A few days in sunny Cornwall

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With spending a lot of money on home improvements we had decided no holidays for this year but, after a year since our last break, I felt I needed a few days away somewhere. Fiona's two older children were away with their dad meaning that we could find a reasonable B&B room somewhere for just the three of us. I suggest a few days in Cornwall, so that I could meet with my childhood friend, Sally. My friend would have possibly been able to host us, but she felt her home was unsafe for my 2-year-old daughter, Jovie, given she was having some renovation work done to her property. My friend lives in Bodmin, which is in the middle of the county of Cornwall and not such a demand for the hospitality industry as most people want to be close to the sea. I find a reasonable priced B&B in Bodmin, that is self-catering and also has a hot tub in the garden.

Our journey was meant to be 3 hours from the county of Hampshire (where we live) to Cornwall, but we add an extra hour and a half to our journey as the first stop at Mcdonalds was super busy to find a parking space and so we detour to find another Mcdonalds. The drive down to Cornwall is always pleasant as the A303 takes you through most of the English countryside and I find leaving really early in the morning cuts out a lot of traffic hot spots due to the A303 quite often only having a single lane.

We arrive in Cornwall late morning; Fiona has discovered that her friend is also visiting Cornwall the same time as us and is staying around 16 miles from where we are, so we go visit her friend and her family who are at a beach. It works out nicely as we have a few hours to kill before we can check-in to our B&B accommodation.

Fiona's friend is staying at Mawgan Porth which is a small settlement with a beautiful beach. It is situated halfway between the popular towns of Newquay and Padstow. As we arrive at Mawgan Porth, I recall driving through this place some 15 years ago when I was driving up to Padstow from south of Cornwall and remember thinking to myself this would be a good place to stop-by sometime. It feels amazing to realize I am actually at this place I had desired to visit all those years ago, and Mawgan Porth did not fail to disappoint. This village has several shops, bars and restaurants that make up a stunning beachfront.

We spend several hours at the Mawgan Porth Beach, talking with Fiona's friend and her family whilst enjoying the sun and doing a spot of sunbathing at the same time. Jovie seems to be in her happy place as she plays with the sand as well as having an appreciation to paddle occasionally in the sea.

Afterwards, we head to Bodmin to check-in at our B&B location. We have some time to chill-out before needing to get ready to meet with Sally for dinner. The owner of the B&B has a hot tub and so I take advantage of using it for a little relaxation.

For dinner, we meet with Sally at the Lanivet Inn. For anyone who read my blog from a couple of year ago Jovie's First Holiday, we ate at this restaurant for the first time, and the food was delicious. The food kept to its reputation, but it seems Jovie has eaten something that doesn't agree with her and she's feeling rather unwell and has come up in a rash; we think it's the fried squid. We didn't order Jovie the squid but to our surprise she kept helping herself to the bowl of fried squid on the table and seemed to be really enjoying it.

Next day

Jovie seems to be better and her rash has cleared now, but she had this rash around her mouth for quite some time last night. We are getting ready to leave the B&B when the fire alarm goes off. We open our door to the landing and there is thick smoke everywhere and we can hear panicking downstairs; the front door is opened so I quickly grab Jovie and Fiona hurries along to ensure they're both out of the property. I then try to help this mother and daughter who are panicking to get rid of all the smoke. There is no sign of the B&B owner anywhere. It seems there is a fault with the toaster, so I make sure to turn it off at the wall and I then go around the whole property trying to open as many windows as possible whilst trying to hold my breath as I don't want to breath in the smoke. The whole time this lady's husband was upstairs in the B&B room and never bothered to come down and help his partner and daughter, unbelievable. When we get in the car, before picking up Sally, I call the B&B owner to let him know what has happened because I am worried as it seems the lady and her daughter are going to reattempt to use the toaster again.

Once we get Sally, we head back to near where we were yesterday at the village of St. Mawgan. On our way to the beach yesterday we had noticed a sign about visiting a Japanese garden and we are after some inspiration as we have a small Japanese theme garden ourselves. We also discovered that Sally works in Mawgan Porth where we went yesterday, something I hadn't realized.

The Japanese Garden provides an authentic Japanese garden in the beautiful Cornish setting. We enjoy walking around this peaceful and calm setting, despite Jovie trying to run off, when given the opportunity. Jovie is also particularly interested in the windchimes and perhaps a little rough handed in taking away that peace and calm setting; however, the garden is beautiful and we enjoy walking around. The garden also has a Bonsai nursery and shop, we buy some Buddha related stuff for our home and a plant for the garden.

After our garden visit, we wonder around St. Mawgan, where we visit a Summer Art Exhibition and also nose around a craft shop. There is also a tea room, café and pub further up the road within the village, so definitely a nice place to visit as a tourist.

Next we decide to take the car to Padstow. I am looking forward to showing Fiona this beautiful and popular fishing harbour as she's never been before. When we park-up in Padstow down a side road, we notice a street sign called Alan Road and so I have to get an obligatory photo as the spelling of Alan is the same as my name.

Padstow is a small commercial fishing port with the estuary used for landing fish, crab and lobster. It is definitely one of my favourite places to visit in Cornwall and you can tell we are in the peak-season as it is extremely busy with people everywhere. We enjoy browsing around the shops which are mainly cantered for tourism. We then visit The National Lobster Hatchery, an attraction I've not visited before in Padstow and something that we think Jovie will love. The National Lobster Hatchery not only lets you see lobsters up-close and educates you about them, they are also pioneering marine conservation work to enhance the wild lobster population within our seas. We enjoy the visit and this place has definitely made it fun for the children, as we struggle to get Jovie to leave the colouring in room after she has coloured in 3 different lobster and crab pictures.

We next visit a restaurant called Greens of Padstow for a Cornish Cream Tea. I've visited this place a couple of times before and found the scones to be delicious and fresh. The venue offers beautiful views of the harbour as its situated higher up on a hill. The restaurant also has a mini crazy golf course, which I've enjoyed in the past. The weather has been absolutely stunning and so we enjoy our Cream Tea from the balcony appreciating the beautiful views of Padstow Harbour.

Afterwards, we walk back down to the harbour and Jovie and I go crabbing, using our crab line and fish net that I purchase from a shop. We also catch some small fish fry. Padstow is a great location for crabbing and there are many children and parents taking part.

After crabbing, we continue browsing around the shops and I make a purchase of some metal cups and small cans of gin in Tarquins Cornish Gin shop and suggest to the girls we visit a beach later in the evening for the chance to capture a good sunset. We therefore decide to have an early dinner while in Padstow, and of course it had to be obligatory fish and chips.

Whilst eating our yummy fish and chips, we lookup nearby beaches on my phone and Sally confirms that Polzeath Beach is a good location for a beach visit. Although the beach is only 16 miles away, it takes us almost 40 minutes in the car as we have to drive around the River Camel estuary. It seems having an early dinner was a good choice so that we have enough time to see the sunset.

When we arrive in Polzeath, it is still light. I have never been to this small seaside village resort. It seems a popular location given its sandy beaches and big sea waves for surfers. We sit down and enjoy our gins whilst Jovie is happily playing with the sand, making sand castles. I love being by the sea, it offers a chance for reflection and to be able to unwind. It's even better when you get the opportunity for a stunning sunset. As I stand taking photos of Jovie playing with the water and sand, a couple standing nearby tell me its the best sunset they've seen in their 2 week vacation here in Polzeath; I guess luck was on our side, as it is a beautiful sunset and I love capturing photos of Jovie playing on the beach with the sunset.

It is time to say goodbye to Sally. We have enjoyed Sally's company the past couple of days, and appreciate the time we spent with her, as we don't see her often, given the distance of how far we are from each other. Sally is a friend of mine since we were both 2 years old and so it is a friendship worth treasuring forever.

Next day

Our last day in Cornwall and we have to check-out of our accommodation. We are not in any rush to go home and so decide to visit Bude, because it is somewhere I haven't been before in Cornwall and often see it as a top 10 location to visit when visiting Cornwall. Bude is also northeast of Cornwall and very close to the Devon border and so I think I have always overlooked visiting this popular town.

When we arrive in Bude, you can instantly tell it is a popular holiday location with many hotels and B&Bs dotted around. The town centre also has a good mixture of essential shops but also tourism shops. Bude has many beautiful sandy beaches and so we park up near the beach which has a sea pool. We decide to walk along the beach first and head towards the town centre to browse shops and grab some lunch.

We have a good old traditional Cornish pasty for lunch; I mean we couldn't visit Cornwall and not have one. Afterwards, we head back towards the beach and enjoy going in the Bude Sea Pool. This pool is a semi-natural tidal pool and a safe haven from swimming in the Atlantic sea. There is no cost or booking required but a charity called FoBSP do rely on charity donations in order to be able to preserve the pool for everyone who uses it. The water is a bit cold for Jovie's liking but we do enjoy having a bit of a splash around and I found swimming alone quite refreshing in sunshine.

Our time in Cornwall has now come to an end, but we feel like we have done a lot in our short time here. I never get bored of coming to Cornwall.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Sunny Cornwall
I'm with Josie... I don't like cold water. She's my kind of gal. Thanks for sharing the trip.

[Readingfcboi]

Cold
Thanks for reading the blog. I'll have to buy Jovie a swimsuit for future visits to Cornwall

[alex waring]

Cornwall
What a lovely family holiday Alan! Every time I read one of your blogs about Cornwall, I feel really inspired to visit. It's still an unexplored part of the UK for me. I love how you find so many interesting little places to visit, you certainly know how to make the most out of your time there! 😊

[Readingfcboi]

Cornwall
Thanks for reading. I am glad to have given you some inspiration. I hope you get to visit one day. It really is a lovely part of the world and, although technically part of England, you can really sense the Cornish independence and difference when you visit there. I just love to explore, so every time I go to Cornwall I like to visit at least one new location or attraction.