Port Isaac
Porth YsekAlso known as Port Wenn
Port Isaac is a traditional fishing village in North Cornwall that is home to the TV series Doc Martin starring Martin Clunes and the Fisherman’s Friends shanty singers.
Is the Doctor home?
Who would have thought in 2000 when the low budget British comedy Saving Grace was released in cinemas, that Port Isaac would become such a popular place to visit? The film about a widow growing marijuana in a small Cornish village featured the actor Martin Clunes playing a doctor.
Inspired by the film, in 2004 Clunes would first appear on our TV screens as Doc Martin, filmed mainly in and around Port Isaac and renamed Port Wenn, it would go on to become such a huge ratings hit, averaging over 10 million viewers in the UK alone.
Visitors to the village can wander around and pick out the locations where scenes were shot, from the Doctor Ellingham’s house on the west side of the harbour, to Mrs Tishell’s chemist shop on Middle Street, Louisa’s home on Fore Street and Bert’s Restaurant.
Away from Port Isaac, nearby locations where filming has taken place include Doyden Castle on the cliffs above Port Quin. This ‘folly’ was built in the 1830’s by a local landowner as somewhere secret to entertain his friends. It’s now a holiday home.
Port Quin or Gaverne?
A walk along the South West Coast Path either way from Port Isaac will bring you to another small cove, west to Port Quin or east to Port Gaverne. The latter is a short walk around the headland to a small community where slate from Delabole was once exported to the continent. Nowadays it’s a quiet place with a National Trust owned beach popular with families who enjoy plenty of sand and rock pools at low tide.
Port Quin is a bit more of a walk, but it’s a stunning one. Leaving Port Isaac you head around Lobber Point to gain fine views across to Varley Head and the path you have to follow. There’s a few ups and downs before you reach Kellan Head from where you turn south and head down into Port Quin.
Across the bay you can see Doyden Point and the offshore rocks, Cow and Calf. Soon the narrow inlet leading into Port Quin is reached. Quin, or Gwynn, is the Cornish word for white and the anglicised version Port Wenn, is of course the name for Port Isaac in Doc Martin. A few houses now make up the settlement, legend stating that one night in the 1800s a storm took all the fishermen and their wives soon left.
Port Isaac has one of the narrowest alleyways in the UK, some say the world! Known both as Temple Bar and Squeezy Belly Alley, at its narrowest point it is only 18 inches wide. It runs from the Platt on the harbour up into the village.
The Fisherman's Friends
The term Shanty is said to come from the French word to sing ‘chanter’ and a shanty is usually a call and respond tune with a good steady rhythm so it could be sung while sailors were working together on jobs like raising sails. With the introduction of steam ships, the shanties died off, but retired sailors would still sing them in pubs up and down the coast.
Picked up by folk singers, who also included songs written about the sea, they grew in popularity in the UK through the 1950s and 1960s but then went out of fashion as rock music took over. In the 1980s, bands like the Pogue’s included shanties into their repertoire, but these were a far cry from the traditional tunes!
In the mid 1990s a group of friends started singing shanties on the Platt at Port Isaac, the area at the top of the beach, to raise money for local charities. They recorded a couple of CDs and one of these was bought by the DJ Johnnie Walker while he was on holiday in Cornwall. He passed it on to a friend in the music industry and the rest is history.
Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends are now big stars who have sung at Glastonbury Festival, appeared on BBC TV and had two films based on their story released. Despite this you can still catch them singing in and around Port Isaac in the summer months.
With narrow winding streets lined with whitewashed cottages overlooking a small harbour, Port Isaac is a truly picturesque village. Set amidst rugged and magnificent coastal scenery, you can understand why it’s become something of a film star in recent years.
Plan your trip
Everything you need to know to plan your perfect trip to Port Isaac
From the M5 follow the A30 to Bodmin, Turn off here and head through the town taking the A389 towards Wadebridge. On reaching the A39 take the first left heading towards the town then right onto the B3314. Follow this until you see signs for Port Isaac.
Due to the nature of Port Isaac's narrow, windy streets, vehicle access is very limited. It is strongly recommended that you park in one of the two car parks, the Main Car Park or the New Car Park, both located at the top of the village and wander down to the harbour area on foot.
Port Isaac is served by the 96 local bus service from Wadebridge to Launceston (Summer 2022)
The nearest National Express stop is at Bodmin from where a bus runs to Wadebridge.
The nearest mainline railway station is Bodmin Parkway from where you can get a bus to Port Isaac by changing at Wadebridge.
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Travel to Cornwall by train
GWR operate high speed train services frequently from London Paddington station including the Night Riviera Sleeper Service to Penzance. There are also direct trains daily from Bristol and beyond. More info from: nationalrail.co.uk
Once in Cornwall, there's a great rail network for getting around the county, ideal for when the roads are busy in the summer. Give the driver a rest and grab a cheap day return to St Ives or Looe. Sit back and enjoy the scenery on the Tamar Valley Line or head to the beach at Newquay or Falmouth. For more info, go to Great Scenic Railways
For National Rail enquiries telephone 08457 484950
The First Group co-ordinate bus services from many Cornish stations.
Park-and-ride schemes run in season at Liskeard (for Looe) and St Erth (for St. Ives).
Travel to Cornwall by road
It takes less than five hours to get from London to the heart of Cornwall by either train or car. Drive along the M4 motorway from London, or M6 from Manchester, and then the M5 to Exeter and finally either the A30, that is mostly dual carriageway, or the A38 passing Plymouth and Saltash into South East Cornwall. Alternatively if you enter Cornwall from North Devon, there is the scenic A39 Atlantic Highway running through Bude, which you can join from Junction 27 on the M5. Due to the high volume of traffic on Cornwall's roads during the summer months the main routes can become congested especially at weekends. Travelling overnight or outside peak rush hours is recommended to avoid long delays.
- To plan your journey use the AA Route Planner for a tailor made travel plan with timings and mileage
- For information on possible delays or roadwork's throughout the UK or in Cornwall visit Traffic Watch
- Travelling to Cornwall with a caravan? Check out our Caravan Towing guide
PLEASE BE AWARE. Sat-Navs can lead you to some wonderful places in Cornwall, many of them down narrow country lanes with high hedges and few reversing points. If you are not sure...don't go on. Better to turn around and find another route than end up lost in the middle of nowhere.
Travel to Cornwall by coach and bus
National Express operate a full service into Cornwall as far as Penzance, Megabuss also go to a few towns including Newquay and Falmouth.
Coach travel times from London or Birmingham to the city of Truro are around 7-8 hours
Many tour operators offer coach holidays to Cornwall, contact your local travel agent for details.
For information on public transport, including local bus timetables, once you are in Cornwall, Click here.
To plan your journey in advance, journey planning websites such as Traveline South West can be useful.
If you are bringing a coach to Cornwall, did you know Cornwall Council now offers a weekly coach rover ticket. This is available for all car parks where coaches are permitted and costs £15 for 24 hours or £50 for 7 days and £35 for 4 days. These can be obtained by creating an account to use the ZatPermit system.
Travel to Cornwall by air
Flying to Cornwall can offer an attractive alternative to the long and sometimes frustrating journey by train or car.
Newquay Airport is served by a variety of routes from across the UK and beyond. For more information, please visit the Cornwall Airport Newquay Website or call +44 (0)1637 860600 or e-mail Info@newquaycornwallairport.com
The Airport offers year-round onward connectivity to the Isles of Scilly with Skybus.
Exeter Airport is also withing easy reach of Cornwall via the A30 and A38.
Travel to Cornwall by ferry Travelling across the Channel from France to the UK can take as little time as 35 minutes on the Eurotunnel from Calais to Folkestone and just 1 hour and 20 minutes on one of the ferry services between France and Dover.
Plymouth is the closest ferry port to Cornwall, being just across the River Tamar. Brittany Ferries offer services from Roscoff in France and Santander in Northern Spain into Plymouth as well as further services from France and Spain into Portsmouth and Poole.
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