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Couple holiday in Bude every year for 57 years

BBC Colin and Doreen Hunt in deck chairsBBC
"We've never been to a better place for a family holiday"

A couple has holidayed in the same Cornish seaside town for the past 57 years.

Colin and Doreen Hunt, from Preston in Lancashire, first visited Bude in 1967.

The couple has travelled all over the world but said "we've never been to a better place for a family holiday".

They said not even Covid got in the way of their annual trip.

An old picture of Colin and Doreen Hunt sunbathing in deckchairs on the promenade. The photo is orange-tinted, there are towels hanging over railings, and sand in the background
The couple first visited Bude in 1967 and they have not missed a year since

The couple's son was 11 months old and their daughter almost three years old when they first visited Bude; he learned to walk there and she now lives there.

Mrs Hunt, 88, said: "We've been coming every year since and nothing has stopped us, even during Covid we came down."

Mr Hunt, 87, said there were no motorways south of Preston when they first made the journey, which took 12 hours, instead of today's five-and-a-half hours.

The reason they love Bude so much is because of the beaches, according to Mrs Hunt.

Colin and Doreen on wooden belly boards in the sea
The couple said they used to use wooden bellyboards in the early days, and never stood up

The family took up surfing on their annual visits and used to hire boards until a friend cut four wooden planks out of a sheet of plywood.

"They worked for years and I still have two at home," said Mr Hunt.

The couple also started walking the South West Coast path in 1967 and did so in stages, finally completing it in 2000.

They said they had walked on every continent but "there's nowhere more beautiful" than the coastal path.

Colin and Doreen Hunt on the coast path. She has a grey-white bob, glasses and is wearing a turquoise windbreaker. He is wearing a checked red shirt and has a navy blue backpack over his shoulders. He has short white hair and black-rimmed glasses
The couple said the coastal path, which they have completed, was "beautiful"

Mr and Mrs Hunt said they had never been tempted to miss their break in Bude, despite travelling all over the world.

They said they would keep up the tradition as long as they could and hoped to have a big family celebration there if they make it to 60 years.

"Bude has everything," Mrs Hunt added.

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