This post is all about our summer holiday in Cornwall. Great walks, picturesque little villages, white sandy beaches and lots of fresh air. Of course it wouldn’t be a summer holiday in Cornwall if you didn’t enjoy the odd Cornish cream tea too!
Welcome to our recap of our summer holiday in Cornwall where Lady Lynne and I spent the first two weeks of September relaxing and spending some quality time together.
So without further ado, let’s get started!
Summer Holiday in Cornwall – Ruthern Valley
Keeping everything low cost was on the agenda this year for our summer holiday in Cornwall and so we chose two camp sites, with camping pods, the first being at Ruthern Valley.
We had all our camping gear (folding beds, stove, cooking utensils, mini fridge etc.) with us and cooked every night, except for one.
You know, in hindsight folks, I probably should have named this post, or written a separate one called “how to have a low cost camping holiday” or something like that.
I could have included our camping menu. Our different frittata breakfasts or our one pot evening meals dissected to show you how we’re economising, even on holiday, to save for our Hawaii trip next year.
But hindsight’s a wonderful thing isn’t it?
Anyway, so using our first campsite as a base we were able to tour part of Cornwall and visit Padstow.
Now, above stands a man (me 🙂 ) who has been a huge fan of the chef Rick Stein for many years.
Rick started his culinary career in Padstow in 1975 and has since then become a famous celebrity chef with many successful business to his name.
One of those businesses is his cookery school also in Padstow, under where I’m standing.
Another is his famous Seafood Restaurant, the first business he started of which our summer holiday in Cornwall would not have been complete without a visit to and dinner there.
That was only time we ate out, on this holiday. Pricey, but worth it! And a tick off the bucket list!
Now, I highly recommend the monkfish goan curry and Lady Lynne recommends the fillet of hake en papillote with tomato and fennel 😉
There’s still a small fishing fleet within the harbour at Padstow. As seen above.
However most of the boats are for taking tourists out on sea “safaris” or private rod fishing.
Cornwall is full of lots of fantastic cliff path walks and views of the sea.
We walked a mere handful of these walks.
And we definitely want to come back in the future to do more!
We’d driven to Padstow for our first visit and for dinner that same evening.
However, it was also possible to walk there, along an old railway line called “The Camel Trail”.
The walk was very near to our campsite and that’s how we made our return visit.
The walk there and back was just over twenty miles in total.
It took us 7 hours round trip.
It was great to spend the day just walking through lots of woods, listening to nature and stretching our legs after having spent 3 days in the car.
On our return from Padstow we stopped in this village, Wadebridge.
It was an opportunity for me to sample a pint of local ale and Lynne, a cold glass of cyder.
Cyder being another thing that Cornwall is well known for!
Although we saw our fair share of grey skies whilst on our summer holiday in Cornwall, all in all it remained reasonably dry.
It looks like it’s raining in Newquay (above), it wasn’t it was just windy and grey as we watched the surfers.
Our worst day for rain was just one day where it rained solid. We took the car that day and had a tour of Healeys Cornish Cyder Farm where Lynne enjoyed more cyder and I had my first Cornish cream tea. 🙂
Summer Holiday in Cornwall – Tollgate Farm
After 5 days spent at Ruthern Valley we drove a short distance down the coast to our next camping pod at Tollgate Farm,
Tollgate farm was only an hours drive away, which was good as it meant rather than driving all day to get to the place, we could do some more touring.
Before arriving at our new camping pod home we drove to the nearby and walkable village of Perranporth.
Perranporth is a surfers paradise, and later on, as you’ll see has those beautiful white sandy beaches that I mentioned in the intro.
Our first camping pod in Ruthern Valley was excellent. It was situated in a wood, peaceful and tranquil with basic facilities inside (an electric socket and a lamp).
The next campsite, Tollgate farm was on the coast.
And, this time we had a LUXURY camping pod (above) that had a bed settee, microwave, kettle and TV in it. To say I loved this place was an understatement.
Plus the Wi-fi was so good that you could watch movies on it! Obviously that wasn’t what we were on holiday for though…….. 😉
An hours drive away from Tollgate farm was the Launceston Steam Railway.
Naturally, ANY steam or heritage type railway line is something that I have to investigate whenever I’m on holiday.
I’ve always been obsessed with the railways since I was little!
The main line railway from London to Launceston closed in 1966.
Later a group of railway enthusiasts bought the grounds and old trackbed to establish this narrow gauge railway as a tourist attraction.
Originally it started out with only half a mile of track but has now has been extended to two and a half miles.
It’s definitely a worthwhile trip through some classic Cornwall countryside!
At Launceston Steam Railway they’ve got four little narrow gauge engines.
This one above, Lilian was one of many such engines that used to haul quarry stones and slate around in the 1800’s.
And then there’s the fantastic Cornish cream teas that the little cafe at the railway makes, my second! 🙂
Delicious home made scones with fresh strawberry jam and a dollop (or “gert” as they call it in Cornwall) of clotted cream.
With a refreshing pot of tea. Fantastic!
Our final days were spent relaxing and walking up and down those long white sand beaches which Cornwall is so famous far.
On that particular walk above we were joined by a Royal Naval helicopter on manoeuvres. That’s the dot above Lynne’s head. The area to the right being Ministry of Defence property.
Very entertaining to watch!
We found this natural fresh water spring at the end of one of the beach walks, just at the food of the cliffs.
There looked like there were some interesting caves you could have once explorer which is where Lynne is headed, but there were closed by padlocked gates.
Perhaps these were once caves where smugglers would have hidden valuable items like brandy or tea, to avoid paying taxes!
Ha ha, the chilled unshaven holiday look of yours truly above!
In fact in many of the other “rare” photographs of me here on the blog I’m probably wearing roughly the same outdoor gear.
Well, us Taureans love nature and the outdoors don’t you know?
Then there’s Lynne above.
As a Sagittarius apparently they’re full of energy and life. Perhaps not at this moment. 😆
Anyway, I don’t know if you believe in that sort of stuff. Someone mentioned those traits to me at one time!
Looking along the beach we walked on, from the cliffs just above Perranporth, you get this stunning view.
Unfortunately, this day, the waves weren’t particularly high enough for the surfers, which are the bodies of people you see to the right.
But, they’re braver than me and Lynne for embracing that sea temperature, albeit with a wet suit!
Finally, a view again of that beach in the penultimate photograph, but from further along a coastal path we got started on.
One that we’ll have to return to complete in the future……….
Folks, thanks for reading through all of this and joining Lynne and I on our summer holiday in Cornwall highlights, which we hope you enjoyed!
For us, life isn’t about having lots of things or excessive wealth. Those things don’t make make us happy.
Happiness comes from new experiences such as this summer holiday in Cornwall not material objects!
HASHTAG CAMPING POD. Did it have windows? I would imagine it would get quite dark. Also, those scones, talk about rise!
Another stunning trip, and I love that you both are so econimical about the excursions–spending money in all the right places (though I am curious as to the nonluxury pods, lol).
Yeah the camping had a window at the back and patio doors at the front. The one in the photograph had a larger window at the back because you could open that to get a sea breeze. The one we were at first only had a very small window because it was in a forest and there were squirrels about and they could have got in!
Those scones were AMAZING! In fact I don’t think I could live in Cornwall because I’d enjoy them so much and possibly become the size of a house. 😆
The nonluxury pods really were nonluxury. A lamp and an electric socket. We took beds and everything else for that one.
I so love yours and Lady Lynne’s life philosophy! I subscribe to the same one myself. I simply love how y’all are economizing even when y’all are on holiday so y’all can enjoy Hawaii next year!
Neil, I’m always mesmerized by your travel photos – these are no exception – the views in each of them is stunning! And now I know what a ” Cornish cream tea” is – it isn’t just the tea – it’s a meal! So please disregard my other comment. Those scones look heavenly! And, even though am not a huge fan of camping, if I had a camping pod, i’d be game! 🙂
I’d love to be able to put the full size photographs up on the blog Shashi, because I think like me, you would just stare at them all day!
But, the posts would never download with that size of image. 😆
You would love Cornish Cream team. But come to Scotland and I’ll make you a traditional Scottish High Tea. That’s scones and plates of cakes. 🙂
After our tent just about blowing away, which you’ll remember I wrote about in the Ben Nevis Weekend post? We decided camping pods were a safer and easier holiday accommodation option!