What to do in Cornwall in the rain!

What do you do in Cornwall with a 23yr old daughter, a 19yr old son and two small dogs? You get out and DOOO things! Here is our list of places we visited in Cornwall in gale force winds in March 2015.

Day 1:

Weather: Horrendous! 80 mile an hour winds and rain!

Healey’s Cyder Farm

Sat Nav – TR4 9LW – off the A3075 at Penhallow.  I’m sure this WOULD have been great IF we had arrived A) on a week day when the factory was operating and B) in time for one of the 2 hours tours. As it was we paid £6.50 per person to walk around an empty factory and cider farm. Pretty but NOT worth £19.50. Not without actually SEEING the factory working. Huge car park and a nice shop/tasting shop but again, not worth the money on a Sunday. GO ON A WEEK DAY AND MAKE SURE YOU GET ON A TOUR!  

Driftwood Spars Pub – Sat Nav – TR5 0RT – 01872 552 428 –Pg 155 of The Good Pug Guide (2012 version!) (horrible website…must offer to build them a new one!)  This little pub is a total gem. You feel as if you are in a smuggler’s cove in the cosy bar downstairs. Make sure you book. We had a Sunday lunch and it was fab. The locals were really friendly to us as was the barman. I could have stayed there all day (let’s be honest, all holiday!).  Although not open when we got there we could see a brewery and it was RIGHT by a beach. It was raining hard and blowing a gale so we didn’t visit. Car Park run by the pub directly opposite.

Day 2:

Weather: Miserable – wind and rain oh and fog, lots of fog!

Porthleven

Pretty little village that we just about saw through the fog. I’m sure if it had been nice we would have stopped at Rick Stein’s place or indeed the Ship Inn. A car park in the centre and plenty of places to eat, drink and a pretty harbour.

St Michael’s Mount

Tried to go to the Mount but..you got it….bad weather. HOWEVER we discovered the Godolphin Hotel with this most AMAZING view of the mount. We were sent downstairs (we had the dogs with us) and sat having a cream tea looking at the Mount (through the driving rain you understand.)

Day 3:

Weather: NO RAIN!! – SUN! HURRAH!

Mevagissy

Parked in the ‘Willows’ Car park (£2 for 3 hours) or (£3 for 2 hours, not sure!). Walked the few minutes into town and …. Wow! Pretty! The harbour is lovely; walked all the way to the end and down to the beach on the LHS.  Back to the shops and had lunch in the Harbour Tavern. Now on first sight this doesn’t look good; it’s on the front, how could it be good? IT IS!! Lovely huge scrubbed pine tables and a great menu. We went with the specials of pan-fried scallops and chorizo salad, the kids had Moules with thick chunks of bread. Dogs had a great time playing with a little jack Russell.

Portloe

I used to come here every summer as a child (as did my father before me) so this was something of a ‘trip down memory lane’.  We had a drink in the Lugger Hotel which is gorgeous and smart and way out of our price range for a full stay! As a child it was where we went for a ‘coke and a crab sandwich’ and I was thrilled to be able to share this memory with my children and raise a glass to my now deceased father.

King Harry Ferry

‘Where shall we go now?’ the kids said….I know, the King Harry Ferry! A quick chat with the receptionist confirmed it was a 20 min drive and would take us over to Trelissick. Off we set and were NOT disappointed. First time my children had ever been on such a car ferry. For £6 we had a smooth and quick 5 min journey and a great view down the Fal.

Loe Beach

Immediately off the ferry you come to a cross-roads….’Truro or Loe Beach’…off to the beach we went and OMG we were not disappointed. It felt as if we had found a tiny piece of heaven. The most wonderful flat beach, with crystal clear water, looking out onto the River Fal. We had chocolate cake and coffee at the Beach Café…heavenly.

Day 4:

Weather: Dull but dry

St Ives

Despite a quick ‘Day 1’ trip into St Ives we hadn’t done it properly so on day 4 we went back. Parking was £4 for 2-3 hours in the car park by the Tate Museum. We walked into St Ives and pootled into all the shops. Not a very dog friendly place so we ended up having a pasty on a bench overlooking the harbour. Nice.

Penzance/Newlyn

We didn’t know what to do after St Ives so thought we’d take a drive to Penzance/Newly/Mousehole.  Mousehole looked sweet but frankly the other two were not for us. Am sure some people love it and apologies to those that live there but it wasn't for us.

So that’s our trip. Cut short because our clothes were feeling slightly damp and we longed to be warm and dry back home! Would I come to Cornwall again (oh and I’ve been here 1,000+ times already), yes, but ONLY when I could see the weather was good!

Tomorrow we are heading home and I can’t wait!

ENDS                                                                                                                             April 2015