Boscastle Harbour and Tea rooms

We’ve stayed close to Boscastle, so we’ve been there twice, to go on a walk on the cliffs, have cream tea at the Tea rooms, visit The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, and, of course, to see the Boscastle Harbour.

Boscastle is a lovely village on the north Cornish coast, only a few miles from Tintagel. That means despite its small size, it has a lot of rather big and nice shops, pub, tea rooms, and bed & breakfast. National Trust own Boscastle Harbour, so there is a visitor centre and they have their own tea rooms as well. There are plenty of choices and I imagine these places are packed with visitors in the summer months. We’ve been there in October and it was still quite busy.

The village looks lovely, with the old houses and narrow streets, a river going towards the harbour, and pretty amazing views if you climb those nearby cliffs.

When I saw The Harbour Light Tea Garden I knew I wanted to have cream tea there. It is such a lovely building. It was closed as we visited the village late. So we had to go back another day, and we did.

This is the small Boscastle Harbour. Botterell family settled in this area in the 12th century. As recently as a bit over 100 years ago, Boscastle was the only possible place where a harbour could be considered on a stretch of 40 miles. The rocky north coast of Cornwall and small beaches does not make the perfect place to have a harbour.

The harbour entrance (next picture) is obviously very difficult to navigate. So all the ships entering had to be assisted. They were towed or “hobbled” by special boats with eight oarsmen. Other men on shore had ropes for keeping the ships in the middle of the channel. In late 19th century a new railway reached a nearby town and the need for transport by sea diminished.

Now the harbour is used by fisherman and for leisure.

The views from the top of Boscastle Harbour are stunning. I wouldn’t want to arrive here on a ship from Canada though.

The views are gorgeous, is so worth the effort to climb the cliffs.

We went back to the village and left. We got there another day and we went for cream tea at The Harbour Light Tea Garden.

It was a warm day, so we’ve decided to stay outside.

My cream tea, eaten in the proper way, with Cornish clotted cream on top. My husband’s cream tea would have been more appropriate for the neighbouring Devon though. We did have fun with this. I did my best and told my husband he should respect the customs of the locals and eat the Cornish way, but he was adamant his way is best. I, of course, disagree, why add more jam, when you can put a big dollop of clotted cream over a thin layer or jam? Yes, this discussion will never end. I imagine we’ll have a similar one when we’ll visit Devon.

After finishing our teas, I went inside and took a couple of pictures. It looks so lovely that I’d like to go there again and next time have my dessert inside.

Have you been to the Boscastle Harbour or to the Harbour Light Tea Garden?