Bude supermarket tunnel tops TripAdvisor ratings at Cornish seaside resort

Town's highest-ranked tourist attraction lauded for its 'handcrafted Cornish Perspex' and hailed as 'a great place for a divorce'

A plastic tunnel between a supermarket and a car park is now the highest-rated tourist attraction on TripAdvisor for the Cornish seaside resort of Bude.

The 70-metre long structure has attracted 149 "excellent" reviews describing it as the town's "crowning jewel" and "a modern Taj Mahal" that warrants a place as one of the seven wonders of the world.

Other visitors have praised its "handcrafted Cornish Perspex", its panoramic views, and its proximity to shops, parking and a cash machine.

"On visiting Bude this summer we must have picked the only rainy day so we popped in to the supermarket picked up some pasties got our holding chairs out of the car and set up a picnic in the tunnel and at one point the sun came out and created a wonderful rainbow though the roof," said one reviewer who gave it the top rating.

It has even been described as a "great place for a divorce" by a user known only as Anne, who wrote: "The walk back through the elongated tunnel felt like the first step towards freedom from Steven and his massive collection of recorders."

The tunnel is now ranked above the coastal walk, Bude Sea Pool, public beaches and surfing.

Many visitors have posted photos of their visits to the passageway since its status as a tourist attraction has become better known.

Postcards featuring the Bude Tunnel are also on sale for 50p from a local cafe.

The tunnel's profile on TripAdvisor as a "thing to do" claims that "nowhere else in Bude can you walk this far undercover in a continuous straight line".

It received its first rating in September 2017, which revelled in the way it allows shoppers to stroll between the Sainsbury's supermarket and the car park on Crooklet Road while enjoying complete protection from inclement Cornish weather.

Awarding it an "excellent" ranking, the user wrote: "It was also quite fun to watch from inside as the rain pelted down on people trying to pack their shopping in to their cars as quickly as possible while me and my family were nice and dry. And having a right laugh!"

Despite the bountiful opportunities it evidently affords for schadenfreude, not everyone who has wandered beneath its arches has fallen under the tunnel's spell.

The second reviewer awarded it an "average" rating, adding: "The tunnel is useful for one thing - to keep dry if it is raining. Never in a million years would I have called this architecture, and certainly not an attraction."

Six other people subsequently took time to log on and document their immunity to the tunnel's charms, condemning it as "terrible".