American stage and TV actor Tom Lenk counts Port Isaac in Cornwall and the Fife coast in Scotland among his favourite seaside spots
I grew up in southern California where everything was built in the 1960s. We don’t have the quaint history that Britain has, unless it’s a set built for a movie. During the pandemic I watched lots of British TV, and just wanted to be travelling, seeing the beautiful backdrops to some of these stories. One of the places I wanted to go to – because I’m obsessed with Doc Martin starring Martin Clunes – was Port Isaac (pictured), which doubles for Portwenn, the fictional Cornish fishing village where the drama is set.
While I was doing a movie in the UK last year, I pitched the idea of going to the locations of some of these TV shows to Acorn TV, and was commissioned to make some mini travel documentaries, including one on Port Isaac. I went last November with a couple of friends and even though it was a bit grey, the colour of the ocean was even more beautiful than on TV. We stayed in a small hotel with a view of the water and it felt like being on the edge of the world. Exploring the locations, such as Doc Martin’s surgery, and the coast path which goes over to Port Quin, was magical. I had my first cream tea at the Old School Hotel, which doubles as the village school in the drama – delicious, in America scones are like bricks! We had heavenly fish and chips at the Golden Lion pub, another setting in the series. Maybe because I’m on the shorter side, I felt at home there, al
