More Cornwall catch up.....

Believe it or not, we did actually have some lovely weather in Cornwall this year, albeit the first weekend. So in our excitement, we headed off to the beach bucket and spade in hand (plus windbreaks, blankets, tent, cool box, etc., etc., etc.!)

I really can't think of anywhere else in the country that is as beautiful as Porthtowan beach with the tide out and the sun shining. it really is beautful with lots of wonderful sand to walk along and admire the views.

Leah loved building sandcastles - and knocking them over - with her Grandad and splashing about in the sea with her Daddy. Even Evie had a paddle, but it was a little too cold for her little tootsies.

It really was lovely and I can't wait until our visit again next year. What made it better was that it was Richard's birthday, so he went for lunch in Blue bar leaving Anna, Evie and myself to relax - as you can see. She was soundo!

Horse and pony riding in Cornwall

Whilst we were away we visited a place called Dairyland, near Newquay, so the children had something to do other than look around places with us.

One of the activities they could do was to have a pony ride, so of course it was the first thing we did.

Leah was really excited even before getting on the pony....

....and even more so once she was in the saddle. She loved it! Teh pony was called Muffin and was very cute. Look at her excited little face!

She really enjoyed it.

And William did too!

A week later it was my turn and I went riding at Mount Pleasant riding stables in Porthtowan, just up the road from where we stay.

I rode a piebald mare called Phoebe who was very girly! She was a lovely ride and very comfortable too.

We rode over the cliffs over looking the beach and the views were breathtaking.

Say 'Cheese!'

Evie and me!

Whilst we were away Richard took this picture of Evie and I, and I couldn't resist showing you. I think she looks sooooo cute!

I have plenty more holiday pics to share, I just have to find a few spare minutes to sort through them.

I took this one of Leah, I think the face says it all - she was not amused!

Cornwall part four - Lanhydrock

While we are away we always try to visit some National Trust houses and gardens, so this year we weny to Lanhydrock near Bodmin.

It really was a great house to visit and you could look in almost 50 rooms! That is a lot to see.

I'll leave you with some pictures.

Cornwall 2009 - Part three, St. Ives

Here we are are in St. Ives, one of our favourite places. We always visit at least once! If you can see the board in the photo advertising Ghost Walks, well we took part on one of those quite a few years ago and it was really good, but not very scary! More a tour around the back streets in the dark.

We had a nice lunch in the Seafood cafe and it was yummy! I had a really tasty fish stew with some delicious bread.

There were rib rides taking place from the harbour, so we took a photo of the people on their way out. rather them than me, I'm sure they got wet!

We took a walk along the harbour wall - I wonder what they can see? (see later pictures)

This is the view across the water to the other side of the harbour......

......and this is the other view where you can see Porthminster beach. it looks beautiful.

This is what they spied, a cheeky seal. I wonder if it is the same one I blogged about last year??

Cornwall part two - the cider farm and the beach

We visited the local cider farm to taste all the jams and chutneys and to see the animals.

There is 'Stumpy' the highland cow,

some cute pigmy goats,

and some pigglies!

In the afternoon we went to Porthtowan beach as Leah was dying to get into the sea. She just loved it!

What a shame the tide was coming in - as the beach is much more beautiful when you can see the glorious sands. This isn't too bad a view anyway.

Cornwall 2009 - part one - Pendennis Castle, Falmouth

We decided to take a trip into Falmouth on the first Sunday, to do a bit of shopping and to have a look around.

We picked up some pasties and sausage rolls to have for a picnic later that day. As we were going to visit Pendennis Castle we thought we'd have the picnic there (or 'picpic'as Leah calls it).

There wasn't much eating going on really.....

.....more messing about!

Here is a lovely photo of the Castle....

We carefully climbed up the spiral staircases to reach the battlements at the top. The views are fantastic from up there.

You can see across the Fal estuary to see St Mawes castle.....

.....what a stunning view of the sea- and lots of big boats moored up.

Leah and I didn't make it right to the top, mainly because I am the one who has to carry her up there! Instead we went back down and Rich took a picture of us from the top (zoomed in to the max!)

Back from our hols....

Sorry for not being about for the last two weeks or so, luckily we have been enjoying ourselves in sunny Cornwall!

Funnily enough we stayed in exactly the same place as Lissy Lou and the Two Little Boys so it is well worth popping by her blog to see what she was up to.

We have a new camera, so I have to get to grips with that before being able to post on some of our photos. Please be patient, as Richard is also planning a quiz this Saturday night, so he's been hogging the laptop in the evenings!

Wheal Coates - a Cornish tin mine....

Where we stay in Cornwall has lots of historical tin mine remains, and below is one of them. (For those of you that often see tin mine images from Cornwall - Wheal Coates is one that you will probably be familiar with.

It is protected by The National Trust - although free to visit - and the views out to the Atlantic Ocean are fantastic.




You can walk right down to the mine, but as it was very windy when we visited, we gave that a miss this time!



Here are Leah & I posing by part of the old bulidings - just before it poured down with rain-

and here is another part of the old ruins - what could be some kind of shaft? - I'm not quite sure!

What a spectacular view!

I see a seal.....??

This was taken last Thursday in St. Ives when I was TRYING to get Leah to have a nap before dinner. Everyone else was going for a drink so I volunteered to walk around with her in her pushchair to see if she would nod off.

We (well I) decided to walk along the pier/harbour wall to see what I could see and I spotted a seal! I have seen them here before and it is quite common for them to swim into the harbour when the tide is high.

They really have cute faces, don't you think? Anyway this one was following in a fishing boat (clever little seal) and he did manage to get a few mackerel thrown his way!

You can see him (sorry, or her) waiting in anticipation here, almost like a dog! So cute!!

Jasper - Cornwall on a wet and windy ride!

Here I am horse riding last Tuesday, looking dry for the moment. Would you believe that 5 minutes after this photo was taken the heavens well and truly opened! I still had a good ride and Jasper looked after me well, he was such a sweet horse.

Here I am afterwards, looking a bit bedraggled but happy - as always :o)

Cornwall '08 - boat trip part two.....

We made a quick detour to the pasty shop (of course) before embarking on our trip, but I don't think Leah was that inpressed with it. I can't make out whether she was trying to escape from the pasty or her Daddy... Richard is enjoying it anyhow :o)

Here is my little monkey (Leah, not Richard) pulling her 'face' that she finds highly amusing at the moment. She does it when she's in a funny mood, if she doesn't want to eat any more, if something tastes different to what she expected or if you ask her to 'do the look' - more or less for anything really! You can see see she is enjoying her crisps - Organic of course LOL!

Cornwall '08 - boat trip part one.....

Here is a picture of me and my Dad on the boat trip we took from Falmouth along the Helford river on the first Sunday in Cornwall. It was a little choppy on the sea out of the harbour, but nothing too bad. As you can see it was a bit windy too! We had a great trip and leah seemed to like it too, although she wanted to walk on deck, but it was a LITTLE bit dangerous, seeing as she could have fallen overboard...

I got Mum to take this picture just to demonstrate how windy it actually was. I think the picture is rather fetching, don't you think LOL! Not one of my best poses! It was worth the laugh anyway :o)

A week and a half 'till holiday!!

Can you believe it's only a week and a half until we go to Cornwall again - yippee!! it doesn't seem like a year since we were last there.

Those of you that know me well, know that I go to Cornwall EVERY year without fail with my family. We stay in a village called Porthtowan on the North coast near to St. Agnes. We are spending two weeks there and I just hope the weather is good to us, I want to get on that beautiful beach.

One of our favourite places to visit is St. Ives and we have a meal booked for the Thursday night at a restaurant called Alba which is situated on the harbour. We always pass it when we visit so thought we might as well eat there this year.

The worst part is getting there - a 330 mile drive, leaving at 3am - yikes! Well at least it misses the traffic. I wish i was there now rather than sitting at my desk at work LOL!