Rick Stein, the celebrity chef, has made it even better known for its seafood, and of course his numerous establishments in the town - his restaurants, shop, fish & chip bar and cookery school. Some locals resent his success and the influx of “foodies” and “celebrity hunters” who invade the place, to the extent that some have renamed it “Padstein”!

However, at its heart is a genuine love and respect for the high quality seafood available on the north Devon coast.

For more info on the Rick Stein empire in Padstow see www.rickstein.com

Padstow was originally named Petroc-stow, after the Welsh missionary St. Petroc, who landed at nearby Trebetherick around AD 500.

Padstow isn’t usually thought of as a “Viking town”, but it was near Padstow that in 722 AD the Britons of Cornwall united with the Vikings of Denmark to destroy an invading Anglo-Saxon army led by Ine of Wessex at “Hehil”. The Saxons army was slaughtered, and this decisive battle gave Cornwall 100 years of freedom from attacks by Wessex