The Best Eight Places to Visit in Cornwall

I love Cornwall! It is my home and I am sad to be leaving it this September. There is so much to love about this part of the world, and whether you live here or just visit every now and again, there will always be something that you haven't done yet. One thing I mean to do before leaving is to visit St. Michael's Mount. I can't believe I've never been there!

Here are some of my favourite things to do in Cornwall. If you haven't been to these places, add them to your bucket list!

1. Land's End – Avoid the tacky tourist trap of the Land's End amusement park and instead follow the coastal path. The area is outstandingly beautiful and you will quickly leave the crowds behind. There are some fantastic old buildings to explore at Lands End and nearby Sennen too.

2. The Camel Trail – The River Camel flows from Bodmin Moor to the sea at Padstow. Much of its length is neighboured by the Camel Trail, a cycle path/footpath on the old railway line. You can hire a bike and cycle along the the beautiful estuary between Padstow and Wadebridge, and even further beyond if you fancy a more challenging ride.

3. The Eden Project – The Eden Project is fairly expensive to enter (~£20 if you book in advance online), however if you Gift Aid your fee then you get free entry for a year. People with a Cornwall or Devon postcode can get a Local's annual pass for £5 during the winter months. Winter is the best time to visit Eden in my opinion; the plants are stunning inside the biomes and there is a lot more going on, from storytelling to mulled wine! The festival of lights in the run up to Christmas is stunning, and between October and Easter there is an ice skating rink for a small additional cost.

4. Beaches – Avoid Newquay like the plague. It is far too crowded and you're likely to step on broken glass left by the numerous drunken stag and hen parties. If you want a family friendly beach, head a few miles down the coast to Perranporth, a small tourist town with a large beach and several places to eat. For a more secluded spot, we prefer Treyarnon Bay, which is a pain in the bum to get to but worth it in the end!

 

 

5. Pencarrow House and Gardens – Pencarrow is a stately home with fantastic grounds. I've never actually been in the house, but every year during May the gardens are alive with rhododendrons and bluebells. It's a magical place to visit.

6. Bodmin Moor – The moor is the antidote to the busy crowds during the Cornish summer. I like to escape to the moors for a circular walk around some of the most beautiful (but sometimes bleak) scenery in Cornwall.

7. Boscastle – I fell in love with this little village when Mum and I hiked some of the Cornish coast last month. Don't just visit the village - take a walk up the coast on either side for stunning views!

8. The South West Coast Path – Find the sea, join the coast path and just keep walking! Mum and I plan on taking two cars next time we go, so that we can park one at the destination instead of having to turn round halfway through the day to return to the start!

What do you love most about where you live? Anywhere I should add to my bucket list?? :)

A Week in the Sun on the Cliffs

This is a post about my trip from Bude to Newquay (Cornwall). Normal posts will resume shortly!

I'm baaaack. I have weird tan lines, including hiking boot feet with flip-flop lines on top for good measure! That can only mean one thing: it was sunny in Cornwall!! Yessss!

We visited: Bude, Boscastle, Tintagel, Padstow and Trevone. (And much of the coast between them!)

We only spent about £100 each for the week too, including accomodation, food and drinks and fuel. We already had tents, hiking gear and rucksacks, but once you've got them, they last a LONG time, so if you fancy a cheap holiday, invest in some good camping gear!

The Plan
My Mum and I went hiking and camping around the northern Cornish coast. The original plan was to carry our gear on our backs like nomads/snails. Unfortunately, two people need almost as much stuff as four people (tent, food, fuel, camping burner, plates, pots etc. etc.), but with fewer people to carry it all!

We tried lugging it all in hiking rucksacks from Bude to Boscastle (17 miles), but it was roasting hot even at 8am and the cliffs are some of the highest in the country. We made it 11 miles (to Crackington Haven) and collapsed in a pub, calling a taxi to take us the few miles to the campsite!

(Check out my sweat patches in that photo! Niiiiice!!)

Change of plans!
That first day of walking was hard; too hot, too heavy, too far, too steep and no fun. Luckily we only live in mid-Cornwall, so we were able to rope good ol' Dad in to move our gear some days, so we could live it up with small day bags. The walks were still long, and it was still hot, but we skipped up 500+ ft high cliffs with relative ease! :) It was fun!

 

Look at the size of these cliffs!

 So here are a few photos of our trip. I would thoroughly recommend hiking the South West Coast Path. It is one of the best maintained paths in the country. We met some people attempting the 630 miles between Minehead (Somerset) and Poole (Dorset). (Even they only made it to Crackington Haven that first day!)

Alpacas in Bude!

Huge vegetarian pasties! (Not quite peppery enough mind you!)

Cornish language. (I can speak a little Cornish too. Little known fact for you there!)

Boscastle harbour. I loooove Boscastle. I don't think I've been before. It's a beautiful village.

The coastal watch outpost at Boscastle. Volunteers work 4 hour shifts to keep an eye on people on the sea and coast paths. They especially watch for people walking alone and make sure they reach the next outpost.

My Mummy. :) She loves her hiking poles!

The thrift was beautiful. It covered most of the headlands!

Me! :) Do you like my sunhat? :D

This is the remains of Tintagel castle, where King Arthur was meant to have been born. There's really not much there now.

Windsurfer in Padstow.

If anyone wants more info about Cornwall just leave a comment and I'll get back to you! (I live in mid-Cornwall, but have visited most parts of the Duchy by now!)

Happy Mother's Day - Homemade Gifts

Hello! It's Mother's Day here in the UK, although not in most of the rest of the world it seems! I hope all you mothers and grandmothers had a lovely day. :)

My mum is ace. She goes out of her way for us every day, she is always up for spending time with us, she helps us to learn new things without being patronising - she even taught me to drive, which was no mean feat!

Today I was at work so couldn't enjoy the sunshine with Mum and my sister, although we did all go to my Nana's when I got home. Luckily I had been working on her Mother's Day gifts for a couple of weeks now, so the only thing I had to do today was cut some daffodils from the garden and wrap them in a bouquet. :)

The first gift I made for Mother's Day was a scented heart to put in her wardrobe. The Boyfriend and I both made one, which gave me the hidden benefit of (re)teaching him to sew. It was a simple gift to make; cut out two heart shapes, sew them together inside out leaving a small gap for stuffing, then turn it right side out, stuff and put a few drops of oil in before you stitch it shut.

I also made a more personal gift. Whenever my Mum and I have a day off together we usually end up going for a hike somewhere, usually either around the coast or on Bodmin Moor. I decided to be a little creative and paint a map of Cornwall onto a shell, which is a little bit bigger than the size of your palm. I put a yellow dot on some of the places we've been in the past couple of years (and marked the Moor with a darker green). I used acrylic paint because it's easy to mix and to use. :)

I'm not naturally a painter, so I have to put a lot of effort in to make something resemble what it should, but I think that even if it's not perfect painted shells look really cool. :)

There's also a muddy boot footprint. We I usually come back filthy!

Happy Mother's Day. :)

Keep Britain Tidy!

Yesterday I decided to go for a walk. Inspired by Ilona's rubbish walks, I took a couple of bin bags and a pair of rubber gloves with me, in order to pick up any rubbish I found. (Mum came with me as the official “holder of clean stuff and photographer”).

I didn't get far before I found my first piece of plastic. In fact, I didn't walk very far all day. I walked a grand total of 0.4 miles before I had to turn back.

Why did I turn back so soon? I simply couldn't carry any more rubbish!

My lane is a single track, poorly maintained road running through dairy fields and cropland. It is not highly populated or busy with traffic, yet I collected 2 bin liners full of rubbish.

On the face of it, the lane didn't look too bad. I'd seen an old fertiliser bag on the side of the road and a plastic bag attached to a bramble, but nothing much else. The problem was that it was all half-hidden in the foliage of the hedges.

Amongst other things, I found: 

• A half-full soy milk carton – OH, THE SMELL! 
• 5 coffee cups 
• 2 Red Bull cans 
• A beer bottle
• A ring-holder for cans – prime choking material for wildlife 
• Agricultural rubbish – black liners from hay bales and fertiliser bags.
• Lots and lots of clear plastic – mainly cellophane. 
• Several cola bottles, including one half-full 2 litre bottle! 
• Two plastic bags full of soy milk cartons.. (this was definitely the strangest find, but they were in a ditch so it was a deliberate dumping)

Why do people feel the need to fling things out of the window as they drive through the beautiful Cornish countryside? It's polluting and damages the health of wildlife. The next free day I have I'm going back out to clear the next section of lane of rubbish. I WILL get round my 4 mile circuit!

Have you ever collected rubbish? Would you give it a go?

Proper Cornish Cream Tea

Despite Wikipedia stating a cream tea can either be Devonshire or Cornish, there is only one way to make a cream tea; the PROPER way!

Here in Cornwall, we are immensely proud of many things; pasties, the Cornish language, our handsome countryside and cream teas, to name a few! Like pasties, cream teas must be made to specific instructions. The correct method is to cut a plain scone in half, spread JAM FIRST on both halves, THEN CREAM! Jam then cream! (Not that crazy, topsy turvy, upside-down Devonshire way!).

Another vital factor is that it is Cornish clotted cream. Rodda's can be bought in most UK supermarkets so there's really no excuse! 

 

So without further ado, here is a PROPER cream tea! (Healthy? No. Delicious? Definitely!)

Scone recipe (makes 8 scones)

225g self raising flour

55g margarine

25g caster sugar

150ml milk

1 egg (for glazing)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 220°C or gas mark 7
• Sift the flour into a bowl with the sugar. Cut the margarine into small cubes and rub it into the flour to mix.
• Add the milk a small amount at a time, mixing each time, until you get a dough.
• Sprinkle flour onto your surface and roll the dough out until it is 1cm (0.4 inches) thick.
• Using a 5cm (2 inch) cutter, cut scone shapes from the dough and place onto a greased baking tray.
• Beat the egg and brush the scones with it to glaze them.
• Bake for approximately 12 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown.
• Place on a cooling rack to cool.