A weekend by the sea in Cornwall
Friday, 30 June 2017
Fowey Harbour |
It’s not very often I get to go on multiple little trips
away in one year. After years of pretty much staying put in London, I’m
absolutely loving it and am always thinking about the next break. I have loads of
bloody holiday to take at work too so I should probably start actually sorting
myself out.
This weekend, I was well chuffed to be Captain Charley’s +1
for the Sea and the City trip to Cornwall with Travelodge. I used to go to
Cornwall all the time as a kid with my family for caravan holidays so I knew it
would be an entirely different experience as an adult. For a start, I’d be more
interested in exploring small towns and trying new food than dancing with Sid
the Seagull and Lizzy the Lizard.
After a traumatic journey to meet the girls where I not only
missed a train but I then missed my stop once I was on the train and had to
turn around again… (I know, typical me), we were off on our five hour journey
to St Austell. Praise be to Jasmin for volunteering her car and her role
as driver. We wouldn’t have made it here without you.
The lovely seaside town of Charlestown |
I’d never heard of St Austell before and, after we had checked into our Travelodge, we eventually
googled what to do on our little holiday, over freakshakes, pasta and hotdogs
at the always classy Frankie and Benny’s. It turns out that cornwalls.co.uk said
that ‘although some might describe it as pretty grim, it does provide an ideal
centre for some of the loveliest beaches in Cornwall’. We did notice that it
was, as Charley dubbed it, ‘the Chav Centre of Cornwall’, and when we asked
some of the locals what we should do on our weekend away, they, in no uncertain
terms, told us there was nothing to do in St Austell. Hasty planning on phones over dinner was then
underway. Note to self: Research where you’re actually going BEFORE you get
there.
One thing I remember as a kid was that the beaches in
Cornwall were always gorgeous, I mean, they have actual sand and everything. It
was top of the list of things we had to do. After the absolutely wonderful
(although slightly sticky) weather we have been having in London, I packed
skirts and sandals in a positive mental attitude. When we opened the curtains
the next morning, it was grey and drizzling. As the Scottish say, it was pretty
dreich. Oh well, a little rain never hurt anyone!
Left to Right:
|
Now, despite the negative statements we have seen about St
Austell, they were definitely right about it being a ‘centre’, we had a whole
day of adventures where we visited the beach and I had a little dance in the
rain, explored the gardens of the fancy and stately home of Lanhydrock and
popped by the harbour of Megavissey. As well as jumping out of the car in a
tiny village because the houses were so instagrammable. Such blogger clichés.
Walking, eating, sitting, driving. We made sure we could see as much as we could and eat as much as we could, not a single moment was wasted. We tried new things and got to know eachother even more and, all in all, we had the BEST time.
Breaking up our wanderings, Charley and I not only used our
little Travelodge to sleep and refresh (dude, are those beds COMFY by the way), it also became a little blogging hub
for us. A place to bounce hashtag thoughts off each other and remember
anecdotes and quotes from the night before edit photos and check Twitter. Thank
you Wifi. It’s the reason why I have this post up sooner than any other I have
done this past year. I’ve actually had time and a place to do it!
Cornwall is so much more than just sandy beaches though. There are National trust building scattered all over the joint, brewerey's and independent bars, AMAZING food and, well, too much to discuss in one post. watch this space instead for more things to do in Cornwall.
In the meantime, you can keep up with our adventures and more that Cornwall has to offer on Instagram right here: