Fistral’s beach style
Few beaches have the style that Fistral sports, from silent disco yoga and beach-inspired boutiques shoreside to vintage bellyboards restyled for a more sustainable future…
“It’s a magnet for swell. So, if it’s swell at Fistral, you know Perranporth will be a couple of feet bigger, all the town beaches that be a couple of feet smaller, Watergate would be similar. But really, when Fistral is on, there’s nothing quite like it.”
Chef and patron at Fistral’s Fish House, Paul Harwood, overflows with enthusiasm when asked for his description of his restaurant’s enviable location. After he had a vision for a seafood restaurant at Fistral, he says he and his family have put everything into creating this seasonally focused, ocean obsessed eatery, from the team of chefs foraging wild garlic to pair with locally caught crab to the daily deliveries of fish and shellfish from suppliers fishing off Cornwall’s north, west and south coasts.
And Fistral isn’t just a magnet for swell, it attracts young and old with its accessible sandy expanse and world renowned surf scene.
“Fistral is super fun. It’s only a stone’s throw away for us; so, for any product development or testing, it’s a go-to place for us.”
Harriet at lifestyle boutique BonBon welcomes locals and visitors of every generation to her store, on the hunt for a piece of beach-inspired fashion or homewares, or a gift.
She’s equally enthusiastic about what Fistral has to offer: “I’m excited about everyone arriving, having good weather, long evenings, great sunsets. It’s amazing, everyone’s surfing, enjoying the water and we have the smell of lots of great food around us,” she tells us.
Bringing back the boards
Not far from the beach, Freddie is at Dick Pearce & Friends, keeping the day-to-day operations going. He tells about the first wooden bellyboards sold in 1928 by the business’ namesake Dick Pearce. Fast forward to today and Freddie is part of the team bringing these sustainable boards to a new audience with the stylish brand and screen printed board designs.
“In summer, we’ve got this lovely area of clifftop that we practice on. It’s surrounded by nature, which is the most amazing anchor for keeping us present.”
Visitors can ride the waves bellyboard style, while ditching the single-use plastic of conventional holiday bodyboards, via the company’s Surf Wood for Good scheme. “It’s basically a free hire scheme. Come and pick up a board and try it for free,” says Freddie.
And there’s no better place than Fistral to give their boards a go. “Fistral is super fun. It’s only a stone’s throw away for us; so, for any product development or testing, it’s a go-to place for us.”
Find your focus
On the clifftop, looking down at the surf, you might spot a group stretching skyward focused solely on the nature around them. That’ll be a class from Ocean Flow Yoga, possibly being led by centre co-owner Stretch.
“In summer, we’ve got this lovely area of clifftop that we practice on. It’s surrounded by nature, which is the most amazing anchor for keeping us present…a lot of the time our minds can wander off; we think about the future, think about the past. It can get quite stressed doing that,” Stretch tells us.
“But when you’re in a location like this and seem to forget about everything else…you’re just there, in the moment.”
As well as the backdrop, Ocean Flow Yoga is known for its warm welcome, says Stretch. “I’m a firm believer in everyone being welcome. We have different classes for different people, to make sure we tailor for everyone, and we have a super friendly community, really welcoming of people coming along to just jump in the studio and try it out.”
Visit Fistral in style and leave with a haul of stylish wares, enter the Your Beach. Found takeover competition for Fistral to win:
- A two-course lunch for two at The Fish House, including a drink each
- Two vouchers for a paint your own bellyboard workshop with Dick Pearce
- Four tickets to an Ocean Flow Yoga Beach Silent Disco Yoga session
- £100 voucher to spend at BonBon
For your chance to win, watch The Fish House, BonBon, Dick Pearce & Friends and Ocean Flow Yoga talk about Fistral and what they do on Instagram and follow the entry instructions posted there.
Your Beach. Found
From the feel of the sand underfoot to the anticipation as you near the sea, your beach is the one that stays with you. Find your beach with the Beach Match Quiz.
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