If you’re looking for something fun to do with your kids on your holiday but you’re on a budget, you’ve come to the right place! Cornwall is full of amazing places and attractions that you can visit without spending a penny.
Take a look at Top 10 Things To Do In Cornwall With Kids, with something for the whole family to enjoy!
1. Go to the beach!
Cornwall isn’t short of beaches. Whether you’re looking for a sandy bay to build sandcastles, a rocky shoreline to go rockpooling, or a blue lagoon to enjoy a swim, there’s a place for you! In Newquay alone, we have 11 beaches spreading over 7 miles of golden sand.
Fistral is a surfer’s paradise with plenty of rockpools to explore. Towan, Crantock, Great Western and Tolcarne are perfect for sandcastles and bodyboarding. Holywell Bay and Porth are great places for a swim and a game of beach football. There’s an endless choice right on your doorstep at Hendra!
Porth, Fistral beach and Perranporth beach have car parks right on the sand with spectacular sea views, offering great visitor spots for those with reduced mobility.
2. Heartlands Heritage Centre with Adventure Play
Courtesy of the Heartlands Heritage Centre Website
Heartlands – a 19-acre Cornish Mining World Heritage Site – is family friendly visitor attraction with a mining museum & exhibition, gardens, and a giant adventure playscape for kids, all completely FREE to enjoy! There’s a perfect balance of indoor and outdoor activities, making it a great place to explore all year around. This attraction is a charitable trust which you can choose to support with a visit to the café, shop or indoor play area.
3. Cycle or Walk the Camel Trail from Padstow
See Cornwall’s coastline from the scenic Camel trail! The trail follows a disused railway line winding from the Camel Estuary in Padstow to Wadebridge, before travelling into the beautifully wooded Camel Valley to Bodmin. You can either cycle or walk the trail, which is a great day out for all the family. If you get peckish and turn back to Padstow in search of a snack, there’s plenty of pubs and takeaways around the harbour selling delicious local food.
The trail is flat and easily accessible with plenty of places to sit on a bench and enjoy the view.
4. Explore The Royal Cornwall Museum
Courtesy of The Royal Cornwall Museum Website
Right in the heart of our only city, Truro’s Royal Cornwall Museum is a great way to spend a cloudy day. With plenty of exhibits to explore, an arts & crafts shop, and a Café, there’s plenty to do. It’s free to enter all year around. Why not head off and explore the city afterwards? You should also check out Truro Cathedral which also has free entry!
5. Climb the Cheesewring on Bodmin Moor
The Cheesewring is a granite tor famous for its stack of strange rocks that are shrouded in mystery. The moor is home to stone circles, tin mines and roaming wild ponies, so take your camera and explore this magical landscape!
6. Look for Cornish Pixies in Cardinham Woods
Take a family woodland adventure and explore this diverse woodland with secret glades, streams and breath-taking viewpoints. It’s not hard to imagine the illusive Cornish Pixies hiding in the undergrowth, so take your camera in case you spot one!
Anyone needing an extra hand through the woods can hire a Tramper through the Countryside Mobility Scheme. Read more here.
7. Visit Newquay’s Trenance Gardens & Play Parks
Photo by Visit Newquay
Just over the road from Newquay Zoo, Trenance gardens are filled with beautiful blooms, tumbling streams, and rich woodlands, waiting to be explored! Walk around the boating lake, feed the ducks, relax with a picnic on the grass, and in the summer season, take a leisurely ride on one of the paddleboats. There’s a restaurant, café and even a museum within the gardens. If you cross the road to the free play parks outside Newquay Zoo, there’s a great outdoor play area with climbing frames, swings and slides. You can also take part in mini golf or have a ride on the small toddler train for a fee.
If you catch the Newquay Land train from Hendra at 9.15am (returning at 4pm), it will drop you right outside the play parks!
8. Cycle or Walk around Lanhydrock Estate
This National Trust protected estate is home to acres of ancient woodland, rivers with picturesque bridges, and stream-side walks that take you high into the hills with spectacular views of the family house. You can enter the house for a fee, but the grounds are free to explore, and are dog friendly too! The main grounds are flat and easily accessible, with some sloped areas, while the woodland is more uneven.
9. Falmouth Art Gallery
Free to enter, the gallery is home to local exhibitions, art, and free activities for kids! There are seasonal activities all year around, including Family Workshops and ‘Baby Paint’, where messy hands are encouraged! You can find out more information here. Falmouth itself is a beautiful maritime town with long sandy beaches, independent gift shops, a harbour to explore, and plenty of eateries for all the family.
10. Meet the animals at Roskilly’s Dairy Farm
Visit the place where the famous Roskilly’s ice cream is made! Explore the factory and meet the farmyard cows, chickens, goats and pigs, or take a walk around the grounds, which have been named as an area of outstanding natural beauty. It even has sites of special scientific interest because of the rare plants and wildlife – definitely worth a visit!
Don’t forget to check out the range of free activities and entertainment that you can enjoy while here at Hendra too! There’s plenty of things to do for all ages, including our play parks, Hendra land train, outdoor swimming pool (open from May half term), Nature Explorers, Henry’s Playloft (free with Hendra membership/entertainment cards), and our nightly entertainment!
