Alphabetical List
ATMs: there are several ATMs nearby, including one 3 minutes’ walk away at the Tesco Express, 54-56 East St, Newquay TR7 1BE.
BBQs: there are two BBQs which are cleaned, set up and ready to go. Please leave them as you find them. You will find cooking utensils for the BBQ either outside in the large wicker chest behind the BBQ table or in the kitchen cupboard.
(1) The gas BBQ on the deck outside the dining room is perfect for an evening where you are unsure about the weather, or where you want to BBQ but eat either inside round the dining table or under cover on the wooden table on the porch. Please clean the BBQ after use. The model is the Weber Spirit E310 Classic and the instructions are here: www.manualslib.com/products/Weber-Spirit-310-4253553.html.
(2) the Braaisland BBQ is perfect for days or evenings when the weather looks good and you want to eat outside. You can all sit, cook and chat round the fire in the centre of the table which is much more sociable than usual for the BBQ king or queen! Be careful taking off the stone lid as it is fairly heavy and would cause damage if dropped, especially on the table top. Fuel is charcoal which we have found is best for cooking. You can later add the same briquettes which are used in the living room woodburners; these give a nice heat and flame to continue the evening under the stars. There is normally a sea breeze in the evening and if so you will work out pretty quickly who has managed to sit on the smoky side. The stone surface stays beautifully cool but the stainless steel surround to the fire itself does of course get very hot so please be careful reaching in – which is obvious really but still catches us out every so often. At the end of the evening please put on the steel cover to stop any stray sparks starting a fire. Because the table surface is stone it needs little to no maintenance, but please clean the stainless steel after use: after giving the steel the usual scrub to clean off BBQ residue you can literally hose down both the stone table and the stainless steel attachments with the high pressure hose by the kitchen. There is an ash can by the wicker chest to dispose of ash.
Beach equipment: this in the green shed on The Island, consisting of buckets and spades, deckchairs, fold-up chairs and bodyboards, all of which you are welcome to use at your own risk. You will also find outdoor lights in there. Please don’t use the tools or other things in the shed; children should be kept out.
Books/board games/playing cards: these are in the cupboard in the dining room.
Breakages: please do let Nick know if anything gets broken, lost, damaged etc. If it is a plate, glass etc, we keep spares so there is no urgency and you can just write it down in the blue book in the kitchen “Notes for a Small Island”. If it is anything else please contact Nick straight away so we can arrange a replacement or repair. We do of course reserve the usual right to ask guests to pay for any damage caused, but we usually don’t bother about minor accidental damages; we know these things happen. Just please tell Nick in sufficient time so we can fix or replace it for the next guests!
Car hire: the few times we have done this we have found it easy and good value, but presumably it depends on the season so do book ahead. There are a few places, but you could try first Europcar https://www.europcar.co.uk which has a desk at the airport or Hertz https://www.hertz.co.uk which is also nearby the airport. Or just check an aggregator site like Kayak www.kayak.co.uk
Chemists/Pharmacies: there is a selection nearby, including 5 or so minutes’ walk away: Boots at 15 Bank Street / 01637 872014 and Superdrug at 17 Bank Street / 01637 875596.
Children: if you require the travel cot and highchair, please ensure you advise us of this when booking. We will then set the cot up in the main bedroom ‘snug’ for you. We request that you supply your own linen for the cot. We will leave the highchair in the kitchen. Please note – we do not provide a stair gate. The games in the living room include some suitable for children.
Coffee machine. The Delonghi espresso machine takes ground espresso coffee (provided) and ESE pods (not provided). There is also a cafetiere.
Dogs: see Pets.
Fire extinguishers/blanket: in the kitchen and upstairs dressing room: see “Problems/Emergencies”.
Flags. We have a selection on the flag rack in the hall – please do use them! The bronze Inglefield clips on the flag just slot into the clips on the rope, so there is no need to tie the flags on, an ingeniously simple system invented for the Royal Navy. The union flag has a discreet arrow to remind us which way up to fly it. It is traditional to take the flag down at or before sunset. For very windy days please avoid the full-size flags, but you can fly the smaller flag which appropriately signals “storm”; it is the small red flag with a black square.
Food: we provide the following basics at the house: salt, pepper, tea, coffee, ground coffee (for espresso machine), sugar, bread, eggs, milk, butter and olive oil. For other provisions see “Shopping” and “Supermarkets”.
Gas shut-off: none, as there is no gas supply on The Island. It is not compatible with the bridge.
Heating: the house is centrally heated. Feel free to adjust the thermostat in the hall on the wall opposite the dining room. You may need to set it to read a higher temperature (say 23C) than you might expect, as the hall is naturally warmer than the outer rooms. The simplest thing is just to turn the dial until it clicks and the orange light comes on which means that the heating is on. To save energy please turn it down at night and if you go out for the day, as the house heats up fairly quickly on return. You can also use a wood burner to heat the living room quickly. Please turn the thermostat right down when you leave.
Keys: There are two sets of external keys, with respectively black and white key fobs. The white one also has the garage opener. They each have a tracker in case they get lost (see “privacy”). If you need more than two sets of keys you could use the key box as a common storage place. Remember there’s no doorbell so on return you need either keys, a phone to call someone in the house, or a plan to meet at the green door requiring coordination rarely seen since pre-mobile phone days. Please don’t ever leave the green door open: it’s too tempting to passers-by. There are also three indoor keys (yellow, blue, red). Please check all 5 key sets are returned: four on their coloured magnetic hooks by the kitchen door at the end of your stay, with the white set set back in the key box.
Laundry: You will find both the washing machine and tumble dryer in the laundry room, which is located around the side of the house to the right of the kitchen door.
Noise: the good news is that you don’t need to worry about disturbing the neighbours, unless you are playing amplified music outside late at night (so please don’t). The bad news is that noise does sometimes come the other way depending on many things including the state of the weather and the tides. If there are people partying on the beach, or loud music from a venue, your best bet is to report it to the Community and Environmental Protection Department of Cornwall council https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/environmental-protection/environmental-protection-noise/ 0300 1234 212. We can’t promise they will stop it immediately but they are sometimes very responsive. There are ear plugs in the drawer in the main bedroom. The incoming tide is sometimes the most practical solution.
Petrol: there are several options but Morrisons is usually among the cheapest for petrol, is only a short drive away and can be combined with a supermarket shop if you wish. Morrisons, Treloggan Road, Newquay TR7 2GZ. www.my.morrisons.com/storefinder/329
Pets: we welcome dogs by prior arrangement. Please wipe their paws if they have been out on the beach, and in any event please keep them off the furniture. We do not allow cats or other animals, only because some guests can have an extreme reaction to even small traces of cat hair, sorry.
Police station: Tolcarne Road, TR7 1DD, 08452 777444 or 101 (non emergency) or 999 (emergency).
Post office: the main post office is just a couple of minutes’ walk away at 31-33 East Street, Newquay, TR7 1BU. There is a second smaller post office with much more restricted hours in the centre of town: Central Square, 3 Fore Street, Newquay, TR7 1EU.
Privacy: we have access to the camera feed from the two cameras focussed on the public area outside the green door. Those are the only cameras; there are none on the property itself. The front door keys also have a tracker in case they get lost, but we have no interest in tracking guests, just finding lost keys! If it bothers you that someone might know where you’re going, you can always leave them in the key safe by the garage when you go out (and don’t forget to take the battery out of your phone and remove any anti-theft trackers on the car, and there’s some tin foil in the kitchen).
Rubbish and recycling: dog poop bags can go in the small, red, labelled bin which may be in the shed or elsewhere often outside. Please empty this in the public dog poop bins (there are several including on the green at the top of the steps) at the end of your stay. For other rubbish you can use white (or any colour) bin bags in the bin in the kitchen under the coffee machine, and transfer them to the cable house when full. Please divide rubbish into two: cans, plastic bottles and glass bottles should end up in green rubbish bags in a large dustbin the cable house. Everything else should end up in black rubbish bags in a separate large dustbin in the cable house. The cable house is the green shed on the other side of the bridge. The code for the padlock on the cable house is 1066. Please put the lids back on the dustbins, and don’t leave any bags outside the dustbins, so as not to attract vermin. If a dustbin is full please take the bag up to the garage (don’t leave it in the cable house) and put a new bag in the dustbin. Note that even the black bags are hand sorted for recycling; the green bags help make the process more efficient. We pay for CTC Waste to take away everything, then they to do the sorting. This way there is no danger of one bag contaminating a whole batch of recycling, as often happens with domestic waste collected by councils. There is more information on the CTC Waste website, where they claim “0% to landfill”.
Security: we feel very secure on The Island. The worst we tend to encounter is when a new generation of teenagers every so often thinks they are the first to discover that the space outside our green door is a good place to smoke and generally hang out. We have always found they move on when asked, usually very politely or occasionally a bit more sullenly, but never with any trouble. We normally point out that that area is videoed, which is true. Passers-by are often curious and sometimes ask whether they can get on the bridge to which we invariably say: sorry, no, it is private. We normally keep the green door double locked. We also lock the house at night or when going out, as a precaution. If you really want a third layer of security there is a padlock on the mainland side of the bridge which you can use to lock the bridge gate at night or when you go out – but we don’t bother and have never had a problem. If you do decide to use the padlock (and we don’t) please make sure everyone staying knows the code, 1066, which you will see when you set it and which is also written on the side of the vertical wood panel to the right of the gate.
Smoking: the house is strictly no smoking. If you need to, please do so outside, thank you.
Spa: our favourite has traditionally been the Scarlet Hotel, a short drive away, and that remains an excellent choice as an eco-friendly spa day including hot tubs overlooking the sea. But with the Headland Hotel having opened their £10 million swimming and wellness centre complex just a cliff-top walk away from The Island, we are now spoiled for choice. At the more economical end of the scale, C-Space have opened in 2022 a small spa practically on our doorstep, which we haven’t tried yet: https://waterandstonewildspa.com/c-space. Finally there is a new “adults only” (their words) hotel and spa a brisk walk away: https://fistralbeachhotel.co.uk.
Steps: we’ve counted them because guests have occasionally asked in advance. Public steps outside: 22 from road down to our doorway. 69 from our doorway down to beach. Private steps inside: one up to the bridge and three down the other side.
Supermarkets (superstore): there is a selection of larger supermarkets in Newquay. Morrisons is a short drive away and has cheap petrol as well as parking; the other three are walkable and also have parking available:
Aldi, Cliff Road, Newquay TR7 1SW / www.aldi.co.uk/store/s-uk-E0462
Asda, Oakleigh Terrace, Newquay TR7 1RN / www.storelocator.asda.com/south-west/newquay/oakleigh-terrace.
Sainsbury’s, The Whim, Alma Place, Newquay, TR7 1NF / www.stores.sainsburys.co.uk/2223/newquay
Morrisons, Treloggan Road, Colan, Newquay, TR7 2GZ / www.my.morrisons.com/storefinder/329
Supermarket (local): the nearest for quick provisions is Tesco, 4 minutes’ walk away: 54-56 East StTR7 1BE / www.tesco.com/store-locator/uk
Towels: we kindly request that you do not use the white towels for the beach or deck. We provide beach towels for guests.
Tap water: is safe to drink.
Taxis/Chaffeur-driven: there is plenty of choice, but it’s still best to book in advance. We tend to use A2B Taxis 01637 877777, mainly because their app makes it easy for repeat bookings. When you call ask for a quote. You can give the pick up address as “outside 16 Island Crescent” (that is the big property next door with the double gates) and obviously you will need to meet the car on the road. There are several other car services, including:
123 Taxis: 01637 851234
Trenance Executive Travel: 01637 262626
Bio Travel, based near the airport: 01637 880006
Tide times: please be aware of the tides. There is a tide clock in the living room for fun and convenience, but as we are not there regularly to check it we cannot guarantee its accuracy. It does get out of synch over time so feel free to set it at the start of your stay, by reference to online tide tables. But for safety please always also check tide times online: https://www.tidetimes.org.uk/newquay-tide-times. This is critical if you walk between beaches around headlands. Too regularly people on these beautiful cliff-lined coasts are cut off by an incoming tide which at best means an embarrassing call to the coastguard and at worst is highly dangerous.
Train station: about 7 minutes’ walk away along the pedestrianised former tramway. The train itself is a small, slow electrified service to Par, where you walk across the platform to a bigger faster train, including direct trains to London. If you have a car and are meeting someone arriving by train you could investigate meeting them at Bodmin Parkway which is 30 minutes’ drive away from The Island and avoids the need to change trains at Par. If you are waiting for a train at Newquay station, Donna’s café is definitely old school but if you are in the mood for a filling, fry-up breakfast in a train station this is your choice.
TV/Entertainment: see the individual rooms in this guide for information. When we are on The Island we tend to focus more on old-fashioned pleasures like board games and records, so we don’t have big screen entertainment and we don’t have a cable subscription. The TV aerial reception is also pretty non-existant. But there are 5 smart TVs in the house so if you fancy a night in front of the screen that is easily done. The TVs are early model smart TVs (the main one is newer) and work through the Wifi to get sites like iPlayer: use the “smart hub” button on the remote controls. If you have a Netflix, Prime or similar account feel free to log in, which is what we tend to do. The signal in the upstairs bedrooom may be patchier than downstairs as it is further from the router, but iPlayer should work. In the dining room cupboard there are also DVDs.
Water shut off valve: there are two, both outside. If you really need to shut off the water in a hurry, take a medium/large screwdriver or similar to prize open the cover. Go up the steps, take the left hand path to the side of the small green triangle, and where it meets Island Crescent there are two access covers. It is not the obvious one marked “water” but the other one marked “Dauntless” and “Ductile”. Prize it open. Shut off the valve by turning the tap clockwise. Tell Nick immediately about whatever the problem is. FYI there is also a second stop cock tap which is easy to turn but a maintenance person with long arms would need to reach over the fence on the right hand side of the bridge (facing the mainland) just before the white tower on the mainland side so we don’t recommend this for guests.
Weather: coastal weather is unpredictable and the weather just a couple of miles inland can be very different to ours. So we use the weather services as a guide only: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/ and if we go for a longer walk we usually cater for all eventualities. We often get sun and rain within minutes of each other, which may be why the garden grows so quickly! Being on the edge of an ocean ameliorates the temperature so both high temperatures and frost are less frequent than other places in the UK, though both do occur. We also get more sun than you might think: 250 hours a year more than the UK average (or London or Cambridge, say) according to: www.currentresults.com/Weather/United-Kingdom/annual-sunshine.php
Wifi is FTTH (Fibre optic cable, To The Home). Wireless network: BTHub6-Q2HW. Password: GLu7wLVtv7nf. The modem is on the chest in the hall. Installing FTTH required a lot of teeth sucking by BT and we basically had to run most of the cable ducting for them, but it did get it done and it has hugely improved the signal, which can be notoriously bad in Cornwall. We now typically download at around 120 MB/s, which is more than enough for several people to use devices and for streaming, so if you are getting significantly slower speed than that then either everyone is downloading a film at the same time or there is a problem. Try turning the modem off and on again at the power socket to reset it. The Wifi is provided free but you are of course responsible for safe and appropriate use please and for complying with all laws.
Woodburning stoves: there is a Morsø woodburner in each of the living room and the dining room. They are effective warmers, and complement the central heating, so unless it is exceptionally cold you probably don’t need both burners on.
–Fuel: the burners only take the specially dried eco briquettes provided, so please do not use driftwood or anything else. If you run out, there are spare briquettes in the garage or in the green cable house at the mainland end of the bridge. The cable house is secured by a padlock with the same code as the bridge padlock which is 1066 (see “Security”).
–Lighting: slide the lever to the right, two briquettes + 1 firelighter, light the firelighter, leave the door slightly ajar, once it is burning well close the door and slide lever to the middle to reduce the airflow. Top up as necessary.