Arts and Culture

Museum and Exhibitions to see

Padstow may only be a small town in Cornwall but it has a rich and colourful history and there is plenty to interest the visitor both in the town and in the surrounding area. Just above the busy Padstow port is Prideaux House, which was built between 1588 and 1592 and although there has been some renovative work, the house has remained virtually unchanged for more than two hundred years. The house combines its original Elizabethan architecture with eighteenth century Gothic influences. Visitors to the house will see centuries of family portraits, some beautiful porcelain and furniture and the original sixteenth century plaster ceiling in the Great Chamber. The house has forty acres of landscaped grounds and terraced walks; there is a temple, some Roman antiquities and a ninth century Cornish cross. The estate also has what is believed to be the oldest deer park in the country. There is a coffee shop for visitors to the site as well as a site shop.

Padstow Museum is just fifty metres from the harbour side of the port of Padstow on the North Cornish Coast. The museum was first set up in 1971 by a group of local people interested in the history and life of their town. The Padstow Museum has a fascinating collection of articles that give visitors some understanding of the history and operations of the Port of Padstow for the past two hundred years. Padstow has always been an important port and has been a point of safe harbour for journey men of all kinds for centuries. Also well documented by the Museum is the coming of summer celebrations with the Obby Oss festivities on the first of May every year.

Right in the centre of the town of Padstow you will find the Padstow Contemporary Art Gallery that represents the work of established as well as up and coming artists, including paintings, sculpture and furnishings. There is a display of ceramics and art from the Art Nouveau period through to the nineteen sixties, there is also a wonderful selection of Art Deco work, including the work of Clarice Cliff and a great glass collection. You should never visit Padstow without seeing the nearby Round Table and reminisences of Tintagel, which legend has it was the birthplace of King Arthur.

The Blue Wing Gallery in Padstow presents some outstanding art work and a stunning collection of silver jewellery with unusual designs, much of the jewellery is also available to buy both at the gallery shop itself and online at the website. The Cinedrome was opened as a theatre and music hall in 1919 and in the nineteen twenties it was converted to a cinema showing silent movies. For years the cinema was known as the Capitol and then in 1997 it was completely renovated and renamed the Cinedrome. Take the ferry and then the path through the sand dunes and across the golf course to St. Enedoc’s Church is where John Betjeman was buried. St. Enedocs is open daily from 7.30 am and its spire dates back to the thirteenth century.