Cornwall, Part 2

Some more holiday highlights, this time from the second half of our stay in West Cornwall, for your delectation.

Our fourth day was spent at St Michael's Mount and Marazion. The Mount looked splendid and mysterious all at once, perched on it's rock.

We enjoyed a brief (but still terribly exciting to the children) boat trip to the mount.

On arrival, Angus asked, "Is it from the olden days?"

We teased John mercilessly that he'd dressed like a Boden catalogue model. It was the deck shoes that did it, I think.

We finally persuaded him to strike a pose.

We left the mount at low tide and watched the long line of people snaking across the causeway.

Lunch was fish and chips on the beach, eaten with our fingers. Some "friendly" seagulls entertained us, getting nearer and nearer, until being shooed away. I spent ages trying to get a photo of one in flight. Later that afternoon we sampled some of the locally made Moomaid ice cream. It was all one delicious, sunny, beautiful day, that one.

We spent the final two days of our holiday exploring local towns in the morning then heading down to our nearest beach at Gwithian in the afternoon, a perfect way to round off each day. I could easily have spent another week in this fashion; wandering around like a tourist in the morning, playing on the beach later in the day.

On one particular day (I think it was Wednesday, our fifth day) the sun had well and truly disappeared by the time we got down to the beach. The sky was purplish and gloomy but, being British, we made the best of it. 

It was still warm and we were on holiday, after all, in a stunning spot with views of Godrevy lighthouse. Slightly bleak, forbidding views, but still. I love lighthouses.

We built sand castles...

and paddled...

and paddled some more. Yes, my tan lines are ridiculous. But I like to think they are the sign of a summer well spent.

I swam in the sea, the first time I'd done it in years. I'd forgotten how gloriously exhilarating jumping around in the surf could be. Then, without me really noticing at first, the bank of clouds started to roll back from the horizon.

And by the time we'd packed up our beach things, at about 6 pm, it had turned into the most beautiful, sparkling, luminous summer's evening. You could see the sunlight reflecting off windows in the distance.

Our view of the lighthouse was welcoming and friendly now,

and the beach was laid out before us, showing off in the sun.

One last photo from the car park before we headed home to put the children to bed and open ice cold bottles of beer. All that paddling worked up a thirst.

Friday Happies

It's been a funny old week. I've found the return to normal routines and the post-holiday feeling quite hard, as I stare down washing and ironing piles and try to get my brain back into gear. After time away from our house, I find that I look at it anew in an incredibly critical light. Flaws which I hadn't noticed for months become glaringly obvious as soon as I step into the house with our bags, moving the pile of post away from the front door mat. It always takes me a few days for home to feel like my home again. Oddly, one of the most satisfying moments in my week - not the happiest, but definitely the most rewarding - was on Tuesday night when the kids were in bed and John was working a late shift. Alone with my thoughts for the first time in what seemed like ages, I dusted, vacuumed, swept and mopped. I tidied piles away, watered plants and tackled the ironing. Three hours later I was exhausted but hugely pleased with the feeling of having conquered the disorder. Tidy house, tidy mind. There is something in that.

And so, as I sit here now reflecting on my week, I see that it's nesting that has brought me most pleasure since we returned home. 

1. I made a garland while we were away. This week I blocked it and crocheted the tops into one long string of chain stitch, then hung in on the mantel. Our fireplace, always a little stark, benefits from being softened with some colour. I added starfish and a card, brought back from St Ives, to remind me of our week away. 

2. I unpacked and admired souvenirs. I love buying souvenirs, no matter how big or small. I love seeing things around the house and remembering where I was when I bought it, what I was doing. We spent the last of our holiday pennies on this print by Carol Lander. It reminds me of the best of the wild landscape we enjoyed so much; the cliffs, the coves, the local plants and the lighthouses that are dotted around the coastline. It will stay propped up there for a while until we get it framed and decide where to hang it.

I also bought a straw bag (because I really needed another straw bag...)

...and some edibles which were blatantly bought for the packaging alone, although I'm sure the contents will be very tasty.

3. I finished my holiday embroidery, which is now at the framers. Once it's back, and the last of the fading purple pen (which seems to take ages to fade) has gone, I'll take some close-ups and tell you lots more about it. I honestly can't think when I last enjoyed stitching something so much. I think it's because it was so spontaneous. I decided to do it about two days before we left, and didn't know what I was going to sew until the particular day had passed. That was all very liberating and exciting for me!

4. My lovely sister, Anna, and her two girls are staying with us at the moment. It is always wonderful to see her, as we live so far away from each other, and equally wonderful to watch the cousins play together. Her girls are 4 and 6, and so very close in age to my two who are 5 and 7. 

Yesterday we spent a really nice day at Bolton Abbey, taking a picnic and making a day of it. The weather was kind, and the kids had fun running, climbing, throwing stones and generally enjoying the outdoors. My two have been hard work this week, restless and bored, unable to settle to any particular activity, and they enjoyed the freedom to run. Sometimes I think children are like dogs and just need a really good, long run around, then they are fine.

Anna took the photo above and below, and I especially like this one she snapped of the four of us holding hands. I wish I'd worn stripes too.

Cornwall, Part 1

I would really like to share some of my favourite moments from our recent week in West Cornwall.  For us, holidays like this come once a year and are special - much anticipated before and savoured afterwards. I'll limit myself to two posts, with three days in each, and apologise now for the number of photos. In my defence it really is the most stunning corner of our country, wild and remote but buzzing with people and culture at the same time.

*****

Saturday: St Ives

The view as we walked from the station (we'd chosen to use the park and ride as parking is a nightmare) down into St Ives. It was an overcast, warm, hazy sort of day. You could tell it was going to be hot later.

Our visit to Tate St Ives, which happily coincided with a rain shower and made us feel smug about our (accidental) good timing. It's an excellent gallery, incredibly child friendly and small enough for us to feel we'd seen it properly without spending too long inside. 

A very nice lunch in the gallery cafe (a delicious crab salad open sandwich for me) and drinking beer at lunchtime which is allowed when you're on holiday.

Emerging from the gallery into bright sunshine and views of English summertime.

The way the palm trees and white sand made me feel as though we were really, properly, On Holiday.

Good shopping and massive, aggressive seagulls. I was constantly going back and forth between thinking how much I love the sound of seagulls, and how they are really a bloody menace.

*****

Sunday: Kynance Cove

I absolutely loved this information sign at the start of the path down to the beach, carved from wood. It was wonderfully warm and tactile, and was clearly designed to be touched as well as read.

The walk from the car park down to the beach. You can see the cafe there, nestled into the rock. Views everywhere you look.

We were glad we arrived at the cove so early, when it was relatively quiet because, by midday, you could not move. There was barely room to put down a towel or groundsheet. Kynance is certainly not a local secret anymore, but it's no less beautiful for that.

Watching these two chase the waves. Not quite brave enough to swim in the cold surf, they were instead content to spend most of the day running back and forth between shallows and shore, splashing and shrieking. 

*****

Monday: Godrevy Lighthouse and Trevaskis Farm

The wildness of the coastline here - just incredibly, bleakly beautiful, even on a grey day.

I love a lighthouse. There's just something about them.

 Rocks and pools and excellent rock pooling.

Angus insisting that he would wear socks with his Crocs, even though we were clearly on a beach. Strange, stubborn boy. Watching the kids enjoy being on the beach doing the exact same things that I did when I was a child.

Watching these two wade out into the water when is was frankly pretty nippy. Mad or brave, I'm not sure. Then making it back to the car just as the heavens opened and it absolutely poured with rain. We were again smug about our (accidental) good timing.

Lunch and a sunny afternoon at a really nice local farm. I was reminded again at how simple children's needs often are. After a morning spent peering in rock pools and drawing in the sand, they were content to spend the afternoon looking at animals. And I admired the sweet peas.

We picked strawberries that grew from those waist-high planters, a first for us.

Our local strawberry PYO is a squat in the field kind of get up, nothing like this. I think I'd rather be out in the open air than in a polytunnel though. 

They were very nice strawberries though. We had Eton Mess for pudding that night, and quite a few went in the Pimms.

Sunday Night Happies

Well hello! Gosh, it feels like I've been away for a longer than a week. Thank you for all your good wishes and bon voyage messages, we really did have the most wonderful holiday. We got back last night, hence the lateness of my usually regular Friday Happies post. It's especially nice to be sitting here when I should be mentally preparing for the week ahead, but instead looking back over the week we've just had, relishing the last dregs of holiday feeling.

So, in a bumper week of happy and carefree moments, when the biggest decisions to be made were where to go and what to eat, here are some that really stood out as extra specially good.

1. The house we rented. Look at it! It's like one of those perfectly symmetrical pictures of houses that children draw, with everything so evenly proportioned and well balanced.

Yes, I know, the house is just the base for the holiday, and we were out all day every day, but it charmed me. It had space for eight people to live alongside each other happily for a week, and comfy beds, and really nice bedding, and fantastic hot showers... It also had a sociable kitchen-dining room - here it is, below, on the day we arrived, all tidy - and, when the children were in bed, this is where us four adults would chat, pour drinks, cook and eat, listen to music and laugh a lot. Happy times.

 2. Meeting Leanne and her son Olly at Godrevy Lighthouse. She is just as you'd imagine her to be; warm, funny, lovely, chatty and with a very dry sense of humour. It was so good to be able to meet her, given that we live so far apart, and I'm sorry that we didn't have longer to talk. Children, cliff edges and high winds make for a conversation of many broken sentences.

That was the only day we had bad weather, but it didn't stop us being awed by the West Cornwall coastline and enjoying some excellent rock pooling.

 3. That cream tea I had at Kynance Cove. For a start, it is an exceptionally pretty beach - a tiny bay, accessible by foot, surrounded by cliffs and rocks and the bluest water you're likely to see in England. 

It also has a rather lovely cafe and, after a day on the beach, we made a detour there for sustenance to give us energy for the long climb back up to the car park. A cream tea with a view. I was practically levitating.

4. We were wandering around Penzance, browsing the shops in a leisurely, touristy fashion, when we came across a tiny shop specialising in vintage mid-century Scandinavian homewares. (Yes, really!) It was amazing. Many things were well out of my price range but I spied this flask across the shop and my heartbeat sped up and I just sort of fell in love with it, with the bold colour and geometric pattern. The little label just said "Swedish Flask, £8". Sold.

5. I've been busy stitching all holiday. Just before we left, my Instagram friend Jennie Maizels - who is an incredibly talented artist and illustrator - had been sharing her holiday diary, recording her impressions of each day in a beautifully illustrated journal. 

Now, I can't draw, but I love to sew, and it planted the seed of an idea for my own holiday diary. One motif or image a day, to be chosen at the end of the day and stitched in the evenings, which would create one large picture with thread. 

I can't begin to tell you how much I loved doing this - the thinking and planning, the drawing, the choosing of colours and type of stitch...all pure pleasure for me. This pretty much hi-jacked any other projects or books or magazines I'd planned to do or read. I'll show you it in full when it's complete. I still have to finish some of the lettering. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll see that I shared each motif as I did them, and that dialogue and feedback was so much fun.

 

Someone suggested I let the children draw and stitch their own holiday memories too. A lovely idea, and one we started today. This is Bella's. I'm so proud of her! All her own drawing and sewing (look at her satin stitch!) and I'm only required to thread the needle. She hasn't really clicked with crochet or knitting but this kind of sewing has captured her imagination.

And this is Angus's picture memory. He drew it all but it became apparent quite quickly that he wasn't going to sew any of it. I thought I'd just go over the outline with back stitch but Angus had other ideas, directing me in a bossy fashion ("Make the lighthouse stripey, Mummy, stripey. And do seaweed on the rock. More seaweed.") He comes to check on my progress. It's a little bit intimidating, to be honest.

We'll finish our holiday stitching over the next few weeks and then frame them. I'll show you more later, I promise.

*****

I'll put together a more coherent holiday post soon, just as soon as I've waded through all the photos I took and caught up on everything I'm behind on; washing, ironing, housework, blog reading, emails. I'm behind on a lot of things.