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Pencuke Farm Holiday Cottages & Yurts Pencuke St Gennys Bude Cornwall EX23 0BH tel 01840 230360 email info@pencukefarm.co.uk web www.pencukefarm.co.uk
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out and about / visiting towns and villages / port issac

Port Isaac

Port Isaac has been an attractive fishing village since the early fourteenth century and its narrow winding streets are lined with old white washed cottages and traditional slate-fronted Cornish houses.

Port Isaac is still a working harbour today and fishermen ply their trade, harvesting the seas in all weathers as their predecessors did before them. Crab and Lobster are now the main catch although at the fish cellars in the harbour, many varieties of fish are on sale and are served in the port’s fantastic restaurants and eateries.

A stroll around the harbour reveals the famous ‘Squeezee Belly Alley’, at just 18 inches across at its narrowest point it is recorded as the world’s narrowest thoroughfare, and ‘The Bloody Bones Cellar’, apparently once used by pirates for storing contraband.

Boat trips to fish, spot wildlife and to enjoy the stunning coastal scenery can be taken from the harbour during the summer months and St. Breward Silver Band play on the Platt in the harbour every Thursday evening. On Friday evenings from late May until late August, The Fisherman’s Friends a local sea shanty singing group can be heard singing on The Platt - the group signed an album deal in March 2010 for £1 million with Universal.

The Port Isaac lifeboat station was re-opened in1967 with a new class D inshore lifeboat. Since that time, the lifeboat has responded to more than 550 call outs and in the process, saving more than 140 lives. Today, Port Isaac's crew and shore helpers man the station 24 hours a day, 365 days a year providing full coverage of Cornwall's north coast.

Despite its isolation the village has had several visits from celebrities. To date, four seasons of the ITV series Doc Martin have been filmed there - although the village has a fictional name of 'Portwenn'. Saving Grace, a successful comedy film, was filmed in and around the village and in October 2005, the village was again used for the backdrop to the TV production of Rosamunde Pilcher's The Shell Seekers. Filming took place in the village for a week with the production's star, Vanessa Redgrave, filming many of her scenes in the main street.

Port Gaverne is a hamlet that is normally considered part of Port Isaac, despite having its own individual history. Located just out of the village of Port Isaac, in the summer months it is a haven for tourists as it allows for the launching of boats as well has affording a sheltered sandy bay at low tide.