Back towards the end of the summer holidays we went on a big family trip to Cornwall. My mum and aunty both work in schools, so we had to stick to the holidays, but despite it being the end of summer, it felt as though autumn had arrived early. We had one day of blue skies (the day we arrived), and the rest of the time it was stormy and raining. It was also quite windy which meant it was chilly. It didn't stop us though, we still managed to get out and do things.
Also I must apologize for the lateness of the blog posts lately, I've been so busy I just haven't had much time to blog, but I promise I have lots of posts coming up over the next few weeks!
Also I must apologize for the lateness of the blog posts lately, I've been so busy I just haven't had much time to blog, but I promise I have lots of posts coming up over the next few weeks!
Cornwall is a special place for all of us. My parents, brother, and I have been going regularly for years. I have many fond summer memories of days on the beaches and paddling in rockpools, exploring the teeny country lanes and huge array of national trust gardens in the area. And then of course there's the Isles of Scilly as well. My Aunty and her family also love Cornwall, they used to go every single summer holiday for two weeks. So to say we were all excited about our big joint family trip would be an understatement.
Sadly my brother couldn't come as he had to work, and as it was the first time I'd been away with my parents since my brother was born it was very strange not having my side-kick around. We drove down early on the Saturday morning and stopped off in Devon en-route for a late breakfast and a walk. Devon always reminds me of Jurassic Park, it's so green.
Sadly my brother couldn't come as he had to work, and as it was the first time I'd been away with my parents since my brother was born it was very strange not having my side-kick around. We drove down early on the Saturday morning and stopped off in Devon en-route for a late breakfast and a walk. Devon always reminds me of Jurassic Park, it's so green.
Our second stop was Perranporth beach, we grabbed some pasties from the local bakery and sat on the beach to eat them. Dylan even had a little bit of the end of mine that I didn't want, and he adored jumping in and out of the rockpools.
We arrived at the house in Cornwall, perched on the edge of the cliff with almost every window overlooking Porthtowan beach. We took Dylan for a quick run up on the cliff. It was beautiful. The colours of the heather and gorse were just incredible!
The next day we went on a 12km walk from the house over to St Agnes Head, stopping off at Chapel Porth cafe on the way for flapjacks and ice-creams. I desperately wanted one of their clotted cream Croque Monsieurs, but I resisted.
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| Vanilla clotted cream ice-cream, topped with clotted cream and flapjack! |
The walk was stunning, we were so lucky with the weather and luckily the rain held off until we got back. We passed an old tin mine en-route, so stopped for a few photos. We took the coastal path so at some points it was quite scary with a huge drop on one side of us. It was also super windy so there were a couple of times when I was practically crawling on the path because I was so scared of falling over the edge!
We had a rest and chilled out around the house, and then in the afternoon me, mum, and dad all went to Geevor Tin Mine, which closed in 1990. It's one of the few mines that you can actually walk around as it's still fairly intact. They have a really interesting museum, and we got to chat to a guy who works there who actually used to work at Geevor Mine as a miner in the 1970s.
We out on our overcoats and hard hats, and got to the underground tour just in time before they closed the doors for the end of the day. Mum and I couldn't stop giggling the whole way through - it was all dark with just little lights dotted along the path on the floor to light the way. At some points the tunnel curved around and you had to contort your body to get through...at one point it was getting lower and lower, and mum thought it was hilarious the way I was walking.
We eventually got to the end and were grateful to be back outside, we absolutely loved going into the underground mine, but it did get rather claustrophobic at times. I honestly don't know how the miners did it every single day for such a large portion of their lives.
After visiting Geevor we drove over to Penzance, where the waves were crashing high over onto the path and road along the front.
After a quick drink in a pub we met up with Aunty Sue and the fam and had a yummy dinner at The Meadery in Trewellard.
The next day the weather was absolutely awful, but Dylan needed a walk, so we all donned our coats and boots and walked down the cliff to the beach where a storm was in full swing. I actually found this really fun, and loved running across the beach with the salt spray and rain flying into my face and soaking my clothes right through.
I managed to get an early night that night, all ready for our trip to The Lost Gardens of Heligan the next day! I do love Cornwall, even when the weather turns bad it's still beautiful.