LET'S face it: British food doesn't have the best reputation. Its direness has even become a punchline - you can't trust people who cook that badly, quipped French president Jacques Chirac last year.

And although the empire has struck back, with an army of Jamie Olivers and Nigella Lawsons colonising food television, many still agree with him.

The suspicion is that away from the celebrity chef kitchen and outside London, the traditional table has changed little. It's still meat and two vegetables, the living daylights cooked out of both.

It's no surprise then that Cornwall doesn't exactly leap to mind when most think of foodie holidays. But those who use their stomachs as compasses know better - they're finding out what surfers (also single-minded travellers) already know.

This part of south-west England is full of hidden gems.

Whether you surf waves or menus, the first stop has to be the north coast of Cornwall.

The village of Padstow was almost single handedly put on the map by chef Rick Stein. After the nightclub he bought went bust, he set up a restaurant to make the most of what local fishermen brought in on their boats, which you can still see from its dining room by the port.

Stein, whose wonderfully-unhip, super-earnest TV shows celebrate British produce and local food heroes, has virtually taken over the town since then, setting up two more restaurants, a fish-and-chips shop, a delicatessen, a patisserie and a number of hotels.

Even in low season, tables at the award-winning Seafood Restaurant are hard to come by. But a meal at Rick Stein's Cafe, the less bank-breaking of the two, does not disappoint.

Chinese-style salt and pepper prawns, followed by golden-fried goujons of plaice with tartare sauce, were simple but perfect.

The stand-out, however, was the tomato-based, parsley-studded stew of salt cod and chickpeas.

Dessert, a creamy English stilton accompanied by walnuts and honey, hit the spot as well (though it had its thunder stolen by an earlier visit to the fantastic fudge shop round the corner).

While Padstow beckons the foodies, Newquay, just an hour away, draws a different type of pilgrim. The epicentre of the surfing scene, it is lined with gaming arcades and shops selling endless racks of Mambo and Quiksilver.

Even in the winter, surfers and boogie boarders can be spotted at the many beaches in the area.

But head south, around the tip of the Cornish peninsula at Land's End, and you'll find the food lovers again, this time in the impossibly-pretty village of Mousehole (pronounced 'Mouzel').

At the Old Coastguard Hotel, the eating is eclipsed only by the view from the dining room, which looks over a palm-lined garden next to the bluest sea.

The kitchen makes good use of typically Cornish ingredients such as seafood and saffron. One dinner saw scallops - so fresh they could bounce off the floor - paired with mussels and ribbons of black pasta in a light saffron cream sauce.

This was followed by a bread-and-butter pudding made with saffron cake - a kind of heavy Cornish bread - and a whisky and orange treacle tart sitting on a lake of butterscotch and praline cream.

But a visit to the West Country would not be complete without clotted cream, for the real stuff is made only in this part of the world.

The thick cream looks like dense clouds of pale butter, and it tastes just as heavenly, thanks to an unspeakably high fat content.

You haven't had scones till you've had them with clotted cream, and one of the best places to do this is Charlotte's Teahouse in Truro, about an hour north-east of Mousehole.

Tucked away in a heritage building crammed with antiques, just a short walk from Truro's impressive cathedral, it serves a generous helping of nostalgia with its tea.

The waitresses are decked out in long black skirts with frilly white pinafores, looking like they've walked straight off the pages of a Victorian novel.

And almost everything is baked on the premises, including the scones. These crack open to reveal the perfect balance of fluffiness and heft, just begging for a liberal coating of clotted cream and strawberry jam.

Afterwards, the championship eaters can join the queue outside WC Rowe around the corner for what are said to be some of the best Cornish pasties (the English equivalent of curry puffs, minus the spice).

At this point, the really intrepid might pack up their surfboards (or indigestion tablets) and head eastwards to the gorgeous Rame Peninsula, which is sometimes called, rather sorrowfully, 'the forgotten corner of Cornwall'.

If you hate the beaten track, you'll love Kingsand, another small but perfectly-formed seaside village, with crooked little streets so narrow that two cars can cause a traffic jam.

The Halfway House, which once marked the border between Devon and Cornwall, does a nice line in pub grub: local crab dressed with a bubbling Mornay sauce of cream, eggs and cheese; skewers of monkfish and chorizo sausage on a bed of yellow rice; and a raspberry Eton mess, a deliberately-untidy dessert with crushed meringue and clotted cream.

After all that, it's just as well that this is also a hotel, with rooms within crawling distance, right above the pub and dining room.

But there's one last happy discovery at breakfast - a homemade jam called Dumpsie Dearie, a concoction of apples, plums, pears and ginger that triggers an immediate regression to sticky-fingered childhood.

If you can tear yourself from the table, drive or walk along the breath-stealing clifftops in the area.

These are often shrouded in veils of mist concealing stunning sweeps of sand below - well-hidden, just like the charms of this quiet corner of England.

The writer is a freelance journalist.

HOW TO GET THERE

FROM London, you can fly to Newquay, a good jumping-off point for exploring Cornwall.

The flights take anything between an hour and an hour and 40 minutes; fares start from about £29 (S$85) one-way on Air Southwest (www.airsouthwest.com) or Ryanair (www.ryanair.com).

A train journey would take 61/2 hours, with fares starting from about £60 (www.nationalrail.co.uk).

You could also drive, but that could take six to eight hours or more depending on traffic.

WHAT TO SEE

Tintagel Castle: Famous for its connection to the King Arthur legends, the ruins of this 13th century castle overlook sea-lashed cliffs, turquoise waters and a beach.

A short drive away is an even better beach, at Trebarwith Strand. You can combine this with a visit to the foodie haven of Padstow, less than an hour's drive away.

The Eden Project, St Austell: This is a garden the size of 30 soccer fields and boasts thousands of plant species, which include more than 1,000 tropical varieties housed within a 57m-high dome, the largest greenhouse in the world.

WHAT TO DO

Learn to surf: You'll see boards bobbing up and down off the beaches almost all year round.

At Newquay, the O'Neill Surf Academy (www.westcoastsurfari.com) offers a two-day surfing course, with all equipment provided, for £65.

Put on your walking shoes: In Dartmoor National Park (technically in Devon), you can engage in that very English pastime - walking.

Explore the expanse of wild, heather-covered moorland, including rivers, gorges and distinctive rock towers known as tors.

There's also horse-riding, trekking, biking and rock-climbing.

But don't let all that ruggedly beautiful coastline go to waste. The South West Coast Path is a network of national walking trails which includes the Jurassic Coast, a treasure trove of fossil sites and interesting geology.

WHERE TO EAT AND SLEEP

Padstow: Most foodies make a beeline for one of the four Rick Stein eateries, so book early to avoid heartbreak. These establishments offer rooms as well, with rates starting from £90 per night with breakfast (www.rickstein.com).

Trebarwith: Alternatively, you can stay near Tintagel, about an hour's drive away. Although many spend the night in the town itself, which has a few too many souvenir shops selling plastic Excalibur swords, a rather chic alternative is the Mill House Inn in nearby Trebarwith.

With a twin room going for about £90 a night with breakfast, this charmingly-converted 18th century corn mill has a tiny pub with a large stone fireplace.

From here, you can read the specials scrawled on the menu board: chargrilled pigeon breast wrapped in Parma ham with rocket and apple chutney; and smoked salmon and gorgonzola pate, with a red onion marmalade.

Mousehole: Voted one of Britain's top 10 waterside eateries last year, the Old Coast Guard Hotel has food to match its views.

Room No. 12 is one of the best in the house, with two massive beds, enough to sleep a family of four, and an impressive view of the coast including Penzance, the next town.

They face floor-to-ceiling glass windows, so you can wake up to a sky streaked with pink to go with your full English breakfast. Rooms start at &pound90 a night. (www.oldcoastguardhotel.co.uk).

Kingsand: The Halfway House Inn offers attractive rooms above an atmospheric little bar with great food. Once a week, you get a song with your supper when the local men's choir comes in to sing.

A twin room with breakfast is £65 a night (www.halfwayinn.biz).

The peninsula is home to beautiful beaches and cliffs that are well worth exploring.

Truro: Charlotte's Tea House is located in the city centre at Coinage Hall, 1 Boscawen Street, in the same building as the Pizza Express.

Apart from the meltingly sinful scones, jam and clotted cream that many come for, you can also sink your teeth into the toasted teacakes, muffins or crumpets.

W.C. Rowe, a bakery chain, has a shop around the corner at 22 Victoria Square. If Cornish pasties are not your thing, they also make near-perfect sausage rolls.

For more information, check out www.visitbritain.com and www.tastesofgreatbritain.com

Photos: VisitBritain