Fit for a Duke
- Jamie Crocker
- Aug 1
- 4 min read
Words by Jamie Crocker
Step into a slice of Cornish history, where an old favourite has been revived with character.
The Wellington in Boscastle has had more than one life. Originally a 16th-century coaching inn, it’s seen the comings and goings of monarchs and poets, floodwaters and folklore and now, in 2025, it begins another chapter. Reopened in April after a large-scale refurbishment, the Welly (as it’s affectionately known) is once again doing what it does with aplomb: providing solid, characterful lodgings with good food and drink complememted by comfortable beds, creating more stories to be added to its already interesting history.
Situated at the bottom of the Valency Valley, within sight of the harbour and surrounded on three sides by steep, wooded cliffs, The Wellington’s location alone is enough to make it distinctive. Its stone façade, turrets and flagged entrance are unmistakable, and if you didn’t know it had stood through five centuries of change and a freak flood that brought 100 tonnes of water through the ground floor in 2004, you’ll know the moment you step inside.
But don’t expect fusty corridors, sticky tables or walls caked in age-rendered dust and grime. Following significant investment, the refurbishment has breathed new life into the building without stripping out its past. The 14 bedrooms and two aparthotel suites are smart, measured, and well-appointed: think oak floors, deep-coloured fabrics, and freestanding baths in a couple of the tower rooms. The palette leans towards coastal tones, seaweed green, slate grey and caramel. Details matter – minibars stocked with Korev and Tribute, coffee machines in every room and bathrooms that perform as they’re meant to. And, yes, they’re dog-friendly.
The downstairs bar and restaurant retain their atmosphere, with low beams, dark wood and portraits of the first Duke of Wellington looking unimpressed but stately. The food is well-pitched. Starters include a zingy laksa with tiger prawns, while mains veer from Proper Job™ chicken and ham hock pie to a pan-fried hake with lobster-infused chive velouté. There’s a decent fillet steak and a vegetarian laksa too. The beer garden (a new addition) replaces the old front car park, now a split-level sun trap with enough distance from the road to offer a genuine breather.
The Welly has always had a whiff of theatre and connection to the literary arts about it, and rightly so – the actor Sir Henry Irving was a guest, as was Thomas Hardy, who famously courted his first wife Emma Gifford at nearby St Juliot. King Edward VII once stayed here, and it’s not hard to see the appeal: a setting that combines history with access to one of the finest stretches of coastline in the country.
Just a few steps from the door, the South West Coast Path offers options for all abilities. A popular five-and-a-half-mile circuit takes in the Valency Valley’s woodland paths before climbing out onto the headlands. There are panoramic views from Fire Beacon Point, and the route passes through St Juliot itself, where Hardy worked as an architect in the 1870s, before returning via the cliffs. Another, shorter walk winds inland to Minster Wood, a narrow, steep-sided gorge once managed by monks and rich in birds of prey. For those seeking more of a challenge, the 4.3-mile section to Tintagel includes prehistoric settlements, sea stacks and sightings of puffins and seals if you’re lucky. Not to mention Tintagel Castle itself, perched dramatically on the rocks and reached by an equally dramatic footbridge.
Back in the village, there’s more to Boscastle than first meets the eye. The blowhole at Penally Point, known locally as the Devil’s Bellows, sends plumes of water high into the air at low tide. The Coastwatch House, once a smuggler’s lookout, offers views across the bay. And then there’s the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, housing thousands of occult artefacts which managed to survive the 2004 floods largely intact, save for some dampened manuscripts and a dishevelled waxwork witch called Joan, who now enjoys a sort of local celebrity.
The harbour itself remains one of Boscastle’s main draws: a narrow Elizabethan quay wedged between cliffs, lined with stone cottages and a few tearooms. It’s a good spot to finish a walk, or start one. It’s also a reminder of the village’s maritime past – not just fishing, but trade, smuggling and the slightly darker stories that come with those activities. The idea that sea witches once bottled the wind here and sold it to sailors might seem fanciful, but then so might the idea that a hotel could survive being submerged under a wall of water, only to re-emerge more robust and attractive than before.
The sense of the uncanny persists in the building itself as several of the rooms are reputed to be haunted. Whether or not guests experience anything beyond a good night’s sleep is up for debate, but the stories are taken seriously enough by some regulars that these rooms are occasionally requested by name.
Despite the intrigue, The Wellington doesn’t lean too heavily into the folklore. It has the confidence not to. Instead, it does what good inns should offer: comfort, substance and a sense of place. Service is friendly, with local staff who know how to read a room. Breakfasts are nourishing and well-executed. And while the food is notable, it’s also recognisably West Country, with seasonal produce that reassuringly fails to be pretentious. The refurbishment, then, is less of a wholesale transformation than a considered improvement, an update that respects what came before but brings everything up to the standards expected in a modern hotel. And perhaps that’s what makes The Wellington feel so rooted.
For those arriving without a car, Bodmin Parkway is the nearest train station – a 45-minute drive – and the 95 bus connects Boscastle to the surrounding towns. But once here, there’s little reason to leave. Tintagel, Port Isaac, Launceston and Davidstow are all within striking distance, but many guests spend their time walking the cliffs, eating in the bar, or simply staring out of their window at the view whilst occasionally dipping into a good book such as Far From the Madding Crowd or one detailing the exploits of Arthur Wellesley in the Iron Duke.
Few places in Cornwall combine history, landscape and unfussy comfort as effectively as The Wellington. It’s a destination rather than a stopping off point.
