Cornwall 2014

So this past week we have taken our annual holiday down in Cornwall, to visit my dad. Its not turned out quite like our usual visits, firstly we have gone earlier in the year than usual,  hence the weather has not been so great, plus with hubby's knee still not fully functioning it meant day trips out weren't possible. But of course we made the best of things, spending time with family, relaxing and still managing to see some of the gorgeous coastline...
Its a very long train ride, which actually flew for me as I got engrossed in my book, and thankfully we had some space to enable hubby to stretch out...

We had a lazy morning to recuperate, playing with the cats

a chance to crochet and a spot of lunch al fresco. After which  we took a little stroll around the harbour,  popping in to a few of the local galleries to see the latest pieces.

Oh and we stopped for the obligatory cream tea, of course! 

The next day the weather was changeable so we took a trip to the local garden centre. Garden centres these days have a bit of everything,  not just plants, although there were some beautiful blooms too

We checked out the gifts, books and fishes and there would be no doubt that my favourite would be the bunnies...

And a beautiful, coastal  drive back

I do love how the Cornish hedgerows are left to their natural, wild state

so much prettier than trimmed and controlled. Then it was back round to the familiar sight of the harbour

The following day was the only fine one we were going to get, according to the forecast, so we intended to make the most of it!

The plan was to drive the south/west coast and make some stop-offs along the route

We headed to Marazion and the unmissable sight of St Michaels mount, a sight that you can't tire of, and which changes with each season and change of light...

Further along to Penzance we stopped at LongRock

Going through Newlyn and Mousehole, we made a refreshment stop at Lamorna Cove

We had a hobble down to see the lovely sands at Porthcurno

We had a long stop-off at the Minack theatre, an outstanding outside theatre, a vision from one outstanding actress who carried on with the building of it, right through to her 80's

Surrounded by beautiful gardens

Set with idyllic coastal views

Can you imagine watching a production in such a setting?

Amazingly Hubby managed to combat all the steps, and he said it was worth the effort, but he did pay for it in the evening

By this time the day was slipping by rather quickly and we'd yet to have lunch

So it was a rush trip to Lands End.. But everything closed up and no food was available, my second, and yet again disappointing trip to this destination

So it was onwards to Sennen Cove, where we found a lovely little pub to have our meal

We carried on further north before looping round to come back down, stopping briefly at Zennor for refreshments

It was an amazing, packed day, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, but it did wear us all out...

The weather was appalling the following day, but we all needed time to recuperate 

In the afternoon, there was a break in the clouds

So we took a short drive to Poldhu

where, of course, we had to indulge in a tasty refreshment

On our last day, we decided a town was our best option, so we chose Penzance, which was not too far to venture

We strolled round the town, a stop off to indulge in a bit more cake, and down historical Chapel street

On our last night, we decided to eat out at one of the reputable, 'foodie' restaurants, and the food ceratinly lived up to its name...

Before we knew it, the week had flown by. It gets harder and harder to leave each year, and go back to a town, and i definately hate that we only get to visit once a year. I miss seeing my Dad more often, and its such a beautiful, relaxed, friendly and arty area...

But... Until next year......

Cruising Cornwall...

Last week we went on our annual holiday to Cornwall to visit my Dad, which is something we always look forward to. As a bonus we are getting a proper summer this year, which made planning what we wanted to do so much easier, as all of Cornwalls beauty is outside!

It's always a long trip down there, but it is definately worth it!

Our trip coincided with the Stithians show this year, which is an agricultural show, so we got to see plenty of lovely animals.

On our first day we got to see a variety of sheep, including one which had, what looked like a rabbit head. So much lovely fleece!!

3 really adorable Alpaca's, one of which was only 7 days old. They had not long been shawn, which made their fluffy-topped heads look even cuter!! 

All breeds of cows. Watch where you step now!!

There was a marquee of Goats

A massive Poultry tent, with every shape and size of chicken. From the big plump rooster to the fluffy headed, fluffy footed chickens, and also the bare necked chicken, which was as ugly as it sounds!

There was a whole tent of pigeons, yes really! Muli-coloured, tiny, caged birds, and Cavies, the term used for Guinea pigs. But the highlight for me, which you don't normally see at Ag shows, was the rabbit tent! A whole space dedicated to cuteness and fluffyness, which definately had the Aaaaaahh factor! I could have easily taken a few home with me! My absolute favourite was the lion-head rabbit, the ultimate in fluffyness with its tufty mane.

After having explored all the animal areas, we stopped for some much needed refreshment, in the heat, before heading round to the rest of the stalls and displays. It was a long exhausting day, but well worth the visit.

On the Tuesday we opted to stay local, as we did need some rest days. There are usually some small changes to the village each year, but even if there wasn't I'd still enjoy re-visiting the little shops and galleries and you can never tire of the beautiful views of the harbour!!

It was great to have a garden to utilise too, something that we really miss, especially in this fine weather. It enables you to enjoy the full extent of the light, morning and evening, and can enjoy dining Al fresco too!

On the Wednesday, we had booked aboard the Scillonian3, to take us across to the Scilly Isles, this was somewhere that we hadn't ventured to before. It was a 2 1/2 hour trip away from the mainland.

Once we'd arrived at the biggest island, of St Marys, it was a hop onto a much smaller boat called Surprise, to take us to the Isle of Tresco, this was home to some stunning gardens, which Dad wanted to take us to. It looked so idyllic on arrival, with turquoise clear waters, white sandy beaches and palms, a tropical delight. We needed to make haste as we only had a limited time to venture round, as the travel does eat into much of the day.

Tresco gardens certainly lived up to its reputation, absolutely stunning, with a whole host of tropical plants, but giant sized.

All the plants were green and lush and the flowers were bright and colourful.

The trees loomed up into the sky

and the succulents spread out widely.

We stopped for a quick picnic lunch, where we had a little visitor. A beautiful chinese pheasant, with colourful plumage.

There was a gorgeous shell hut

and an amazing treasure house which had a whole collection of figureheads from various wrecks that had washed ashore.

Our time was up and it was a quick march back to board our boats. Both boats seemed more packed for the journey back, and finding somewhere to sit was quite tricky, and we were exhausted from walking around in the midday heat, but it was worth every moment as we have many visual memories to treasure.

On the Thursday, it was yet another new experience. Hubby is an enthusiastic freshwater fisherman, and we had the opportunity to go with a local fisherman to try sea fishing. Dad has had experience of this trip before, which he said was great fun, though I had to admit I was not totally convinced of this, but hubby was most excited to try. It was great to sail away from the harbour, and see it from a new angle.

The sea was totally calm and flat, and as it had been so hot in the uk, there was an unusually large amount of jellyfish in the water. We were handed our rods and shown how to attatch the weights and hooks. We put our lines out over the boat and reeled in and out of the water. We stopped for the boat to move position now and again, and then we changed from using a lure, to multiple feathers, and then we added bait, as the fish werent biting too much in the heat.

Dad was the first to land a fish, and the team went on to catch a mix of mackerel, pollock, ....... To my surprise I managed to catch not just one but 2 mackerel. Oscar the fisherman was a great tutor, and was helpful as most of us didnt really know what we were doing and he was always at hand to help out. It was a sweltering heat, being out on the water in the middle of the day, but surprisingly I thoroughly enjoyed the whole venture. I got stuck in and with the expertise of Oscar, it was a pleasant smooth trip for me.

On our return to shore, we went straight to one of our favourite pit-stop for a milkshake. They make milkshakes from chocolate bars or biscuits, and they are refreshing and yummy.We do have to try as many flavours as we can while we are there of course!! This time I tried peanut m+m's, mint areo and terry's chocolate orange.

We left the gutting of the fish to Dad, but we had the freshest and tastiest fish meal that evening. How satisfying to know you are eating what you caught!

After our last 2 adventurous days, on the Friday we again stayed around the village, with the morning spent relaxing and eating in the garden. In the afternoon we decided to tackle the Treasure trail that we'd brought along. This gave us the opportunity to have a nice walk around the whole of the village, whilst keeping an eye out for historic points and various images. This wasn't quite as difficult and the clues weren't so obscure as our previous one, and as Dad has quite alot of knowledge about the village it wasn't as tricky as we'd hoped for, but we still enjoyed our time scouting around the area.

Then before we knew it, it was Saturday and time to go home again, time always goes so quick. It's so restful and peaceful there, a relaxed way of life, that the thought of going back to the hustle and bustle of town and having to go back to work, was not a pleasant thought.

We had our last milkshake and stroll around the village.

It was lovely to unwind, and more pleasant to by the sea, in the heat, than a stuffy town. So lovely to spend time with family and enjoyable to play and cuddle up with the cats.

It's just a shame that we aren't able to do this more than once a year!!!