Watergate Bay is a sweep of golden sand and granite cliffs.
It's said a bad day surfing is always better than a good day working and I found myself in the middle of that equation paddling out on a bleak spring day in Cornwall.
A series of fronts rolling off the Atlantic had hit unseasonable sub-Arctic air, producing an inconvenient storm that I could not wait out during the two or three days which was all I could spend at Watergate Bay. With this brief window to satisfy years of curiosity about surfing in Britain, I bit the bullet, borrowed a board from a fellow guest at Watergate Bay Hotel and hired a good thick wetsuit.
The local crew had flagged it and it was easy to see why. This was to be a solo session. It wasn't particularly big surf - about 3-4ft (1-1.2m) - but with a howling onshore wind and the tide all wrong, it was just plain nasty. And it was very cold with a water temperature of 11C, an air temperature to match and the wind chilling it down further by a couple of degrees.
Water temperatures never get much below 15C-16C in northern New Zealand during mid-winter, so Cornwall in May was a bit of a shock. A few years ago I nearly sliced off my nose surfing and after about 30 minutes out at Watergate Bay my fingers felt as if they'd be next to go.
With just a couple of mediocre waves under my belt it was time to call it quits, but it was not time wasted. I got a feel for the break's power (nearly that of Auckland's west coast) and got to see the beach from the best place - out the back beyond the breaking line.
From there you see the full sweep of this 3.5km golden sand beach and how the sheer granite cliffs and steep hills stalled growth here. Just on a century ago plans to link booming Newquay with Watergate Bay by rail were shelved because of geotechnical problems building the line. A fine Cornish stone hotel had been built but instead of the flood of train trippers, just a trickle of visitors arrived by horse-drawn coach.
During both world wars the hotel was used as a hospital, then an RAF officers' mess until it was turned back into a hotel 35 years ago. It then had to battle the Mediterranean package tour boom and a "bucket and spade" image problem. But at the same rate as Britons shed the hankies from their heads over the past two decades at the beach, they are getting active when they get there.
This has provided the impetus for growth at Watergate Bay with the Extreme Academy attached to the hotel. There you can take surfing lessons or just hire the gear for what is a good learner's wave when it's on, try kite surfing, traction kiting (a form of skiing across the sand while being pulled by a kite), wave-skiing, or mountain boarding from the cliff tops around Watergate Bay.
The hotel itself is a few paces away from the sand, has terrific views and is a fairly relaxed place aimed at families whose parents may want a blast at some activity at the academy. The younger staff are helpful enough but those from out of town would do well to swot up on local attractions as they tend to default to the internet when asked what's worth visiting nearby.
Newquay is just a 10-minute drive away but a million miles away in character. It's a wet T-shirt contest type of place with a national reputation as a stag and hen weekend town and is in the running for a big casino. All roads in the town lead to Fistral Beach, half surfable in spite of the storm. It is the buzzy epicentre of British surfing, has a good selection of surfshops where you can hire a board and a wetsuit for between £15 and £20 for half a day. There are dozens of breaks right around the Cornwall coast, locals say the best conditions are in winter and late summer when the central Atlantic hurricane season drives swell north.
Watergate Bay during an uncharacteristically stormy spring day was pretty much deserted but numbers there do swell to 5000 on the beach on a hot day in July or August. The lovely broad beach, known as Two-mile Beach, would be able to handle it but finding a park might be tricky, just like anywhere on the Cornish coast.
Driving around the Duchy (this is the county that has the biggest of Prince Charles' rural estates) is a pleasure. I took a three-hour train ride from London to Exeter in Devon, the neighbouring county, then picked up a rental car. Local advice is to avoid driving on bank holiday weekends or mid-summer if you can.
Cornwall's attractions run well beyond its many lovely coves and beaches. There are wildlife parks, historic tin mines, castles, inns, theme parks, the Eden Project that replicates species of plants and flowers and their native growing conditions from around the world, galleries, gardens and theatres - all within easy reach. There seems to be somewhere worth stopping about every 8 to 10km.
You should hire the smallest car you can tolerate. Apart from chewing through petrol at a £1 ($2.85) a litre, big cars will not fit on some narrow twisting country lanes and high streets through villages. Be prepared to back up for anything bigger than you.
High hedge rows and stone walls can also make driving a little tricky but as Cornwall is 130km long and as narrow as 10km, distances aren't great so there shouldn't be a need to hurry. You will find yourself misplaced at times but with a good map you're never lost, as the labyrinth of lanes will always get you back on track.
About 12km north of Watergate Bay is Padstow, not only an excellent place for dining at one of Rick Stein's many outlets (see accompanying story) but a great place to park up and cycle the Camel Trail.
This superb track on an abandoned branch railway runs alongside the River Camel - named because of its proximity to Tintagel, the mythical seat of King Arthur and the legend of Camelot. You can cycle up to 23km to the edge of Bodmin Moor next to the Camel Estuary and up a fairly gentle incline through lovely Cornish forest, vineyards and farmland.
The market town of Bodmin is 15km up the trail and well worth a stop. At the museum you'll find out about the moor's strange stone circles and piles of disc shaped rocks as well as the town's Iron Age origins. The neighbouring Shire Hall runs recreations of famous murder trials from the moor. There you'll also find an interesting display on the Beast of Bodmin. Government officials have dismissed the animal as an oversized cat but others claim it's a leopard or panther.
For a reality check go to the Bodmin Gaol, built from 20,000 tonnes of granite in 1779. Cells now house slightly corny mannequins but it's a dank, crumbling place where the sense of the cruelty of the age is more powerful than slicker tourist magnets like the Tower of London.
It's full of horrible stories - William Congdon who in 1787 went to the gallows for stealing a watch, G.A. Safehorne, hung for the murder of a Dutchman in 1796, and Elizabeth Osbourne, aged 20, who was hung in 1813 for setting fire to a corn stack.
And then there's the unsavoury case of William Hocking who went to the gallows in 1834 for bestiality. The gravity of the matter is somewhat diluted by three cardboard cutout sheep placed next to the sad figure of Hocking in his cell.
During World War I, state papers, the Doomsday Book and the Crown Jewels were apparently stored there but little is made of this in the jail itself.
* Grant Bradley travelled to Britain courtesy of Emirates and VisitBritain.
Checklist
Getting to Britain
Emirates flies from Auckland to Dubai three times a day and once from Christchurch. From the airline's Dubai hub there are frequent connections to Heathrow, Gatwick and to Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. Return fares, including fuel surcharges, start at $2430. Cheaper early bird fares are available at present. For details see the Emirates website.
Where to stay
Watergate Bay Hotel
Bed and breakfast starts at £35 ($100) a night for an economy room in the low season to £125 for a superior sea view in summer.
Where to eat
Fifteen Cornwall, Watergate Bay: Breakfast, lunch and dinner. email restaurant@fifteencornwall.co.uk or phone 00441637 861000. The Seafood Restaurant, Riverside, Padstow: Mmains from £17.50. Visit the website or phone 00441841532700
Further information
To plan a trip to Cornwall or any other part of Britain go to Visit Britain or phone 0800 700 741.
Some domestic regional flights have been affected.