Cornwall 2016: Beaches, Cider and Adventures!

Before I start telling you all about my yearly adventure to Cornwall, I'd like to apologise for not posting anything for the last couple of weeks. This blog post would have been up sooner, but I just couldn't bring myself around to writing it; how can you describe a holiday that was so lovely? I've also had to sift through 300 photos to try and pick out the perfect ones to show you in my posts. 

We went down to Cornwall for two weeks, staying in a little town called Rejarrah in our touring caravan. I went on holiday with my Mum, Dad and little pooch; I wasn't supposed to be going away with them this year, but I just love Cornwall too much. I don't think I could ever turn down an opportunity to go and visit. Unlike our recent trips, we did a lot of sight seeing and went to some absolutely beautiful places. This is why I'm going to split my holiday posts into two weeks; there's just so many photos and so much to tell you! 

On Wednesday 27th July, we packed up the car, hitched up the caravan and set off on our journey to Cornwall. As normal, we travelled during the night but that did come with a few difficulties when half the motorway was closed, Dad took a wrong turning and we ended up in Sutton Coldfield with no way of getting out. Eventually we got back on the road we were supposed to be on and early on Thursday morning we pulled onto the caravan site.

I was greeted by my two lovely companions from the previous year, the beautiful horses Blue and Teddy. I didn't think they'd remember me but they did, and as soon as we pulled up on the site they came trotting over full of love, cuddles and asking for carrots. I didn't realise how much I'd actually missed them, it was so nice to have two shadows for the whole trip (they followed me everywhere) and I wanted to bring them home with me. We spent the first day resting, sleeping and getting everything set up. It was kind of a wasted day.

We woke up on our first day to a very cloudy Newquay, but that didn't stop us from heading into the seaside town to go and explore. There's just something about returning to Newquay that makes me feel like I'm at home; I love Cornwall just as much as I love Disneyland, and that's a lot! We went and checked out the little vintage stores and gradually made our way down towards the harbour. Newquay harbour provides one of the most beautiful views of Newquay and I just couldn't stop taking photos.

We got talking to a lovely man who had lived in Newquay for the past 5 years. He was trying to point to something that was out at sea but we couldn't quite tell what he wanted us to focus on. In the end he came over and allowed us to borrow his binoculars, and when we looked through them we saw the cutest little seal bobbing up and down in the sea. We've seen dolphins before down in Newquay, but we've never actually seen a seal, which I'm very surprised at because they're so common. The man told us that the little peanut was waiting for some fish to fall off the fishing boats returning to the harbour. I could've stood there and watched him all day. I'd also like to point out that the sea is SO blue; the photos just don't do it justice.

We ended our evening with a visit to my favourite cafe EVER. It's called The Beached Lamb and if anyone ever gets a chance to go down to Newquay I would definitely recommend paying them a visit. They are the loveliest people, the cafe is so chill and the food (and milkshakes) are to die for. When I tell people that the cafe is full of beanbags and pillows for people to sit on and chill, they don't believe me, but I can honestly say that it is the truth. It's just the most chill place. It makes me wish I lived down there because I think I'd spend most of my afternoons in there writing.

 The weather picked up a little bit on the second day so we decided to head to Perranporth Beach. I love Cornwall beaches, I honestly think they're some of the nicest in the world (and it's also a perk that it has  a beach bar that sells rattlers cider). This was the day when our tans started to develop. I spent some time swimming in the sea, and did a little bit of surfing before falling asleep and ending up sun burnt all over. I can only describe myself as resembling the tomato filter on snapchat! We then headed to the beach bar for an ice cold glass of rattlers cider and I don't think I've ever felt so content with life.

I tell everyone I see that everything is so much better down in Cornwall, and I stand by that. From the beaches to the cider to the food and the sunsets, there's nothing that Cornwall can't do right. We love going to explore the different beaches around the county so we headed down to Portreath one night. I went and did some surfing in the waves and then headed back up to my parents to get changed and sit and watch the sunset with the fam. I always feel so lovely and calm when I'm sat on the beach with the people I love the most.

I took my new camera down to the beach and snapped some gorgeous family shots as well as the most stunning photos of the sunset. I haven't edited any of these photos because I thought they were just beautiful as they were. As the sun was setting, I ran around the beach with Buster chasing after me and watched for anyone who was drowning because I'm a trained life guard now (I'm not really, but my hoodie says I am so). Also, I'd like to appreciate how cute the photo is of Buster looking out of the car, I snapped that when I was going down to surf, something tells me he wanted to come with me.

We were then struck with a spell of bad weather. It rained all day so we spent our time, in true British holiday style, playing scrabble and watching repeats of old television programmes.

However, the bad weather didn't last for long, and the next day we hopped back into the car and headed down to Healeys Cyder Farm. If there's one thing people know about me, it's that I absolutely LOVE cyder. I think it's more of a summer drink, but I'll drink it any time of year so being at a factory surrounded by every flavour of cider you could ever ask for was one of the greatest experiences. Mum and I had about 10 free samples of the different ciders, and I also treated us both to a pint of Rattlers Cider (the nicest cider EVER!!). It's safe to say we were both a little bit tipsy.

The trip to the cyder farm also saw me make friends with another beautiful horse and be chased by a chicken. I also nearly fell over a peacock but I found that hilarious and apparently sat talking to it for a good five minutes. I wish I was as confident as drunken me because I'm scared of birds. Anyway, I made it home in one piece and slept for the rest of the night. I'm a bit of a light weight anyway but I think a pint of the strongest cider they had on offer wasn't really a good idea on my part; oops!

We had another overcast day on the final day of our first week, but this turned out to be my favourite day of the holiday. We ventured to somewhere we have never actually been before (well not recently) which was a little town called Clovelly. I say town, I don't really know what to call it. The only way I can describe it is a hill; it's a very steep hill that leads down to a harbour and honestly it's just the most picturesque place I have ever visited.

The village itself has so much history and was extremely inspirational to me as a writer. It also turns out that I visited this lovely village when I was only a couple of months old and my Dad carried me on his shoulders up and down the hill; that's his claim to fame and he told everyone we got speaking too. There was so much to do in the town, and the photos I've got are just beautiful. I made friends with the village cat who fell asleep on me and then followed me all the way round the village when I moved.

I've decided that I'd really like to move down to Clovelly, but I don't think I'd ever be in my house because I'd just be taking photos of everything. We made our way down to the harbour which provided us with the most beautiful view of the village and I just fell in love with it more and more. Walking down the pebbled beach, we came towards a waterfall which is the result of a small stream that flows through the village and it was so magical. I could imagine it being somewhere where fairies would live; is that my imagination just running wild?

As we made our way back up the hill, I didn't realise just how steep it was. The cobbles were hurting my feet a little but I powered through, we also got our energy back by stopping at the village pub for a drink. When we made it to the top of the hill, we saw a lovely lady with the cutest little baby owl. I was going to hold him but I chickened out and stuck to taking photos of the little cutie instead.

At the very top of the hill, there were two of the cutest donkeys I have ever seen in my life. In the olden days the donkeys were used to pull carts and deliver mail to the people of the town as the hill was too steep. They don't use the donkeys anymore; instead they use land rovers and little sleighs but the donkeys are renowned for their relevance to Clovelly and they let them stand at the top of the hill to be stroked and loved by all of the visitors. I was going to bring one home with me but it was too big to fit in the car.

I think I've fallen in love with Clovelly and it's somewhere I'll definitely be visiting again.

To end our day at Clovelly, we headed over to Bude and Boscastle, both of which were very lovely. Bude was very much like Newquay but a little bit classier and I loved walking along the river and watching the families row their boats. They had pedal boats but in the shape of cars, I really wanted to go on one but Dad refused to come on with me because apparently I can't be trusted. You wouldn't think I was 19.

Boscastle was smaller than I thought it was going to be but it was full of so much history and it was super quirky. Boscastle is well known for flooding and around the town you can see little plaques which show where the flood waters have reached every time the town has been flooded. I personally thought it had a bit of an eerie atmosphere, but that added to it and I would have loved to have visited when everything was open. Mum and I wanted to go and have a look round the witching museum but it was closed when we arrived. I could tell that the town was well know for it's spiritual and magical connections though, I really loved the whole atmosphere.

The first week of Cornwall was one of the best weeks, and I can't wait to share with you what adventures we got up too in our second week.

Lots of Love,
Meg
xox

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