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Cornwall holiday company Duchy Holidays this week announced the winner of its Love Perranporth competition, which it organised as part of English Tourism Week in early April.
For this competition, entrants were asked to portray in words why the beachside town of Perranporth is so special to them. The company received hundreds of entries which celebrated the long sandy beach, craggy coastline and friendly atmosphere of this holiday destination in North Cornwall.
But it was local resident Beth Bowdler who was selected as the winner by Visit Cornwall’s Chief Executive Malcolm Bell when he visited the Duchy Holidays office.
Mrs Bowdler won a vibrant fine art print of Perranporth beach by Cornish artist Laurie McCall, plus a year’s subscription to Cornwall Living Magazine courtesy of Little Piece of Cornwall for her heart-felt verse.
Her winning words were:
Huge sandy beach kept neat and clean; stupendous views can always be seen.
Lots of lovely places to eat, with fish and chips a special treat.
Doggy heaven for our four legged pals; good place to meet for guys and gals.
Friendly locals have a sense of pride, collecting debris brought in by the tide.
A feeling of community really abounds; in summer there’s lots of cheerful sounds.
There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, in Perranporth eating a Cornish cream tea.
This was one of many competition entries which captured the heart and soul of Perranporth. These were complemented by drawings submitted by local and visiting primary school children, which formed a wonderful display in the Perranporth Tourist Information Centre.
Beth Bowdler and her husband have a long association with Perranporth, having lived in and around the town, on and off, for 45 years. After moving around a little and working abroad for several years, they decided to settle in Perranporth to raise their family.
Beth said: “It was the obvious place to bring up our two small children. They had an idyllic childhood and have many wonderful memories of times on the beach, rockpools and surf, and of having family and friends coming down to enjoy their summer holidays with us.
“We are now also grandparents and my daughter and her husband are starting to bring our grandson, Jack, down to Perranporth from ‘up-country’ to enjoy our beach. And so the cycle continues… My little verse was just spoken from the heart.”
Duchy Holidays’ Chelsea Johnson commented: “We were overwhelmed with the quality and diversity of entries from Perranporth fans. It’s clear that this lovely town is a much-loved place which inspires and enthrals people, whether they live here or visit on holiday.
“We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the people who entered the competition. We very much enjoyed reading everybody’s words about our favourite place and viewing the drawings from school children.”
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