Jean Grout - October 2007

A beautiful part of the country to stay in. For families the surrounding beaches are second to none, and during inclement weather there are many very interesting places to visit from "hands on" farms to activities in the telecommunications musum at Porthcurnow where kids can write a "coded" message or make an electric morse code machine etc.
For adults the entire area is a wonderful walking experience where local geology is very interesting. Tin mines can be visited as well as the Tate Gallery, plus the Goonhilly Downs Earth Station.
It is a fantastic area to visit, and the bonus is to return t a very cosy "home" at the end of a busy day.

June 8th to 10th 2007, by Deb

Cornwall was calling me as it does every so often, so Andy and I decided (as we were child free) to pop down for the weekend. We set off after work at 3.30pm and headed off for the place we love so much.Surprisingly there was not much traffic and our journey took 4 hours and 20 minutes. As soon as we arrived at the bungalow the first thing we did, and always do, was make a long awaited cup of tea. God we're getting old!!!!!

We were a bit peckish so decided to head into St Ives for a bite to eat.After parking the car we had a little walk along the harbour front, there was a crowd gathered so we decided to investigate only to find a game of beach volleyball going on. We watched as the young Fit lads did their stuff, I was mesmerized, but my hunger got the better of me so I tore myself away.We found a lovely little place called cafe Coast right on the harbour front and sat upstairs by the window. I had a Carbonara which was probably the best I have ever tasted. We sat there for ages looking over the dusky harbour and 'people watched' . We were aware of a man sat in the cafe who Ricky Gervais most definitely modelled his character from the Office on this guy, what a prat.....still it takes all sorts. We did the short drive home and had a nice glass of wine and went to bed.


We got up quite early on Saturday. I had never been to Lizard so we decided to head off in that direction. First we found Mullion Cove, (pictured right) we had a little look around, it was a very pretty place and took some great photos.I really wanted to get a bit of sun on the old 'bod' so we went down to Porthleven beach. It wasn't the best beach I'd ever been to in Cornwall, it was more gritty than sandy and not very inviting but we spent an hour or so relaxing and soaking up the rays. Then on to the Lizard where we visited the most southerly cafe in Britain called Polpeor. We sat outside taking in the amazing view of the jagged rocks and the sun twinkling on the sea when suddenly I spotted a seal bobbing around, we watched him for ages, it was lovely to see him in his natural habitat.

Time to move on. We found a little place called Church Cove which was really tiny with no sand, just rocks. We had heard that Praa sands was a beautiful beach so we went of to find it. What a great place.....I want to go there on our next visit. Back to the Bungalow for a quick freshen up and then out to dinner at the Pub just down the road from us called The Old Quay House Inn. This place had a really welcoming feeling and the best smoked mackerel ever.....well, apart from the 5, yes 5 mackerel I caught on a previous trip, but that's another story!!!!!

Sunday morning and another gloriously sunny day, Andy wanted to go to the Wayside Museum at Zennor where there are over 5000 artefacts and things found around the area dating back to way back when. What an interesting place and well worth a visit.Unlike the pub we visited next. The Gurnard Head Hotel is a big orange building, inside felt very unwelcoming, the landlord was not my kind of person (he is probably really nice but I found him quite rude) Needless to say we didn't stay there long!!

Time for Sunday lunch, we really fancied a Sunday roast and we remembered on a previous visit going to a pub called the Godolphin Arms at Marazion, which over looked St Michaels Mount. We were given a table by the window (picture left) and looked out over the bay and the beautiful mount, and watched kids jumping off the rocks into the sea and having a great time. The carvery was lovely and we would definitely recommend this one, it is advisable to book though as this is a very popular place. After lunch we had a little walk through the "skinny" village of Marazion to get the kids some rock.Then it was time to come home:-( ....... We left about 4.30pm and took drive home, we got home at 9.00pm.Its nice to be home but I'm already looking forward to our summer holiday in sunny Cornwall.
By Deb

25th May - 2nd June

Fri 25th Left Southampton at 6pm on the Friday before the Bank Holiday expecting a l-o-n-g journey down (Run to the Sun, Newquay etc.) But was pleasantly surprised to turn into the site at 11.15pm, especially as we made a couple of stops on the way down.

Sat 26th Woodland Walk first thing in the morning, great way to wake up!
Down to Porthcurno to the Minack Theatre, lovely place with outstanding views.
Evening in the Rafters "Showbar" to be "entertained" by Freddy Fox and his Krew.

Sun 27th Goonhilly Earth Station

Mon 28th Park & Ride into St. Ives.- £8 for All Day (and evening) Parking and Unlimited Train Travel for a family of four. Superb value and even superber views.
Late afternoon drove round to Godrevy National Trust site (follow signs from Lidl roundabout in Hayle)
Back into Hayle to pick up our Chippy Tea, which we ate in the car in a lay-by on the hill overlooking St. Michaels Mount.
Sunset from Penlee Lighthouse (breathtaking!)

Tue 29th Penzance for shopping and sightseeing.
TeaTime Swim back at the site.

Weds 30th Flambards.
Poldark Mine on way home.

Thurs 31st Eden Project. (Great value, upgrade to Season Ticket so WILL visit again.)
On way home called in at Perranporth Sands to watch the evening surfers.
St. Agnes for dinner at Driftwood Spars.

Fri 1st Seal Sanctuary, Gweek.
Dinner at Lamb & Flag Inn (about half a mile towards Penzance from the roundabout) Excellent Food. Book first though (whoops!)

Sat 2nd Swim
Time to go home (sob, sob!)
Newquay
Jamaica Inn

March 23rd to 25th

A short weekend break with (for various reasons) no kids.

Easy journey down on the Friday night.

Saturday we woke to glorious sunshine - we managed to pick the hottest weekend of the year so far. Into St Ives, which was really bustling but not overcrowded, in search of the "original" Miners pasty. The shop we'd seen them in before was open and we had two specially cooked for us. It wasn't worth it, they were horrible - despite what they said the jam at one end seeps into the meaty part. Yuk. A quick detour to have a look as St Uny Church. It's right next to a golf course and from there you have excellent vies across the estuary towards Hayle and miles of sandy beaches, and can also walk through a wonderful graveyard.

Drove down to Marazion and walked out to St Michaels Mount. The castle was closed till April but it's still a great experience walking out to the island, knowing that in a few hours the path you've just walked will be under water.

We then drove through Newlyn into Mousehole, a quaint little fishing village. Was told the story of the Mousehole cat but an over friendly shopkeeper who looked very disappointed that we didn't buy a book/cd/dvd of the story he'd just told us. Excellent pint in the Ship Inn, a very old pub that you could really imagine being frequented by sailors and smugglers hundreds of years ago. A plaque on the wall outside gave a poignant reminder of the Penlee Lifeboat disaster, the pubs landlord being one of the eight crew to perish that night.

Just driving around we spotted a sign for Logans Rock and decided it was worth a visit. It wasn't. We walked a mile or so through fields to find a rock - we're still not sure if we found it.

Saturday evening after eating in we had a quick drink in the bar at the camp before we visited relatives living locally.

On Sunday took the long slow way home, through Hayle and Portreath. Finding ourselves near St Agnes a quick phone call had a friend dropping everything to meet us in The Driftwood Spars, one of my favourite pubs.

A few pints later and it we continued home and discovered a little treasure. The Kingsley Food Village, right on the A30 about half an hour or so into the journey (look for the flags). It's a huge retail place but the massive food hall is full of stuff you won't find at your local supermarket - with loads of free samples and tasters to fill yourself up with for the journey home. We pay Little Chef prices when you can eat for free.!

Nick & Sam's Boys Weekend.

Friday 2nd March.
A very excited Sam tore out of Beavers at 6.30pm on the Friday ready for our adventure to begin. The car was already loaded with fuel and our gear so we were on our way at 6.50pm, only 222 miles for Dad to drive.
Sam soon settled into the journey watching "Danny Champion of the World" on his portable DVD player (What a godsend!!!!!) An hour into the journey we were still only 35 miles from home (a quick calculation in my head worked out at about 6 more hours of driving ahead!!!)
We soon made up time on the better roads and arrived on site at exactly 11pm after a short diversion through Hayle. (Total journey time 4hrs 10minutes) We were greeted by a couple of the local rabbits hopping around outside the bungalow. We put our gear indoors and after a quick drink curled up in our sleeping bags in front of the TV. Sam was very quickly asleep, Dad soon followed, zzzzzz.............

Saturday 3rd March

We were both awake before 7am so got up, opened up the doors and let the Cornish air flood in, and had our breakfast listening to the birds in the trees.
We then decided to explore the park and followed the Woodland Trail which starts just behind the bungalow. We saw Squirrels, Crows, a Robin and heard lots of other birds in the trees.

We made our way back to the bungalow and headed out for the day.

In the car we followed the St. Ives road up to Tescos to stock up on teabags (which we did not really need, but Sam NEEDED a PG Chimp!), we sat in the restaurant enjoying our Hot Chocolate and muffins whilst admiring the view across Carbis Bay.

We then set off for Flambards which was due to open at 10am, we headed towards Penzance then turned left towards Helston we got a beautiful view of St Michaels Mount on the way, and arrived at Flambards 10 minutes before it opened. We were the first visitors of the day, but as it was so early in the season only a couple of the attractions were open.(The reduced admission fee made up for this.) Sam was interested in the Victorian Village but as we were the only people in there he was a little bit put off by some of the very realistic dummies dressed in the period costumes, when we went into a Victorian Hardware shop and the smoke alarm suddenly went off!!!!!!!! This nearly finished Sam off..
At this point he decided he didn't really fancy visiting the Blitz Experience. This was a shame because both these exhibitions looked very interesting, but once a 7 year old has made their mind up, they have made their mind up! We will save this for another time, I think he would have been fine if there were more people in there with us.

Sam "enjoying" himself at Flambards.

As we went outside to have a look what else will be open in the Summer we saw a glider coming in to land at Culdrose airbase next door. We got back into the car and then drove around the airport and came across a viewing area. (There was a gift shop and tea-room which offers guided tours of the base, but again we were too early in the year) We stayed a while watching the Gliders, Helicopters and the numerous Wagtails.
We then went for a little drive and Dad spotted a sign for the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek, after heading down some country lanes and into a local housing estate!?! we soon reached our destination. The sanctuary is in a lovely setting on the side of the river estuary, it is a sanctuary for seals which have been found injured or abandoned along the West Country coastline and have been brought here for recuperation, until they are able to be released back into the wild.

They also have Sea-Lions and Otters which you can get a close look at. We spent a good three hours here and can imagine in the high season a whole day could easily be spent viewing the feedings. When we had finished we drove on to Goonhilly Down and the huge dishes soon loomed into view like something from "Close Encounters". We headed towards the visitors centre and parked under "Arthur" the Big Dish.

The last bus tour of the day was just leaving (to a space launch style countdown) as we arrived. We were able to enter the gift shop and cafe and had a small taste of what there is to see, and we will DEFINITELY be returning here ASAP. You can take a bus tour of the entire site and do loads of hands on stuff in the exhibition rooms. After a quick look through the gorse bushes for the deadly adders we decided to start heading back towards the bungalow. We took a direct route straight across Cornwall on the B3302 passing through Leedstown, which has coloured lights strung the entire length of the village, and soon arrived in Hayle.

We had a quick look at the shops in Hayle before we headed for the coast to see the sunset over the sea. We left Hayle by the B3301 signposted Portreath and made our way to a National Trust area overlooking Gwithian Sands with nice views of Godrevy Island and its lighthouse.

After taking LOTS of photos of the sunset and the moon rise (this was the night of a lunar eclipse) we headed back through Hayle to pick up our Fish & Chips to take home with us, which we enjoyed in front of the telly. Surprisingly Sam lasted until about 9.30pm but I had no chance of waking him up to see the eclipse!

We had already decided that we would get up early and have a tidy up before leaving at 10ish in the morning, to call in at Paradise Park on our way back to Southampton. After a bottle of DoomBar in front of Match of the Day I too was soon ready for bed.

What a busy day!!!!!

Sunday 4th March

Rain, Rain, Rain..........

After being spoilt by beautiful spring weather yesterday we awoke to payback,

the rain was p......ersistantly coming down!!!

We soon realised our plan of visiting Paradise Park was out the window as the parrots were probably drowning in the downpour outside!!!!

Sam was very good at helping put the dishes away and hoovering, and at handing me our bags as I ran back and forth up the path to the car (Thank God we are the end nearest the Car Park!) and all too soon it was time to say goodbye to Treva until our next visit. Sam was sat on the sofa being quiet which is EXTREMELY unusual for him, when I asked what was up he burst into tears, "I don't want to go home" he said. I knew exactly how he felt ;-) and I am so glad that we are able to go back whenever we can.

We packed a lot into our flying visit but have barely scratched the surface of what West Cornwall has to offer, we are both looking forward to our next visit in May with Mummy (Sara) and Katie.

Thanks Treva' see you soon.

Chimp enjoying the sunset

The rain on the M5 near Exeter Airport

Exhausted!!!

My Weekend In Cornwall

By Becki Boo
On Friday 26^th January after a good day at school, me, my sister-Vicky, my Dad, my Stepmum-Deb and my Stepbrother Jamie started our 4-½ hour journey to Cornwall. On the way we got a Burger King for dinner it was lovely! We got to the bungalow in St. Ives at about quarter to ten, just in time to watch ‘The Celebrity Big Brother Final’, followed by ‘The Vicar of Dibley’. We then all went to bed. The bungalow was lovely and cosy. My sister, Vicky, and me shared a room. We thought that during the night it was going to be really cold, but by the morning we were boiling!!!

On Saturday we got up and drove into St. Ives. We had a look at the local beaches. One was called ‘Carbis beach’, on the car park by the beach we saw a car that was designed to look exactly like ‘The Trotters’ car in ‘Only Fools and Horses’. We also went to a beach called ‘St. Ives Bay’. We then had a drink in a pub called ‘The Sloop Inn’. On the walls there was weird art, which made no sense and was priced at approximately £240!!! For lunch I got some chips from a chip shop called ‘The Dolphin, whilst everyone else got a Cornish pasty. We then took the road down the coast and stopped at ‘Cape Cornwall’ where we had seen dolphins once before. In the rocks was a man-made swimming pool. That evening we went to a pub just down the road from the bungalow called ‘The Watermill’.

On Sunday Jamie and me went to the play park on the holiday site. We then went to a pub in ‘Zennor’ called ‘Tinners Arms’; there we got a drink and a packet of crisps. It was a lovely pub with a beautiful fireplace. When we had finished our drinks we started to head home. On the way home we got another Burger King which was-again-lovely! When we were back in Southampton Vicky and me went back to our Mum’s house and told her about our fantastic holiday in Cornwall!

A Cornish New Years Eve

By Andy & Deb

We had been invited by friends to celebrate New Years eve in St Agnes, and with Saints playing at Plymouth the next day it seemed an ideal opportunity for our first visit to Treva.

The journey down seemed very easy, being New Years Eve there was little or no traffic on the road . Deb had her traditional panic attack for the 10 miles of cones lining the Bodmin - Indian Queens bypass construction but that soon passed We arrived early afternoon, as we drove into the park a huge buzzard swept down through the trees. The park itself was closed for the winter, but it was far from deserted, it turns out that many owners travel down to the area especially for local New Year celebrations.

After introducing ourselves to Treva, unpacking, a quick cup of tea we decided to explore the area. We soon found a local Tesco to stock up with provisions, no doubt this branch of Tesco has the best view of any in the world, straigh across St Ives bay to the huge sandy beaches of The Towans. Then we drove into St Ives proper . Far from the deserted out of season holiday resort that we expected we found a crowded buzzing town, with musketeers, pirates and spidermen strolling and stumbling around the quaint back streets - and this still mid-afternoon (New years Eve is definitely taken more seriously in these parts.. We eventually headed back and after cooking our dinner changed into our own costumes before heading to St Agnes (full story here ).

After a great evening at the St Agnes Hotel (or as it's better known, andmore in keeping with the evening, The Aggie ) we returned around 1 in the morning we found even more people had arrived to stay overnight in the nearby bungalows. We headed for bed - a granite block bungalow in Cornwall in mid-winter is NOT the warmest place in the world, but a bit of wriggling soon warmed us up.

We woke in the morning, and after setting off the smoke alarm making a cooked breakfast (if any of our "neighbours" were hoping for a lie in that put paid to their plans) we packed and said our goodbyes to Treva before heading to Plymouth. We both agreed we couldn't wait to come back.