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| Braving the weather at Charlestown | Tall ships in Charlestown Harbour | Pieces of eight in the Shipwreck Museum |
We left home at about 5.30pm (having packed and played all day) to drive to Basingstoke. This should have been an easy journey (under 80 miles) and the traffic was a breeze, but the range was somewhat difficult because the car was so well laden. We got to our Holiday Inn (complete with rapid charger) at about 7.30 but had to top up the charge before going to the pub we'd booked for dinner.
Our pub meal was a real triumph – the Bounty Inn is a small, friendly place with separate rooms (so we weren't bothering anyone) and a bucket of Jenga for the children to play with while we waited for the food to come. The food was great too.
This was a serious day of travelling. We had breakfast in our room in the Holiday Inn – pastries from the co-op next door – and were on the road by 9.30. Helen drove the first leg (to a Nissan dealership in Wincanton) and it was surprisingly close: when we finally plugged the car in it said 0% (we've not had that before). We spent a while there (we had to wait for someone else to finish charging first) so after a bit of hide and seek round the car showroom we ate our sandwiches there.
The second leg was to Exeter (another Nissan dealership), and much less close (but we were still feeling the pain of driving up hills with a roof box and bikes) and it was a pretty quick stop; then we pushed on to our cottage. We arrived at 4.30, not quite in time for the Tesco van but luckily Anita (the owner) had let Tesco in and very kindly unloaded the shopping for us.
Once we were there, the children went off to explore the trampoline and climbing frame while Helen unloaded the car; then Helen took the children swimming while Jeremy unpacked all the bags. We had pizza for dinner and the children were too tired even to shower.
We made full use of the local facilities in the morning, with the children dashing off to the games room straight after breakfast. Then they brought their new friends James and Ben round to join our Easter egg hunt – James (10) joined Laura's team and Ben (7) helped Matthew. Once that was over (and rewards eaten) Helen took the children swimming while Jeremy got ready for our trip out.
We left for Charlestown at about 11.30, arriving just in time to snag the last table in the Pier House Hotel for lunch (pretty lucky given it was Easter Sunday!). The food was fantastic and very reasonably priced too. While we were eating the rain started and it just got worse from then on. After lunch we paused briefly to look at the tall ships, then we went round the Shipwreck Museum. They had a little Easter egg hunt thing going on – chocolate eggs sprinkled through the display cabinets to mark the answers to questions on a sheet – and the children both enjoyed that (and the egg at the end).
Back home we lit a fire and Matthew played chess with Jeremy while Laura wrote and illustrated a story. Then Jeremy took the children to the games room until tea time.
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| Braving the weather at Charlestown | Tall ships in Charlestown Harbour | Pieces of eight in the Shipwreck Museum |
The weather was better this morning, and (with some difficulty) the children were persuaded to save their swim until after we'd been out. They played in the games room again while we got ready; then we headed to the coast near Mevagissey. We parked in the village (slight overstatement) of Trenarren and walked down the road and bridleway to the coast at Hallane. There is a waterfall right on the stony beach, and children had a good clamber around. We had lunch at the top of the beach, sitting on a rock, and then headed off to walk around the headland on the Coast Path.
It was pretty windy, but our walk was dry (though muddy) until the last minute or so; we went round the coast to the East with a little detour (that we'd always skipped before) to go to the tip of Black Head. There is an ancient hill fort there with some earthworks still visible – or so we thought – on closer inspection there was the remains of a 19th Century rifle range in there as well!
Once we got back to the cottage (and had a cup of tea, of course) the children demanded their swim so Jeremy took them down while Helen had a shower. They made even more new friends, had a go on the trampoline afterwards, and came home tired and happy.
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| Waterfall | Clambering | Cowgirl | Cowboy |
The weather was better today, so we made the most of it. We drove to Polzeath, where we parked two bikes, then moved the car up the road to a car park overlooking Lundy Bay and set off for our walk. We followed the coast path round the Pentireglaze headland. Though it was very muddy underfoot, the weather above us was very good. A squally bit passed round us and went out to sea, and after that it was lovely. We picnicked in the lee of a wall, looking out to sea at Puffin Island.
Just before we came to The Rumps (a pair of lumpy outcrops on the headland) we met a friendly local lady who told us we should look out for seals there – so we made a little detour to have a look and there they were!
Finally we dropped down to the beach at Polzeath, where there were huge numbers of surfers and the tide was coming in (too fast for our bags!). The children had a lovely play while Jeremy took the bike and retrieved the car, and we were just on our way up from the beach to the car when the heavens opened. Brilliant timing.
When we got back Laura helped cook dinner (a fantastic bolognaise) while Matthew had a shower (he'd been in the sea in his trousers); after dinner she fell asleep on the sofa listening to stories.
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| Primroses | Gorse | Lundy bay |
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We had a later, gentler start this morning, with the children playing very quietly while we had a sleep in; after the usual trip to the games room we set off to experience Football Golf, which is basically giant crazy golf where you kick footballs into enormous holes. It was pretty squelchy, but (once we'd given Laura a set of bonus kicks because she just doesn't have the power) everyone had a good time.
We got home around 3 and, after a quick snack, Helen took the children swimming while Jeremy prepared high tea. In the pool Laura played with Edith and Matilda while Matthew played with Nathaniel – all very low-maintenance. We all sat down to a good fryup followed by cornish scones, then there was (half of) a film with popcorn before bed.
This was our first day of really good weather. The children spent a bit of time in the games room while we set ourselves up with picnic, bike rack and bikes; then we headed off to Wadebridge with the intention of hiring one more bike and riding to Padstow and back. Unfortunately, when we got to Wadebridge all the cycle hire shops had completely run out of bikes, so poor Jeremy was left bikeless. We had a quick check of the map and found there was a car park halfway along, so agreed to meet there. Helen and the children rode, while Jeremy drove round and then walked onto the path to find a nice bench for us.
After lunch, where we saw egrets on the water and tandems on the path (and lots of dogs in trailers) the bike contingent rode on to Padstow and Jeremy followed on foot. We went round the National Lobster Hatchery and then he caught us up. We had a good potter round Padstow – icecreams for the children, new coats for Jeremy and Laura, sunglasses for Laura and supershooter water pistols for the children – before heading down to the beach. Laura and Helen had the first successful sandcastle of the holiday, while Jeremy and Matthew joined a cricket game with a boy called Tom and his dad.
The ride back was much less busy (it was after 4pm when we set off) and of course we didn't have to go the whole way back to Wadebridge. Helen had just finished putting the bikes back on the car when Jeremy caught up: perfect timing.
When we got home the children watched the end of Ratatouille while Jeremy cooked and Helen sorted out the car; it was a late night (though not as late as Tuesday) but everyone was happy.
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The children, not having swum yesterday, demanded to go to the pool after breakfast and try out their supershooters, so Helen took them down while Jeremy sorted out picnic. The weather wasn't great so we took the local option and went to Lanhydrock for their easter egg hunt. First we ate our picnic in their sheltered courtyard; then (as it started to rain) we went round the house. Unlike the outside stuff, they really hadn't made this very interesting or child-friendly: the "guides" in the rooms seemed to be there for the purpose of making sure no-one touched anything, rather than being capable of answering any questions. But it filled a wet half hour, after which we escaped outside into the grounds again.
The hunt led us all round the gardens. Laura was very engaged in finding (and reading) the boards with clues on; Matthew discovered the joy of taking photos of flowers. By the end Laura was skipping on ahead in total contentment, while Matthew disappeared off to capture another choice bloom.
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Once the completed sheets had been swapped for chocolate eggs (of course) we headed back up the hill to the entrance, where there is a really good playground. The children played – and Laura met Edith and Matilda from one of the other cottages here – and the adults drank the rest of the coffee.
Laura was very keen to go for a final swim with Edith and Matilda when we got back, so in they went again (with Helen watching from the side this time); Jeremy made fish pie and then took them to the games room while Helen finished off the kitchen. The children will miss the friends they've made in the other cottages (who are all going home tomorrow); let's see who arrives for next week!
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Today dawned wet and woolly so Helen took the children for a swim. Then we drove West (despite a closed road making it much more complicated than it should have been) to the place where the weather wasn't: Porth.
We parked in a National Trust car park and walked the 100m or so to Towan Beach, where we found a helpful fallen tree to sit on and eat our lunch. Then we headed along the Coast Path.
Just before Killigerran Head, we had a view down to a little beach with 10 or 11 seals basking in the sun. They were close enough to hear!
The next segment was pretty muddy – and in fact that was a bit of a theme of the day – but with a bit of effort we got to the top and paused on the rug for "pudding".
It was sunny and warm for the whole walk, and we followed the Coast Path right round to St. Anthony Head, past views across the estuary to Falmouth and the castle, and finally cut up to a disused (but maintained) church at ???. By then (after 7km) Laura was properly worn out, so Helen and Laura waited at the church while Jeremy and Matthew walked the final 3km back to the car and returned by road to pick them up.
We had fish and chips for supper as it was 8pm by the time we were driving through Penwithick; and pretty quickly to bed after the food.
Photos to follow later!A beautiful day! We skipped the whole swimming / lunch-making step in favour of a reasonably quick start, and headed to Fowey. There we started by recreating the photo of Jeremy and Matthew (2011) that we had blown up for our office walls. Then we went down past Readymoney Cove into Fowey itself, where we walked along the front looking across to the Block tower at Polruan before stopping for lunch in The Lifebuoy Café. We accidentally ordered 5 meals, but it turned out we were hungry enough. We also stopped at the fudge shop next door.
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| 2011: The original | 2018: The recreation |
After lunch we headed down to the Town Quay, where we caught the ferry across to Polruan. The children had a play on the miniature beach there (Matthew skimming and Laura jumping waves with Helen). Then we headed uphill to explore. There was a bit of confusion at first (remedied by escaping through someone's front garden!) before we made it out onto the Coast Path towards Bodinnick. It was a lovely walk: we sang songs, played chase, took photos, played hide and seek, and had lots of fun. At the footbridge at Pont we stopped for a bit more stone skimming and Laura got her first successful skim.
We passed the Q memorial and the views looking back to Fowey were astoundingly good – twinkly sea, boats, a castle, white houses, a daymark/lighthouse style tower – and the children were well motivated by the promise of another ferry. This one was a car ferry, and we caught it just as it was about to go. We got back to Fowey just after 5.30 and went hunting for an icecream. We caught one (two) in a newsagent's and ate on the front before heading back up towards home. Just before we got back home in the car, a deer stood in the road in front of us, long enough for us all to see: brilliant!
Photos to follow: we took a lot so they might take some sorting!A full family bike day! We phoned up Bodmin Bikes first thing and booked a bike for Jeremy to hire; then we drove over with the other three on the back of the car. From Bodmin the Camel Trail heads towards Wadebridge (where we started last time) but there is also a branch which goes north to Poley's Bridge (and on, a little way further, to Wenford Bridge).
We rode almost as far as Hellandsbridge before stopping for our picnic. Disappointingly, there weren't any benches; but we found a nice little wall just inside a field. Then we rode on to Poley's Bridge where we had a coffee-and-snacks stop.
The return journey was largely downhill, but was still a bit of a struggle for Laura: in the end we had ridden 20km! It was a very nice day, but we didn't take many photos. Jeremy returned his bike while the children played on a little playground near the car park; then we stopped briefly in Bodmin to top up on provisions.
Once at home, the lamb went in to roast while the children revived under the influence of a DVD and a sausage roll; then Matthew beat Daddy at Ticket to Ride while Laura went down to the games room to beat Mummy at table football.
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Today we made a special effort to go to the East Pool Mine, a National Trust-run former tin and copper mine, because on Tuesdays they run Trewithick Tuesdays, with lots of hands-on activities for children.
We started with a little film, then went through to the Boiler Room, where there were all sorts of activities with greater or lesser link to the mine. You could pump up a pressure vessel (like the pressure boilers invented here) and release the pressure to fling a weight up and ring a bell; you could dress up; you could build an electromagnet out of copper wire, a nail and a battery; you could make big bubbles with string; and there was an egg drop competition in which both children successfully created something that would land an egg intact from the top of the Engine Room steps.
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| Matthew dressing up | The children with their electromagnets | Successful egg drop creations | ||
There was also an easter egg hunt, which involved clues in all the key locations, with big plastic eggs for the multiple choice answers. This involved finding out about the mine (its big pumping engine could remove almost 3 million litres of water a day from the mine!) and also an egg and spoon race, an egg rolling race, and a challenge to sort the birds' eggs into the right nests. Both children had a lovely time.
We ate our lunch in the café (having bought hot chocolates for the children) as it was a bit wet for the picnic tables; and the children spent some of their easter money on stones: an assortment of small polished gems for Laura, and three different coloured geodes (natural crystals inside a rock) for Matthew.
Back at home, we had a long swim with children Ruth and Isaac (whose parents are Matthew and Laura!), dinner and even a go in the games room before a slightly late bed.
This morning we went back to the Football Golf, since the children had said they'd enjoyed it so much the last time. This time we did the (harder) Hillside course, and we split into two groups – Helen against Laura and Jeremy against Matthew. The children both won, and Laura even managed to chip the ball through the hoop to complete one of the holes. The views were fantastic: in the sunshine you could see all the way to Gribbin Head.
We came back to the cottage for lunch. The children played on the trampoline and then we had a picnic. Then we came to the reason for hanging around near here all morning: a riding lesson for the children and Helen. Laura rode Dinky, Matthew rode Pip, and Helen rode Nola. We had a led walk outside, and some walking practice inside, then tried a bit of trotting before a final walk round the block to finish the hour. It was lots of fun but you could see how tired Laura was by the end!
Once we got home, the children went swimming (joined eventually by Helen) while the horsey clothes got washed and Jeremy cooked a fine re-run roast dinner. There was even time for 10 minutes in the games room before bed.
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