Ahhh, gorgeous Cornwall… where do I even start? Well, for one thing, I can totally understand why people choose Cornwall as their family holiday destination every year. I can’t speak for other areas, although I’m sure they’re pretty similar, but Port Isaac, where we stayed, is a sleepy little hollow where everybody knows everyone, most people have a big cheery smile on their faces and life just seems to go in slow motion. I reckon if people could survive on smiles and afternoon naps alone, Cornwall would be the ‘happening’ place! Now all of this is said against a backdrop of almost perfect weather the whole weekend – if it had been raining, this blog entry might have had a very different mood attached to it. As it is, I said to Dave on Saturday that we have to seriously consider moving to a country that has actual seasons – it was beautifully sunny at Land’s End, but I was in a jumper – my jumper and I could not be parted this weekend, despite the glorious sunshine.
This was our second holiday with Lucy – although this time she was house-trained and a bit bigger than when we took her away to the Isle of Wight in November last year. She’s so brilliant in the car, we’re very lucky that we can just pop her in the back seat and we’re away – no dog motion sickness to worry about – she just flops down and hangs a sign around her neck that says ‘Wake me when we get there’.
We both took the day off on Friday and headed out around mid-morning. It took us just over 4 hours to get to Port Isaac from home, which isn’t actually all that bad, considering the constant traffic jam past Stonehenge. I have always marvelled at traffic build-ups caused by rubber-necking – nothing causes the jam, there is absolutely nothing to prevent the traffic moving smoothly, but somehow, it’s bumper to bumper. Stonehenge is right on the road, so every time I have been past there, it’s the same story traffic-wise. Nothing to see except a bunch of rocks, but still bumper to bumper traffic.
We got to the cottage and unpacked the car – then it was nap time! Dave took Luce for a walk and I went for a nap – because you can when you’re on leave on a Friday afternoon! Ha! That evening, we met up in Trebarwith Strand with an old friend of Dave’s (as in years they’ve known each other, not age!), her daughter, family friend and 2 dogs, Jakey & Pip. While the dogs had a ball on the beach (quite literally sometimes… the other dogs were not impressed with Lucy constantly stealing their ball away from them), we chatted in the sun.
It was a really gorgeous evening and we were even able to sit outside when we eventually got to the pub. You really could make a career out of watching the Cornwall sunset if you’re not careful. It was a really lovely evening, catching up with great friends and one gorgeous (and oh so bright) little girl. At one point, Lottie turned to me and said ‘What’s your name?’, so I told her and she then whispered to me ‘I love you, Lindsay’. What a cutie! I was quite happy colouring in with her while Dave and Donna had a catch-up.
The following day, Dave and I headed off out to Land’s End, the first and last place in England. A mass of shops and ice cream parlours all squashed into tiny spot on the edge of the country – most of which were shut! Very fairground-esque, but a lovely place all the same. We took a walk around with Lucy acting like a spoilt brat pulling on her lead and just acting like a puppy, I guess, but it was exhausting! If we didn’t get that pup to a beach soon, I was going to lose the will to live.
I was somewhat placated by a bubblegum-flavoured ice cream, which took me right back to my childhood! It was always my flavour of choice for milkshakes and ice creams and while Dave gagged, I gobbled. YUM!
We then drove on to St Ives, but unfortunately there were no dog-friendly beaches around, so Luce had to make do with being tied up within a few metres of the sand while we ate our lunch, bless her. St Ives is lovely, albeit very commercialised. There were just people, people, people, although that could have had something to do with the sunshine too! The seagulls were out in force and I received a nasty package directly from the business end of one of them – ‘Welcome to St Ives… now bugger off’! I bought a lottery ticket that night to be safe.
Next stop was Perranporth Beach so that Luce could have a bit of a run-around. I love seeing people out and about on the beach, especially when it’s a properly sandy beach, but it’s kind of a contradiction when I’m standing on the beach in the glorious sunshine… in a massive jumper. I just couldn’t get away from the chill in the air… hurry up Summer! Pffft… what am I talking about? This is England, what’s Summer?
That evening, neither of us was particularly hungry, so we took a walk around Port Isaac when we got back and decided to get some takeaway fish and chips on our way home from a place called…. The Takeaway (they must have spent AGES thinking about that one). On the way out, we checked the closing time and it was 9pm, so we were safe for a good hour or so. We took a walk around the tiny little hamlet that is Port Isaac, it really is so sweet. Tiny, cobbled houses, gorgeous shops selling local and handmade stuff with signs in the window like this…
On our way back up the hill to the cottage, we stopped in for some takeaway, except that it had a closed sign on the door. At 8.32pm. I knocked on the door because there were 2 teenagers still inside, cleaning up and I went in, asking if we could place an order. They said that they had closed and I pointed to the sign in the window which still said 9pm. ‘Oh yeah, I don’t know why that’s there, because we always get asked about that, but we’re closed now’. Thank you, that’s very helpful, I’m incredibly relieved that you’re here to explain that so eloquently to me. (No, I didn’t say this, in case you’re wondering!) What I did say was that it is incredibly unhelpful to have a closing time indicated in the window and then close up 30 minutes earlier. They obviously just felt like closing early and did so. Such is life in a laid-back fishing village, I guess! So that was that… no dinner options for us within walking distance, so we had to jump in the car and go and buy some very un-Cornish pizzas at the local supermarket to cook back at the cottage. Fail, The Takeaway in Port Isaac, serious fail.
The following day we were off to The Eden Project, which is somewhere I’ve wanted to go for years. It’s a lot smaller than I had anticipated, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are 2 main Biomes, as they call them. The first stop was the Rainforest Biome where we had some Baobab smoothies. I was slightly apprehensive at first, but they were delicious!
At the Rubber Tree section of the Rainforest Biome, there is a massive tyre where people generally pose for photos. This sign was plastered to it, which I thought was brilliant!
We then met up with Donna and Lottie, who joined us in the Mediterranean Biome which is where, bizarrely, the South African plants are (geography lessons, anyone?).
We then all packed off to Polkerris, where the dogs had a bit of a run-around, but again… much to their despair… it was a no dog beach.
Now… let me just explain the situation here – Lucy is 8 months old, not spayed as yet and thankfully for us, has not yet come into her first season. The reason I say ‘thankfully for us’ is because her new best friend Jakey is also a purebred chocolate lab, 14 months old and unneutered. Cue some very close eyeballing of the situation under the table!! We were good - no surprises in a few months, I don’t think! While Dave, Donna and dogs sat at the table in the sunshine, Lottie and I had a whale of a time on the beach building the most awesome fort. What a masterpiece, don’t you think? It even had a flag and everything!
We got back to Port Isaac in time for Dave to get some gorgeous early evening shots at the harbour, when the sun was just about setting. Lucy and I took the time to explore some caves there – although I must admit, I didn’t get too close!
And so came our last night in beautiful Cornwall and just like that, it was over. What a lovely, chilled, amazingly relaxing place. I felt like my batteries were certainly at least 70% recharged and a bit of vitamin D didn’t hurt either. Cornwall, you’ve won my heart and we will definitely be back – we’re already looking at available dates for when we could make a return trip.
