Travel

Besides his valet from
the sea, Barclay has a regular stream of local purveyors who bring him
produce, meats, cheeses, and herbs. The fresh flavors of watercress,
real English peas, and just-picked berries dance in your mouth. Paired
with a bottle of Cornish wine, a meal at Barclay’s Restaurant is
Cornwall on a plate.

From the hotel’s
positioning in Looe, it’s easy to explore the far corners of this
country, which is rich in the heritage of King Arthur and the Knights
of the Roundtable, the Hound of the Baskervilles, and the Pirates of
Penzance. Five thousand years of history hit you at every turn.

On a rare day off,
Barclay and I met under the Texas flag in front of his house and set
out in the green Ford Explorer that he brought with him from Dallas.
(It’s easy to see why the locals fondly refer to him as “Texas
Ted”—he’s the only driver in Looe with a left-hand drive and Texas
plates.) We trundled across the countryside—a picturesque patchwork of
velvety green pastures divided by miles of ancient hedgerows—to
Padstow, a fishing port on the Atlantic coast. We tried to lunch at one
of Britain’s top dining spots, The Seafood Restaurant, owned by Rick
Stein (yes, the one with the famous TV show), but we missed the 2:30 pm
closing time. Instead, we meandered through stone cottages built in the
Middle Ages and opted for traditional fare at a local pub.

From Padstow, we headed
north along a beautiful stretch of classic Cornish fishing villages and
rugged coastline to Boscastle, then on to visit the preserved remains
of Tintagel Castle, the legendary birthplace of King Arthur. After
Texas Ted parked the Explorer, we set out for a nice walk across the
heather- and gorse-clad cliffs.

I devoted the next day
to discovering Looe. From Barclay House it’s just a five-minute walk
along cobblestone streets to the center of this tiny village. I
wandered the curvy alleyways, discovering The Old Hall, a fabulous
bookstore with a large collection from Cornwall’s most famous author,
Daphne du Mauriers; several surprisingly good local art galleries; and
many small antique shops filled with remarkable buys.

I also found foodie
heaven. The small shops of Looe are brimming with locally produced
traditional foods, and samples are readily available. I made a lunch of
a couple of slices of Cornish yarg—a firm, buttery cheese scented from
the nettle leaves wrapped around the mold—stuffed into a bun fresh from
a bakery’s oven.

Dodging the diving sea
gulls, I walked along the sandy beach and past the seafood market,
where lobsters, crabs, mackerel, and sole were displayed on ice. I
crossed the bridge that divides East Looe (the money side) from West
Looe (the sunny side) and wandered up the steep cliffs as I licked a
cone of rich Cornish ice cream.

I managed to get back
to East Looe in time for tea at the Golden Guinea, a small eatery
constructed in 1632. Under the wooden-beamed ceiling (mind your head!),
I had my first formal Cornish tea—a steaming pot of the local brew
accompanied by two fist-sized scones and ramekins of fresh jams and
clotted cream—the thick “double double” delicacy brought tears to my
eyes.

On my way back up the
hill to The Barclay House, I dashed into a bakery to pick up a little
something for dinner: a meat and potato-stuffed pasty, the food most
often associated with Cornwall. Originally baked as an all-in-one meal
for the miners to take to the depths of the mine, the inceptive pasty
had a savory filling on one end and a sweet one at the other. The
exterior crust was crimped along the edges to make it easy for the
miner to hold with arsenic-stained hands. Come to think of it, the
pasty might be the original convenience food.

Look out, Nick. The McPasty could be sold under the Golden Arches soon.