Day 1 – Travel to Cornwall

We decided back in February that it was unlikely we would be going abroad this summer because of Covid (and didn’t want the stress of wondering whether our holiday would be cancelled or dealing with all the testing) so we booked a couple of UK breaks for the summer before everywhere became fully booked.

Our first break was to Cornwall as we hadn’t visited for a few years. I hadn’t checked the dates and late Friday evening we had a call from the owner of our holiday cottage asking where we were……I thought our holiday started on Saturday!!!! So we set the alarm super early for Saturday morning so we could head down to our cottage and make the most of the day. Our cottage was near Launceston so only about 2.5 hours from our house and we arrived about 12.30pm.

The cottage was beautiful – it was a converted barn on the owners land with 2 bedrooms downstairs and a kitchen & living area upstairs.

Crackington Haven Beach

After being shown around the property we wanted to go and explore a local beach. It was grey and miserable but the owners recommended we visited Crackington Haven as it was only 20 minutes away. We followed the route the Sat Nav gave us which was mostly along narrow lanes with grass growing in the middle and the bushes touching the wing mirrors on each side!

We also drove through the most horrendous rainstorm but as we arrived the cloud seemed to have disappeared from the coast and the weather was absolutely beautiful.

Tom & Izzy hadn’t really eaten lunch so we bought them a sausage roll each from the beach café and Stu and I shared a cheese and onion pasty which was really good. The kids had also found some buckets and spades at our cottage so carried them down the beach to the rocky area so they could do some digging!

It wasn’t long before Tom & Izzy were in the sea. The sea was freezing compared to the waters of New Jersey last summer. Luckily the sun kept us warm. Most people were wearing wetsuits although there were a group of people who were wearing long flowing white dressing so we think they were doing Instagram snaps in the water.

We returned to the beach café for ice cream before driving to Tesco to buy our supplies and head home for the evening.

Day 2 – Boscastle and Tintagel

Boscastle

The next morning we got up quite early, made our packed lunches and headed to Boscastle for a coastal hike. The weather was forecast to be miserable so we took all our wet weather kit. We parked in the town and walked towards the historic harbour which was really pretty. Luckily it wasn’t raining so we were able to take our time and explore.

When we arrived at the harbour the tide was out so we were able to walk down onto the beach area. The walkway was covered in seaweed and very slippery so I stayed at the top (as I have a habit of falling over).

We returned to the path and found an area of rocks which provided us with some lovely photo opportunities.

We noticed that there was a structure at the top of the hill so decided to hike up and see what it was. It was a nice path with no steep drops into the sea so we all felt pretty safe! Izzy became our tour guide and gave us a running commentary as we walked and we also passed some horses who were there to eat the wild flowers and brambles to maintain the landscape.

The structure turned out to be a coastguard watch tower. The views were stunning but it was really windy.

Tom and Izzy played on the rocks for a few minutes before we set off back down to the harbour – finding a geo-cache on route. As we neared the harbour the rain came in so we huddled next to some rocks until it passed.

It didn’t last long so we followed the walkway along the other side of the harbour. We had to walk along quite a narrow wall with a drop on one side. We got about half way before the rain started again so we decided to head back to the car (buying the kids some sausage rolls on route) and drive over to Tintagel Castle.

Tintagel Castle

We had booked tickets online for 1.30pm and as we are members of Scottish Heritage they were free. When we arrived at Tintagel the rain was really heavy so we sat in the car for about 30 minutes until it stopped. We then walked down the steep path to the entrance of the castle where they had a one way system in place.

Since we last visited Tintagel they have built a new footbridge across the rocks. I was fine walking across it until Tom pointed out you could see all the way down through the gaps in the floor. Also when we got to the centre of the bridge he jumped up and down to make it wobble!

We then decided to recreate a brilliant photo we took of Izzy about 4 years ago in 2017 where she was in a mood with us but it looked like she was admiring the view from the castle windows!

^{Recreating old photos!}

The views from Tintagel are beautiful. We watched a wildlife spotting boat down below us but couldn’t figure out what they were looking at. We also walked to the statue of King Author which is on the headland before walking down the steps to the beach below.

We went into Merlin’s cave and Tom & Izzy wanted to try and walk all the way through. They spent ages playing on the rocks but unfortunately I think they were annoying a couple of people who were trying to take photos of themselves as they were in the background.

We then went and played on the beach before walking up the really steep hill back to the car.

Day 3 – Land’s End and Sennen Cove

Every time we visit Cornwall we venture to Land’s End. Although we do not really like the complex the coastal scenery is beautiful. We wanted to spend some time on the beach so we parked at Land’s End and walked the coastal path to Sennen Cove. The views are really rugged and because the sun was shining the sea looked really blue.

It wasn’t a difficult walk and we reached the beach in just over half an hour. Tom and Izzy were straight in the sea and and enjoying the waves.

Eventually they came out of the sea and found a stream of water which they spent ages building damns in whilst Stu and I went for a walk to the far end of the beach where it was much quieter.

It was getting really hot so we decided to buy ice creams before heading back to the car.

Day 4 – Watergate Bay

Unfortunately Stu had to work today so I decided to take the kids to Watergate Bay for some more beach time. I had toyed with the idea of taking a boat to the Scilly Isles for the day but worried we would find it all a bit too much.

We arrived at about 10am as I didn’t know how early the car park would fill up and set ourselves up on the beach. It was a bit misty but the sun was trying to break through so Tom and Izzy went off to play in the sea.

It wasn’t my favourite beach (very busy and I hadn’t realised it was a dog friendly beach) so after spending time in the sea Tom and Izzy played on the sand for a while before we headed back to the cottage.