One of our best holidays, in recent years, has been in Cornwall. Together with my sister and her family we decided to plan a self-catering trip and Cornwall seemed to have something for everyone.
We spent many evenings trawling the Internet in search of holiday cottages in Cornwall the choice was amazing! After much discussion we decided to divide our stay between two holiday cottages in Cornwall.
We chose the St.Ives area for one week and the St.Austell area for the second week.
Holiday Cottages In Cornwall – St.Ives
St.Ives has famously been home to a colony of artists since the 1880s and it holds a music and arts festival every September. There are numerous galleries and craft shops strung out along the pretty cobbled streets. The most famous gallery is the Tate Gallery, St.Ives which houses a large collection of international modern and contemporary art.
We spent the days visiting local attractions such as Lands End, Penzance and St.Michaels Mount.
St.Michaels Mount is owned by the National Trust and can be reached by walking along the causeway at low tide. At high tide it can be reached only by boat. There are about thirty permanent residents living in cottages along the seafront. There is a castle, beautiful gardens and a church at the summit of the island. Well worth a visit!
We also took a helicopter from Penzance to Tresco in the Scilly Isles to visit the beautiful sub-tropical gardens. The Abbey Garden has been described as ‘Kew with the roof off’ and has over 20,000 exotic species. The Shipwreck Museum, in the Garden, has a collection of beautiful figureheads from the many wrecks in the area (which incidentally attract a large number of scuba divers). After lunch in the Garden Café the children hired bicycles and went off to explore the island. We had a lovely day and returned to our holiday cottages in Cornwall tired but happy.
If the weather was really good we would take long walks along the coastal path enjoying the dramatic scenery. In the evenings we would sit outside our holiday cottages in Cornwall with a bottle of wine and watch the amazing sunsets.
We spent one memorable evening watching a performance of ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ at the Minack Theatre. This amazing open air theatre is set against a backdrop of craggy cliffs and turbulent sea. We rounded off the evening with a visit to a local hostelry for refreshments before returning to our holiday cottages in Cornwall.
Holiday Cottages In Cornwall – St.Austell
The following Saturday we set off for St. Austell via Redruth where we stopped for lunch. After lunch we walked around the town and had a look at the 15th century tower on the parish church. The main part of the church was added in 1756.
We drove on to Truro and made an unscheduled stop when we spotted the Farmers Market. We stocked up on supplies for our holiday cottages in Cornwall and then went for a stroll through the historic market town – or should that be city, as there is a magnificent cathedral. We walked up Lemon Street and came upon the Lander Memorial which commemorates the local Lander brothers who discovered the source of the Nile. We finished our walk at the indoor market on Lemon Quay.
One more stop – the lovely town of Grampound. The name derives from ‘Grand Pont’, the large bridge built here by the Romans. We were given a warm welcome at the local Inn – “The Dolphin” and suitably refreshed we continued on our journey to our holiday cottages in Cornwall.
Later that afternoon we arrived in St.Austell and made our way to our holiday cottages in Cornwall. The holiday cottages were very well equipped with a barbecue area outside and lovely gardens. We were all tired from traveling and decided to treat ourselves to dinner in one of the many local restaurants. Lovely fresh fish for us and burgers for the children.
St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall and is home to the famous St.Austell Brewery. We were looking forward to taking one of the public tours, but this was vetoed by the children. Understandably, they wanted to spend the day at the beach while the weather was fine. After a long day on the golden sands of St.Austell Bay we returned to our holiday cottages in Cornwall and made use of the barbecue area.
The following day we set out on our much anticipated excursion to the famous Eden Project, having previously bought our tickets on-line. It was absolutely wonderful and exceeded all our expectations. I think we all agreed that the rain forest section was the best. The outside gardens were beautiful especially the secluded areas in the “Wild Cornwall” section. The children had a great time on “The Nest” which is an enormous climbing frame. Unfortunately, one day is not long enough to see everything properly and we have promised ourselves another visit the next time we rent holiday cottages in Cornwall.
Holiday Cottages In Cornwall – So Much To See…
The next few days were spent relaxing on the beach and looking around the various gift and craft shops. We visited Mevagissey and asked the children if they wanted to buy souvenirs but they opted to go down to the pretty harbour instead. The harbour is home to many small fishing boats and used to be the centre of Cornwall’s pilchard industry. These days freshly caught fish are displayed in the old lifeboat house. Unfortunately, the sky clouded over and the rain came down. One of the few wet days we had. However, all was not lost as the weather gave us the perfect opportunity to visit the Model Railways Exhibition. Very enjoyable! Then home to our holiday cottages in Cornwall to dry out.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Saturday arrives all too soon – one last breakfast on the terrace and then its time to load the cars and set off for home.
I know we will be returning to our holiday cottages in Cornwall next year. There is so much we haven’t seen yet!