, the Grand Old Lady, is at Marazion.