Short answer: Coast Coffee Bar near Lizard Point is very dog and family friendly with outdoor space. The Museum of Cornish Life in Helston is free, indoors and roomy — genuinely useful on a wet day.
Helston is a market town and the Lizard is open country. Both have more space than the harbour villages.
Very dog-friendly with outdoor seating and a genuine local following. Staff remember regulars, which tells you the atmosphere. Room to spread out.
Covered outdoor seating huts with sea views — sheltered outdoor space, which is a genuinely good combination with a baby. Car park at the rear, coin-operated.
Free, indoors, far bigger than it looks, and unusually welcoming — dogs on leads allowed and staff will make you a tea. A proper wet-weather option with room to move.
Partly indoors with level paths, and the seals hold a baby's attention better than you'd expect. Entry includes free return visits for a year.
Cornish cafes are mostly small, old buildings on narrow streets. Very few have dedicated play areas. What matters more, and what's worth checking before you commit:
The practical approach: phone ahead if it matters. Cornish cafes are small enough that the person answering will know exactly what they can offer, and they'd rather tell you than have you arrive with a pram and nowhere to put it.
Between about 8:30am and 10:30am, most Cornish cafes are genuinely quiet and staff have time. From midday to 2pm in season, the same cafe can be standing room only with buggies queuing outside.
If you have a choice, go early. You'll get the corner table, the high chair, and space to put a baby down — none of which will be available at one o'clock in August.
The lanes down to Lizard Point are narrow with few passing places, and sea fog drops visibility fast. Allow more time than the map suggests, particularly with a baby in the back.
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