St Petroc himself  brought Christianity and established a Church here around AD 518. Petroc was a Welsh nobleman educated in Ireland. He set out with his followers in boats, or coracles, and the winds and tides brought him to the river Camel estuary. Here he built a Monastery, with a School, Farm, and Church to serve the monks and to minister to the area that became known then as Petrocstow – now Padstow. Petroc travelled widely and founded more Churches in Cornwall, Walkes and Brittany and converted King Constantine of Cornwall to Christianity.

In AD 916 King Athelstan of England conquered Cornwall, and granted Petroc’s Church the right of Sanctuary, one of just three Churches in Cornwall with that status. In Ad 981 a band of Viking raiders destroyed Petroc’s Church, leaving it in ruins. Around AD 1100 a new Norman style Church was built on this site and the thick walled tower base survives from this period. In the 1400s the Church was rebuilt, using Caen stone from Normandy, and remains to this day.*

*Information from a signboard outside the church

The service at breakfast was not as efficient-much slower-than it had been the previous day. Several people were seeking out the waitress for their order to be taken only to be told to return to their table, someone would be along soon.

The waitress eventually came to take our order (after taking an order from others that had arrived later than us). I chose the blueberry pancake stack. It was delicious.

The temperature had dropped enough for us to follow the local history walk around Padstow. We stopped at St Petroc’s church where we heard the organ being tuned. Shortly after, we arrived at Prideaux Place just in time to join the guided tour at 12pm. When the tour had concluded we enjoyed mackerel pate whilst sitting outside overlooking the deer park.

We then resumed the Padstow walk which ended at the harbour. We continued to the nearby National Lobster Hatchery which we found fascinating. As we arrived, the lobsters and other marine life were being fed. It was fascinating to watch the lobster eat.

We returned to the town and had refreshments in the delightfully named Cherry Blossom café. We shared a cake and I had my usual Elderflower Presse and Mr C a cup of tea. We then returned to the billet to chill out with another cup of tea enjoying the view from our room.

Later we dined in Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant. The service from Olly was excellent but once again, as in Winchester earlier this year, we were left slightly underwhelmed by the food choices. I chose Indonesian fish stew which turned out to be one of the larger meals.

We have dined in Rick Stein’s before these two occasions and enjoyed what was on offer, but something has changed over the years.

We had a nightcap in the Old Ship Inn before retiring for the evening.