Postcards from Cornwall
We are finally home after a six day camping stretch near Fowey, and thrilled to have missed the worst of the weather, and to be able to make a cup of tea at the touch of a button. I miss very little about home when we are away (mostly because we take almost everything with us) but oh my goodness, I miss an electric kettle.
Highlights:
- Stopping at Coombeshead Farm on the drive down. They don’t have a cafe any more so we couldn’t have lunch there, but it is worth it for the styling of the farm shop.
-The Hall Walk up Pont Pill, looping around Polruan and Fowey. A gentle walk, even on a hot day, but we were more than ready for the incredible lunch at the Captain Hank's Crab Shack in Fowey (even for the 45 minute wait for food, it was absolutely worth it).
-St Kew Farm Shop. On Wednesday, my husband went for a gruelling bike ride across Bodmin Moor. Me and the dogs went to drink tea at St Kew Farm Shop. This was the day that two people had to be rescued by helicopter off the moor because of the weather. I also had to leave my table and go and rescue the husband. The weather was filthy and, when we managed to reunite and get back to the farm shop, he drank the only hot chocolate I have ever seen him order. After that, he stopped shaking, and managed to put away some of the loveliest food I have had for a while. I recommend going light on the main, and leave room for a peanut butter brownie.
-Miracle Theatre. They are always such fun, and I adore this production of Love Riot. Set in the beautiful Cardinham Woods, and accompanied by a wonderful picnic (no small thanks to St Kew Farm Shop - see above, great ciabatta from Da Bara)
-I am not sure if this is a recommendation, because it was brutal. I can walk twenty miles on the flat, but I am rubbish at hills, and this clifftop, coastal adventure did have a lot of hills. The National Trust directions call this ‘a rollercoaster of a walk’, which I didn’t know before I started, However, if you want to get a sense of real achievement in less that three hours (it was about seven miles, but hard miles) with an ice cream at the end, I suppose I would recommend. We parked at Polruan and walked to Polperro, stopping on a headland for a picnic. I am generally allergic to tupperware so the picnic was almost exclusively packed in glass jars, which also meant that, like the favourite in the Grand National, my husband has something of a weight handicap. He carried the bag, but I had the spaniel, so we sort of evened out in the end. Except that he ran back to get the Land Rover and came to pick us all up. Polperro was far too busy to be much fun, although we found a bench in a quiet area of the harbour and that was a very peaceful hour indeed.
-After a little sit down and a lot of rehydration, a last night celebration posh dinner at Appletons, back in Fowey. There is something wonderful about indulging after a hard physical day and I am not sorry to confess that I added a side plate of arancini to the start of the meal. It was insanely good. This would also be my overall recommendation for a camping trip; somewhere near the end, schedule in a really special meal. By that point, you will be bored of all the effort it takes to cater, and it will give you a reason to scrub up. You’ll need it.
-Ok, so we had a lovely dinner on the last night, and then a wonderful pit stop for the husband’s birthday on the way home. The Bull Inn Totnes, obviously. If I could only eat in one place for the rest of my life, it would probably be here. In fact, we spent most of the lunch planning how we could come back and stay overnight…
Other exciting things that happened, we stopped at Colwith Farm Shop for emergency supplies on the first night and the husband came out with armfuls of beer and eggs. He had accidentally chosen duck eggs, and after the third breakfast of them poached on sourdough, he declared himself converted. He is now behind Project Duck.
