CORNISH delights

RICK STEIN on championing the beautiful coastal county

- REBECCA FLETCHER

Rick Stein has sampled all manner of mouth-watering cuisines as he's cooked his way around the world on his many TV adventures. But nothing comes close to the food, history, landscape and people of his beloved adopted home county, Cornwall.

I've lived in Cornwall for most of my life - it's made me who I am today and inspires so much of what I do,' smiles the chef, 76, who makes a welcome return to BBC2 this week with a third outing of his popular showcase Rick Stein's Cornwall.

Airing every weekday over the next fortnight, the series again leads us on the tracks less travelled, with restaurateur Rick sharing his favourite childhood haunts while discovering how to make Cornish cider and artisan goat's cheese as well as learning the secrets of growing tea.

Here, Rick, who opened The Seafood Restaurant in the fishing port of Padstow in 1975, tells us more about what's on the menu...

Shell game: With a catch of oysters at Mylor Yacht Harbour

We can’t think of a better way to lift spirits in February than a return to Cornwall! Do you have a favourite place there?

I’d have to say on the beach below my parents’ house, near Trevose Head. As a child, I’d walk down the steep, slippery path from the house above to clamber in the rock pools below. Every summer, I’d scramble over [nearby] Merope Rocks and look for little goby fish and lobsters with my dad. Little did I know then that my childhood adventures on those rocks would provide the inspiration I needed to open my seafood restaurant 20 years later!