Newquay, Cornwall
Newquay, Tewinblustri in Cornish, is a popular seaside town on the North Cornish coast. It is situated to the left of Newquay Bay and is in between the Gannel Estuary and Porth Beach. Originally a fishing town, Newquay is now, like many coastal towns, popular with tourists. The town is known as the UK's Surf Capital due to it being home to Fistral Beach, where waves can reach between 6 and 8 feet.
There are seven beaches in Newquay. These are Fistral Beach, Little Fistral Beach, Newquay Harbour Beach (originally part of Towan Beach), Towan Beach, Great Western Beach, Tolcarne Beach and Lusty Glaze Beach. The town is also home to a zoo, Newquay Zoo, and an aquarium, the Blue Reef Aquarium, which is situated next to Towan Beach, a beach famous for its house on the island.
There has been something on the site of the present town since the Bronze Age (around 3,000 years ago) and Bronze Age barrows can be seen on a grassy area known as Barrowfields, just above Tolcarne Beach. The town, however, didn't really start to become big until the Medieval period and it wasn't until the 19th century when the town became much bigger by the introduction of the railway which was operated by Great Western Railway, hence the name of Great Western Beach.
Newquay has a population of approximately 30,000 people, which has grown by around 10,000 in the last 10 years. The parish of Newquay covers the town, as well as the coastline between Newquay and just past Watergate Bay. Newquay parish is bordered by the parishes of Crantock (across the River Gannel), Colan, and Mawgan-In-Pydar.
Getting to Newquay is relatively easy as the A392 and A3075 bypass the town. There is a train station in Newquay, although this isn't part of the mainline and you'll need to change at Par to get there and, of course, there are also buses running to the town.
0:00 View from Towan Head
0:32 Newquay Harbour
1:30 Towan Beach
2:27 Town Centre
3:30 Great Western Beach
4:10 Tolcarne Beach
4:44 Little Fistral Beach
5:11 Fistral Beach