Here’s a run down of our trip to Cornwall in August/September 2003. After our previous holiday in France, we thought it would be better to stay more local and do less driving. Since we've met so many people who go to Cornwall for their holidays, it became a natural choice for us to go see what the fuss was about.
First you should know that Cornwall has its own culture that is quite distinct from the rest of the UK. It was the last part of England to surrender to the Saxons in 836AD and still remains strongly influenced by its Celtic past. Cornish names are different from Saxon names although the Cornish language was probably last spoken in 1777. (trivia: Professor Trelaney in Harry Potter has a purely Cornish last name). There are numerous places named after the saints of Cornwall. There are also lots of quaint place names such as: Foxhole, Mousehole, London Apprentice, Come To Good, Sticker, Barcelona, Edmonton, Sweetshouse and No Mans Land.
There is a lot to learn about Cornwall but I'm not here to write about that. You can find that elsewhere on the net.
Friday, August 29th
Friday afternoon saw us speeding down the M4/M5 motorways heading for St. Austell. The journey almost ended early as I nearly rear-ended another car on the A30. Luckily, we managed to come to a halt in a huge cloud of tire smoke inches away their bumper. Didn’t know my heart could beat so fast!
We arrived at the Tregongeeves Farm Cottages around dinner time. It’s always quite fun arriving at a holiday cottage and discovering what you’ve signed yourself up to. We’ve had disappointments before but this time, we were elated. The cottage was very well maintained and stocked to a very high standard with all the comforts of home.
We quickly unpacked and went down to Mevagissey for some fish and chips by the harbour. I’m in grave danger here of abusing the words quaint and picturesque since pretty well every harbour town in Cornwall is quaint and picturesque. I’m going to abbreviate it to just Q&P to save repetition.
Saturday
We woke up and soon got out to explore the farm. There were sheep, long horn cows, donkeys, horses, a vietnamese pot-bellied pig, shetland ponies, chickens and dogs. What more could children want? We also tried out the indoor pool and spa. Unfortunately, I never got around to trying out the tennis courts, pool table or table tennis. As far as I’m concerned, the place beat the pants off of gong to Centre Parcs. The only drawback was that there were no other families staying there with children of similar ages to R* and K*.
As always, Jenny was keen to start exploring further afield. We drove to Truro but found it rather boring. We thought it might be better nearer the coast so we drove to St. Mawe (Q&P!). Another dinner near the harbour confirmed that food prices were definitely lower in this part of the UK.
Sunday
Cornwall has over sixty public gardens. That’s either a nightmare or heaven depending on your relationship with plants. We spent most of the day at Trebah Gardens which was well worth the visit. It is planted around a ravine that ends with it’s own private beach. The warm microclimate of cornwall allows semi-tropical plants to be grown which makes for quite a contrast to regular English gardens. The beach was excellent and the first of many we would visit. Even had rock pools! Jenny took some seaweed home to try cooking it.
Speaking of gardens, we saw a few roads signs for "heavy plant crossing" but never did see a heavy plant crossing the road.
We drove home zizagging through a maze of narrow single lane roads along the coast. It took ages but we did enjoy the numerous sea views and coves tucked around cliffs. We often had to avoid suicidal pheasants that seemed determined to pass into the afterlife.
Monday, September 1st
After a nice slow morning (my favourite kind) in which Jenny managed to teach me mancala (1 win; 1 draw; 1 loss), we drove out to Newquay, surfing capital of the UK. Along the way, we could see wind farms on the hills. It’s very deceptive as they look small but as you get near, you realize just how massive they are. We referred to them henceforth as Teletubby Land.
It turns out there are ugly towns in Cornwall. Newquay is one of them. But the beach is huge and the sand soft. Our beach neighbours spent the day constructing a minature “Great Wall Of China”. Jenny and R* flew a kite. We built a sand race track for K*.
We had dinner at a great little pub nearby in St. Mawgan. At a neighbouring antique shop, the proprietor offered to sell Jenny freshly killed pheasant. She politely declined. For dessert, I had apple pie with cornish cream. Cornish cream! Honestly, it’s not far off from butter it’s so thick.
Tuesday
We drove out to St Ives. Mega quaint and picturesque. Touristy but not tacky. It’s renowned as a artist centre due to a few famous names settling there in the 40’s. The town is full of art galleries. It even has its own Tate Galleries. Lunch was cornish pasties (but of course!) while we wandered the town peeking into the galleries.
I like art galleries. I often find pieces that I like. However, I’m never compelled to spend THAT much money for a picture or object d’art. Between art and toys, I’m afraid toys win every time. Unfortunately that means our house is cluttered with toys with not a whole lot on the wall.
We visited the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden which is actually the former home of sculptor Barbara Hepworth. Who? Yeah, that was my reaction. Ummmm. Ok, the sculptures were nice I guess. Big smooth rocks with holes. I gather she became famous as the first sculptor to make a hole in one of her pieces. If art is supposed to engage the emotions, my emotional state was dominated by boredom with a twinge of bemusement. Jenny was much more enthused. The museum is well done as it's feels like Barbara just stepped out for a coffee and would be back any minute.
We walked over to the Tate Gallery St Ives and wandered about. Oh no! More Barbara Hepworth stuff as they celebrated her centenary. I spent most of my time in the gallery bookshop and bought this great book entitled Century.
We spent the rest of the afternoon mucking about on the beach in front of the Tate Gallery before a quick pizza in Truro on the way home.
Wednesday
We spent the whole day close to home on the beach at Porthpean. Most of that was spent exploring the rock pools catching tiny shrimp and fish. We were the last people to leave the beach. Great day.
Thursday
After the rejuvenating day before, we drove down to the Lizard Peninsula. It's the southernmost part of the UK. Pictures of Lizard Point at the very tip weren’t inspiring so we went to Melion Cove instead hoping for more dramatic cliff and ocean views. Success!
We had a picnic by a harbour on a small cliff watching boats and divers in the water. Turns out it was a very popular location for divers. We then spent the rest of the day, wait for it, on the beach! More rock pools!
For dinner, we visited Falmouth and found a restaurant there. Shops don't open very late in this part of the country so as usual, everything was closed except for the restaurants. Jenny's pent up desire for shopping was growing.
Friday
It was checkout day so we spent the morning packing up. Unfortunately, we never really spent a lot of time at the farm itself making use of all the facilities. Shame.
We drove to Padstow and checked into the Roselyn B&B for the night. K* insisted it was an A&A because of the AA sign (Automobile Association).
We walked into town and managed to have a late lunch at Rick Stein's Cafe. Rick seems to be well entrenched in Padstow. He has a restaurant, a bistro, a cafe, a gift shop and a deli there. The lunch was superb. Simple, fresh seafood cooked perfectly. The bistro and restaurant have to be booked well in advance. The gift shop had some ridiculous prices: a pebble with the word love engraved in it for £16?
Padstow is another major Q&P town. I let R* buy some fishing line and tackle and she managed to get some free fish bait at the fish monger. For the rest of the holiday, she was obsessed with fishing.
Saturday
We had a tough decision to make. We could either drive up to Tintagel and see the alleged remains of King Arthur’s castle or drive down to Fowey and do some sea kayaking. We discovered some uninspiring pictures of Tintagel and headed down to Fowey instead.
Madness really. Neither of us were fit but we cheerfully embarked on an epic five hour sea kayaking journey. Jenny and R* had one kayak. K* and I had the other kayak. We were in a group of about eight other kayakers paddling up the inlet to Lerryn for a lunch stop (Cornish pasties again!) and then back again. Wow, were my forearms aching after that! Really enjoyed it though. K* slept most of the way. R* kept Jenny busy practising course corrections. Our tour leader stopped us at various points giving us the run down of a very colour local history including where King Edward VII used to go skinny dipping.
Combe Farmhouse which was just fantastic. Even better than our previous cottage! Your proverbial English country farmhouse. It even came with a farmhouse cat by the name of Lattice which the kids doted on. She slept in the kitchen at night.
Sunday
The weather turned a bit worse and we headed to the Eden Project for the day. K* loved "the bubble place". It's a very remarkable achievement. It concentrates on displaying the plants that are used by man. We were quite amused by the authentic Malaysian Kampong house they have setup in the tropical zone.
Monday, September 8th
It rained.
One of the reasons we were at Treworgey Farm was it matched what R* had described as her ideal holiday to us last winter. She wanted to stay on a farm which had horse riding lessons. Treworgey had this and we surprised R* with a weeks worth of lessons as a reward for doing well in school.
Her first lesson was in the pouring rain on an obedient little pony named Bramble. She loved it although she got thoroughly soaked and cold.
After lunch at home, Jenny drove to Lieskard to do some shopping while the rest of us stayed at home enjoying a blazing fire I stoked up in the fireplace. I read my books while the kids watched a video.
Tuesday
The weather improved in time for the hack we planned. If you’re not into horses, a hack is when you take horses out for a ride. After R*’s lesson, both children went for a half hour hack. Meanwhile, Jenny and I got a couple of horses named Pasco and Lucy and went for a one hour hack.
Well this was the culmination of our efforts to learn horse riding. A lot of the hack was along single lane country roads. Luckily, there were very few cars. We also went on a few dirt tracks and even crossed a shallow river at one point. We also took them trotting at various points. My horse, Pasco, would grab plants to eat whenever he could so I had to keep him away from the hedges. Also discovered that you really had to watch where you were leading the horse otherwise you would often get branches in your face.
Afterwards we wandered around the farm picking blackberries and playing with the bunnies. Jenny LOVES picking blackberries. She made some jam with them.
We then drove down to Talland on the coast and did a short walk along the cliffs above the ocean. We even saw some dolphins swimming along the coast.
For dinner, we ended up in Polperro (Q&P) having fish and chips. R* spent all her time fishing for crabs off the quay. It’s probably the most patience I’ve ever seen her exhibit! Very determined! It was dark when we finally convinced her to stop. She started chatting to anyone else who was fishing and asking how it was going and what they were using as bait.
Wednesday
As usual, our day began with R*'s pony riding lesson. Jenny and I had lessons as well although my legs were still quite sore from the hack.
Afterwards, we drove to Golitha Falls for a picnic by the river. Amazing how you get to the middle of nowhere and both children then need to poo! We also checked out the Silbyback Lake to see whether I could rent a dinghy (no luck) and then went to Trego Mills which turns out to be a massive department store with very good prices. Jenny finally got to do some shopping.
For dinner we went to Fowey where R* once again got out her fishing line and tried to catch crabs and chat to the locals. Still no luck.
Thursday
We drove down to Looe and spent the afternoon there. Jenny went off shopping and the kids and I spent most of our time fishing for crabs. A glass bottomed boat moored nearby and so the kids and I did an impromptu boat tour of Looe Island getting a look at the sea bed and some seals.
Back on shore, Jenny joined us and we proceeded to fish yet again for crabs. A kind fellow fishing person gave R* half a frozen mackeral and then lo and behold R* start catching crabs every few minutes! She caught eleven in all with four getting away. Her bucket was eventually too full to hold anymore. She was supremely pleased. I’m glad all her patience paid off. The secret is to use mackeral and not just any old fish or bacon.
Friday
R* had her fifth and final riding lesson. She was now off the lunge line, doing a rising trot and steering the pony around barrels. Excellent.
Meanwhile, Jenny and I had another lesson. I was still sore and just practiced controlling the horse while Jenny started working on the canter. She loved it.
After Cornish pasties for lunch (hey, they KNOW how to make them properly down there), we took the kids to Dobwalls Adventure Park. It’s not a theme park but kind of like a huge playground with small scale stream trains running through it that you can actually get rides on. We also thrilled the kids taking them on noisy fast petrol-powered go-karts.
Well after a quick dip in the swimming pool back at the farm, it was time to start packing. The next morning, we headed home.
Home Again
So we really enjoyed this trip to Cornwall and certainly understand why it’s such a popular destination: Lovely scenery, quaint villages, good food and lots of do. Given our children's ages, it's really good staying on farm cottages and they can be very well equipped. I'd certainly recommend either of the places we stayed at. I've heard Cornwall can be a motorists nightmare in high season so we were very fortunate to be travelling just outside of high season. I would avoid going July or August but I would certainly go back any other time. Now we know what the fuss is all about.