The Quay at St Mawes Live Cam

Portscatho Holidays was established in 1982 and has one of the largest selections of self catering holiday homes on the beautifal Roseland Pennisula.

We have personally inspected all the holiday homes on our register so we are able to match your individual requirements to the right property.

We welcome new and old customers alike to explore this website which should give you all the information you require to make the right choice for your well earned holiday.

St Mawes is a spectacular fishing village on the tip of the Roseland peninsula in Cornwall. Boasting a wealth of information including accommodation, services, boating, restaurants & pubs, tradesmen and more. St Mawes provides an excellent base for a quality holiday on the Roseland in Cornwall with good access to all the major attractions such as the Eden project and the busy town of Falmouth. Being positioned within the gulf stream, the climate is remarkably mild in the winter and during the summer reaches Mediterranean temperatures. You can be assured that a holiday in St Mawes will ensure a very memorable trip to Cornwall.

By Road: Follow the A30 down into Cornwall, then take the A391 just after Bodmin. This takes you to St Austell. Follow the A390 to Truro and look for signs to St Mawes on your left. The A 3078 takes you all the way to the village.

By Rail: Both Truro & St Austell have mainline railway stations. Each town is about a 35 minute drive.

By Plane: The nearest regional airport is Newquay where both Ryanair & air southwest operate low cost flights within the UK. During the summer months it’s a good idea to avoid the traffic and travel by plane!

By Boat: Once you’ve arrived there's a good network of foot passenger ferries to get you out and about.

As St Mawes is situated right next to sea, there is, as one can imagine, an abundance of excellent fresh seafood available within the village restaurants ranging from wholesome fish pies to Lobster thermidore and gravlax! However the non-fish food lover is also well catered for in all the establishments with all sorts of Cornish farmed meats and poultry dishes with British and European themes.The more flamboyant visitor will be reassured to know that the St Mawes wine & beer cellar is extremely well stocked to cope with even the busiest summer months! Nearly all the below establishments hold an excellent variety of new & old world wines together with award winning local and national beers, and of course a range of ports, brandy's and liqueurs to whittle away those timeless evenings!

So you’ve just bought your second home and now like most people you’ve decided to rebuild and re-decorate! Fortunately there’s a good range of tradesman right on your doorstep who can help you with every step. Whether its just some light decorating work or a complete renovation project here are the people that can make it happen.

St Mawes offers a variety of facilities to keep visiting and local yachtsman content and on the move. With three boatyards in the area and a very active sailing club the village has become a hotspot for the boating fraternity. Nearly all the anchorages and moorings are well sheltered should the elements get a little lively and access to other sailing beauty spots is very good. The Carrick Roads is a great area to explore by boat and it is possible to travel up to Truro when tides permit. Within St Mawes there are Marine Engineers, Boat Builders and sail makers.

St Mawes, is a large village not a town, and you can therefore be assured that wherever you stay you’ll never be more than a couple of minutes away from the waters edge and the nearby amenities.

If staying in a hotel or guesthouse is not your cup of tea then St Mawes has a huge number of self catering holiday homes to rent on a short term basis which is ideal for larger numbers and families. They mostly operate in a self catering fashion and range from quaint 1 bedroom apartments to large 7 bedroom houses.

There’s an excellent range of shop's in the village that together supply a huge range of various goods from clothes to fishing tackle. The art galleries in the village have some fabulous paintings and it’s hard to walk out of these empty handed! Definitely worth a look.

Cornwall has enjoyed a thriving Arts Community from the mid-nineteenth century, and since 1993 the Tate Gallery in St. Ives, an extension of the Tate in London. There is the Minack theatre built into a cliff, historic homes and ancient landscapes. We have outstanding seafood restaurants, delightful country hotels and a glorious coastline.

The beaches and coves of Cornwall are warmed by the waters of the Gulf Stream, you can laze all day on the golden beaches, take a walk, sail or inspect an iron age fort. A short trip takes you deep into the countryside or you can quickly swap from one side of the peninsular to the other.

There are hundreds of places to camp or take your touring caravan in Cornwall and parks have evolved far beyond the basic shower block and shop approach of the past.

Electric hook-ups for vans and power packs for tents all feature on the modern park, and many have fully serviced touring pitches. Family facilities, too, are the norm and larger parks often provide free entertainment for kids and adults in the park clubhouse. These parks often offer self-catering accommodation as well as camping and touring and are usually close to popular beaches.

There's still plenty of choice if you're looking for a more peaceful time. Smaller parks offer most conveniences, but cater for visitors who want to enjoy all the peace and quiet that a Cornish holiday can offer.

Tent parks and campsites such as Tremorvah, nr Falmouth cater solely for campers.Holiday Parks, like Sandymouth Bay or Wooda Farm Holidays, both in Bude, cater for those looking for a holiday caravan, bungalow, chalet or lodge - as well as touring and camping. Most of these are large parks located on the coast and have 5-8 pages each of information with prices.

The facilities on touring parks - such as Rose Hill or Lanyon Park - both near Redruth, can be as comprehensive as those on the larger holiday parks. Again, most of these sites have 3-5 pages of information with prices. In most instances they are located slightly further inland but often only 10-15 minutes in the car will get you to the beach. Holiday/Touring/Camping Parks Automailer. We also tell you how many pitches each park has, which serves as a rough guide to size.

There's a huge choice of self-catering holidays available in Cornwall. Ranging from chalets apartments and lodges to delightful farm cottages and homes in the Cornish countryside. We have self-catering establishments on our site from all over Cornwall. Amongst our clients you can find many fine historic cottages and farmhouses available for short and longer breaks. They can provide fine holiday accommodation offering ambience and atmosphere close to or positioned on our beautiful estuarys and fine coastline. Equally if you are looking for a quiet romantic weekend in a cosy farm cottage or a touch of elegance and luxury you're after in a larger party.

Stay on an authentic Cornish Farm - one of the best ways to experience the beautiful countryside of Cornwall - Among the 50+ members you will find woodland walks or farm trails. The members have graded accommodation and offer bed and breakfast in most cases. About a third have holiday cottages on their farms. Each member has two pages: one for general information and the other for facilities.

A pick of Cornwall's hotels - ranging from small friendly family-run guesthouses to larger establishments.

If the outdoor life of cycling, walking, fishing, golf or birdwatching appeals, then you're spoilt for choice in Cornwall. Get out and about with our selection of activity holidays. Cornwall offers much in terms of the great outdoors - take microlight training, walk the coast path, cycle the trails, paint the scenery or escape onto a writing holiday.

When it comes to fishing, Cornwall offers excellent Trout, Salmon, Coarse and Sea Angling for everyone from beginners to advanced. Here you will find cottages on farms, holiday and touring parks that provide lakes with free fishing or as add-on deals. Additionally, there are a few details on major fishing locations in the county.

There are many great cycling areas in Cornwall and a number of purpose-built cycle trails in the county. Our Cycling in Cornwall site details the areas offering cycling for the family along with one or two routes for the more adventurous. With information on taking your bike on the train, contact details for local and national organizations, cycle hire, shops, etc.

Like much of the westcountry, Cornwall is a haven to many plants, birds, insects and mammals, some of which are unseen anywhere else in Europe. Cornish moors and hillsides, in particular, can be virtually untouched as wildernesses - so much so that many of them clearly bear the marks of their last settlement in pre-Christian times.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust's online list of over forty nature reserves in the county, helpfully subdivided into those with trails, views, those with archeological interest and those that are good for birdwatching.

Cornwall is home to some of the most beautiful gardens in Britain. It has an exceptionally mild maritime climate which is often compared to that of an island. From since before the Victorians to the present day, plant collectors and gardening enthusiasts have seen the potential of Cornwall's sub-tropical sheltered valleys to grow exotic plants unable to thrive outside in the rest of the country. Many of the great gardens of the era, along with new endeavours like The Eden Project, are open to the public.

There's plenty to do for you and your family when you come to Cornwall. There are scores of theme parks and other attractions dotted around the county. Theme & Fun Parks, historic houses and gardens. This section also features museums like the Cornwall Bicycle Museum, kart tracks like Jeepers, wildlife rescue sanctuaries like the Tortoise Garden and some of the smaller attractions in Cornwall.

Ever since Rick Stein started his seafood restaurant in Padstow, the profile and importance of Cornish cuisine has taken its rightful place in the culture of the county. The Food in Cornwall Association (FICA) is part of that culture and its forty members run everything from tea-rooms to exclusive restaurants, including some National Award winning establishments. Some members have sample menus as part of their presentation with sample prices and a map is provided to show where members are located.

Cornwall is a beautiful and multi-faceted county: Though it is only about 70 miles long and under 50 miles across at its widest point, it has the longest and, perhaps, most varied coastline of any English county. Dark, high cliffs punctuated by wide sandy beaches in the North give way in the South to wide flooded tree-lined river valleys. The interior has just as much variety. From atmospheric moorland haunted by the iron-age relics that loom out of the Cornish mist to picturesque villages in deep wooded valleys, Cornwall has it all.

Once you're here, you'll want to explore everything. Check out the following pages on Cornwall Connect to find out the best places to go and things to see. North Cornwall's picturesque market town - and one-time capital of the county - Launceston is often missed by visitors in the headlong rush to go further west on the A30, and that's a great pity as the town has much to recommend it. With it's own Norman Castle, a thriving music scene and - despite or, perhaps, in spite of its proximity to Devon - a genuine Cornish ambience about the town.

At the other end of the county, Penwith is as far west as you can get without getting on a boat. On its North Coast, you will find wild moors, tiny villages and stunning seascapes. The quality of light that Cornwall is famed for is here - the same light that has drawn artists to St Ives and Newlyn since the turn of the twentieth century and also inspired the construction of the Tate Gallery in 1993. Even if you have no interest in art, the Tate, St Ives is a stunning modern building inside and out.

On the South Coast, Penzance serves as market town for the whole area. Nearby, at Marazion, the impressive island of St Michael's Mount is moored a few hundred yards offshore, though you can reach it by causeway at low tide. Also of note is The Minack Theatre, an auditorium on a cliff with evening performances throughout the summer. There's more information on all of these places - and more.

The Perranporth area on the North Coast is often overlooked in favour of the bright lights of nearby Newquay, which is a pity as the area - often known as Poldark Country after the books by Winston Graham (and the 1970s TV series) has plenty to offer. Perranporth has some of the best surf on the North Coast, while St.Agnes, a small and picturesque town and also a surfer's haunt of some note - has plenty to recommend it away from the beach. Down the coast a little is Porthtowan.

Cornwall's South Coast is rightly famous for its beautiful wooded valleys, rivers and beaches, but the Roseland Peninsula is probably its best kept secret. This slim finger of land lies south of Truro and to the East of Falmouth. Some of Cornwall's finest gardens can be found here with hidden creeks and inlets, ancient woodland and fine beaches. We have a dozen pages on one of Britain's most beautiful and unspoilt areas, with information on the villages, beaches, walks, ferries and places to visit.