Newquay away from the beach.

NEWQUAY ZOO

Voted Visitor Attraction of the Year, 2006, Newquay Zoo lets you see animals in re-created natural surroundings in the zoo’s lush sub-tropical lakeside gardens. Try to listen for the different species of bird which inhabit the Rainforest. Learn about endangered species of reptiles and insects in the Tropical House. It’s not unusual to see new-borns at the zoo, the latest 2007 additions being two baby Pygmy Marmoset monkeys.

If you’ve brought sandwiches, munch away in the sculptured oriental garden by the almond trees. You might find you’re being watched by a civet. There is plenty to keep the kids amused with a Tarzan trail, dragon maze, assault course and adventure play park, and if that isn’t enough, there are animal encounters and face painting.
Special events are held throughout the year including Madagascan Nights, Halloween 'ZOO BOO' night, and the Festival of Lights in December.

BLUE REEF AQUARIUM

If the sea is too cold for you, experience life beneath the waves while keeping perfectly dry at the Blue Reef Aquarium on Towan Promenade. You can imagine you are suspended in a giant tropical ocean. Safely rub noses with a Black Tip Reef shark from behind the glass screen – you will also be delving deep into pre-history – the first sharks swam in the oceans over 400 million years ago, 170 million years before the birth of the dinosaurs. And don’t forget, Great White Sharks have been seen around our coasts as the seas warm. You can also view the local catches – a giant tiger prawn accidentally got tangled up in the nets of a Cornish fishing boat and is now happily swimming in the more benign waters of the aquarium.

TUNNELS THROUGH TIME

Step back in time in Newquay’s Tunnels Through Time in St Michael’s Road, just around the corner from the Tourist Information Centre. Here you can see how the early hunter-gatherers foraged for food to stay alive; find out what spells Merlin, fabled magician to Uther Pendragon, the father of King Arthur, wove to allow Uther to catch his woman; and enter the Dungeon of Despair – if you dare. The Tunnels are open from Easter to October.

HOLYWELL FUN PARK

At Holywell Bay Fun Park you only pay for only what you use, so you can drop in for an hour or two. Try not to get lost in the huge maze that will even test your sense of direction, then try to avoid other sailors in the bumper boats, zap each other in the laser shooting orbitors, and afterwards perhaps calm down on the largest 18-hole pitch and putt course in Cornwall. There are many more attractions, enough to keep a family occupied for the whole day.

WALK

If you really want to get out and about, try walking a part of the South West Coastal Path, or the Peninsula Path, as it is called around Newquay, because it hugs the Pentire Peninsula. At the start of the walk you will look back across across Fistral Beach and Crantock Beach on the other side of the Gannel Estuary, which is a mile long tidal estuary. If the kids don’t want to walk too far, you can please them with a round on the a nine-hole pitch and putt course and enjoy a snack afterwards at the refreshment kiosk or lunch in the pub or restaurant. Keen walkers can progress northwards to Watergate Bay, another renowned surfing beach, whose rocks contain fragments of early jawless fish almost 400 million years old. At the top end of Watergate lies the small promontory Griffin’s Point, with its castle built into the cliff. These look out posts feature regularly in the South West, some dating from the Iron Age. Nowadays you won’t see any battleships but you might spot a dolphin, so be vigilant.

Newquay styles itself a year round resort, and with so much going on away from the beach, you might find sand and surf sometimes take a back seat. Blue Chip have an amazing choice of holiday apartments, cottages and houses in and around the Newquay area.

WEB LINKS

Newquay Zoo - www.newquayzoo.org.uk.
Blue Reef Aquarium - www.bluereefaquarium.co.uk.
Travels Through Time - www.tunnelsthroughtime.co.uk.
Holywell Bay Fun Park - www.holywellbay.co.uk/funpark/.
South West Coast Path - www.southwestcoastpath.com.