Cornish Break ~ part 1

I’ve already posted about my nature-spotting weekend in Cornwall (day 1 & day 2), where we had hoped to swim with basking sharks and had got to see wonderful Risso Dolphins. And now - much later than it should have been! – is a bit of a summary of the rest of the time I had in Cornwall. ~ addendum: due to lots of interruptions, I once again didn't get to finish off this post, but I thought I have taken so long to get even this far that I will post what I have so far, and post the rest later...  Sorry!

I had already booked a cheap little room in Newquay, so after the boat trip was over I headed there. My husband Adam had already checked us in, so I got to have a nice shower before we headed out to find food.

The view from our room in Newquay

It seemed that in the years since I had last been there, I had kind of grown out of Newquay, and I didn’t enjoy it half as much as I had enjoyed the brief wander around St Ives.

Fortunately, the next day I took Adam to St Ives, where we spent all our time mooching around the lovely independent shops, looking at arty ceramics and glasswork, and enjoying crab sandwiches and Cornish pasties – and cream teas! And it turned out that Adam also liked it so much that he immediately wanted to book a night in St Ives for after our Newquay accommodation was over!

We found a gorgeous guest house just up the hill and overlooking the sea, called The Belmont. I thoroughly recommend this place if you’re looking for B&B / guest house accommodation down there. The lady in charge is lovely and really friendly, the place is so clean and beautifully decorated. The place is in a convenient location and even has limited parking – at a premium in St Ives! And also the breakfast is great – not just a traditional fry-up, but options for things on toast, cereal and fresh fruit. Very lovely indeed! We had to book 2 nights as a minimum – such a hardship! ;)

Our room, via The Belmont

We headed back for our last night in Newquay, enjoying fish and chips while overlooking the sea. The next day we checked out and moved on to St Ives. On the way, we passed signs for the Healey’s Cider Farm. My husband loves cider so I indicated to turn off here (as we had arrived separately, we unfortunately had both cars with us) and he followed. He was very pleased that I spotted it and turned off, as he had also seen the sign but hadn’t thought I would turn off!  He was even more pleased that it turned out to be the place where Cornish Rattler cider is made, as he thought this would make his brother a bit jealous ;)  

 

We both did the tour, which if you’re interested in Cider was pretty interesting. The guide we had didn’t dwell on anything too long so the talk didn’t get boring

Then when it came to the sampling section of the tour, it was very generous – you didn’t get limited to only trying one or two products, you got a try a bit of everything you wanted to! I must admit, this did mean that we had to wait a while and get a pasty and a cup of tea in the café before we felt able to get back in the cars and carry on to St Ives…

After checking in to the new place, we went off and spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach, making the most of rare British sunshine and warmth. We even had a swim in the sea :)

That evening we tried to get into a restaurant but it was full, so we booked a table for the following night and then found a different place nearby instead; an old fashioned-looking place called Hobblers. I hadn’t been convinced when my husband pointed out this place, but I hadn’t wanted a drawn out process of finding somewhere else, so I agreed to it.

Hobblers

When we got inside it was very cramped and the staff seemed a little eccentric. The menu looked good though, and to keep with the seaside theme we ordered rum cocktails and seafood. When our orders arrived, they were amazing. Absolutely delicious!! I had ordered Lemon Sole with a prawn sauce, and while I had only had Lemon Sole once before and hadn’t really liked it, this was sooooo delicious that I felt I could eat it every night for the next week! All the ingredients were clearly really fresh, the fish was expertly filleted with no bones, and it was just melt in the mouth deliciousness…  My mouth is watering just writing about it!

So that's how far I got before I was called away the last time, and now it's past 11pm here so I ought to finish up. Still to write about is a bit more outdoorsy stuff, and the Eden Project!  :)