Grab a board and battle the waves on an upmarket break in new-look Newquay, Cornwall SAYS LINDSAY CALDER

AT just 8am the surf was already up at Fistral Beach, Newquay in Cornwall.

Surfers in wetsuits, boards tucked under their arms, sprinted across the pale vanilla sands and into the waves.

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They did it so effortlessly it must have been their morning  routine. And this was a weekday!

It sure beats a sweaty half-hour commute to work.

Even the dogs here get in on the act. A natty little Jack Russell appeared, kitted out in a serious surf vest. He trotted determinedly
down the beach behind a woman and her board.

At nearly a mile long Fistral, on Cornwall’s north Atlantic coast, is one of the best surfi ng beaches in the UK and hosts competitions such as the Rip Curl Boardmasters.

If you fancy a bit of the action you can have lessons at The British Surfing Association, which is based here.

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Or if powerboating is more your thing, make sure you visit during the Blue Chip Newquay Zapcat Grand Prix weekend, as we did.
Zapcats, originally designed for surf rescue in South Africa, are inflatable catamarans which can overcome the steepest of waves.

Bars
My husband Richard gave one a go before the races began – but, not willing to see my recently-eaten breakfast again, I was more than happy to stay on dry land, eyeing up the surf talent from the terrace of Fistral Blu Bar.

The Zapcats are back at Fistral Beach on October 1 and 2 for the tense finale to the season.

The beach is walking distance from town, home to a bevy of bars and clubs including surfers’ favourite Koola Nightclub & Chy
Bar on Beach Road. Newquay has a reputation for stag parties but is heading more upmarket, with  accommodation to match.

Our apartment, in the Zinc development on the headland overlooking Fistral, had a distinctly Miami Beach vibe.

Floor-to-ceiling windows gave views out to the beach and the open-plan living area was flooded with natural light.

It was tempting to stay put but instead we grabbed our hire car from the basement garage and drove the 40 minutes to St Ives.

After nosying in the tiny art galleries and endless surf shops, we headed to the Barbara Hepworth Museum, which was included in the
cost of entry to the Tate gallery.

The museum is where Hepworth, a sculptor, lived and worked from 1949 to 1975. Her overalls still hang on a peg in the studio and her sculptures are dotted about the lovely garden.

We stopped at the Sloop Inn, dating back to 1312 and packed with a mixture of salty locals and tourists.

Then, just a short walk from the centre of St Ives, on pretty Porthminster beach, we found the perfect lunch spot.

Porthminster Café has a sun-drenched roof terrace where you could happily spend hours.

Beach
My fish and chips came with two shot glasses, one filled with tartar sauce and the other with vinegar
and our bottle of wine came in a red plastic bucket.

You can also buy takeaway fish ’n’ chips for £5.95 and sit at a table on the beach. The next day we visited the Eden Project with its giant bubbled glass biomes that look as if they’re straight out of Star Trek.

Nearby Charlestown has featured in everything from the 1970s TV series Poldark to the 2010 movie Alice In Wonderland.

After admiring the tall ships in the Georgian harbour, we headed back for a meal at Jamie  Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall, in Watergate Bay.

The six-course tasting menu, at £55, is the only option in the evening but the three-course lunch menu is a more palatable £26 and in
daylight you can enjoy the view of the bay.

If you don’t fancy venturing far out of Newquay, head to the clifftop Lewinnick Lodge for its buzzy atmosphere and huge decked  terrace overlooking the Atlantic.

Before heading home we had a good nosy around a show apartment in a swanky new building near ours.

Apparently the person who’s bought the penthouse needs  somewhere to land his helicopter.

Now if that’s not upmarket Newquay, I don’t know what is.

FACT FILE
■BLUE Chip Vacations has more than 150 luxury apartments, houses and cottages in Newquay, from £309 for seven nights. Lindsay
stayed in Penthouse 50 Zinc, which sleeps eight and starts at £499 for seven nights.

You can also book one of 13 Aqua Blue surf apartments, sleeping four, ten minutes’ walk from Tolcarne Beach, from £484 for seven nights from August 28.

See bluechipnewquay.co.uk or call 0844 561 2001.

■ Air Southwest flies to Newquay from London City, London Gatwick, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds  Bradford, Newcastle, Glasgow, Dublin and Cork.

See airsouthwest.com or call 0870 241 8202.
 
For car hire see europcar.co.uk
 
Tate St Ives has changing exhibitions. See tate.org.uk/stives
 
To book tickets for the Eden Project see edenproject.com
 
For information about what’s on in the area see visitcornwall.com