Last week Clare and I (along with Clare’s dad and his dog Watson) hopped over the border from Devon to Cornwall for a winter holiday. Looking for places to eat that were both vegan- and dog-friendly, we uncovered a few gems.

The Copper Spoon is a vegetarian café located a couple of minutes’ walk from the beach in Marazion (pronounced two letters at a time: ma-ra-zi-on), the town at the end of the causeway to St Michael’s Mount. Storm Eleanor brought 110 kilometre-an-hour winds to south-west Cornwall during our stay, and the Copper Spoon’s friendly atmosphere (and hot drinks) were very welcome after invigorating walks along the beach.

The café offers several vegan lunches — including filled ciabattas, salad, and the soup-of-the-day — but Clare and I were more interested in the sweet options. The contents of the cake cabinet vary from day to day, and we enjoyed vanilla bean cupcakes topped with dark chocolate buttons. What really excited us, however, was the hot chocolate. While many cafés now offer vegan hot chocolate (with the best using oat milk), the Copper Spoon has an entire hot chocolate menu.

Each hot chocolate can be made with vegan whipped cream and vegan marshmallows, and over the course of three visits we sampled the entire menu. The tasted as good as they looked.

The café also sells a selection of products ranging from the expected — reusable coffee cups, Cornish tea, and jams — to the more unusual: we picked up a bottle of basil-infused olive oil.

If you’re visiting the area (or are lucky enough to live in the far south-west of Cornwall), be sure to pop in. We’ll certainly be coming back on a future holiday.