A long journey! (July 2021)

With the pandemic still looming and casting doubt over foreign holidays, it felt like the perfect time to take a short break in the UK - which does, of course, have many beautiful areas that only really lack the Mediterranean climate. I decided on Cornwall, which turned into a lovely family break because my son, who had just finished university, and my daughter, who was taking a break before starting a new job, were free to come along too.

We decided to take the train down, which was a long journey from the Northwest of England and took nearly eight hours in total, including a couple of changes at Birmingham New Street and Plymouth. The last part of the trip was quite scenic, though, taking in some of the south coast.

We stayed in a small lodge, that was booked through Air B and B, in the little village of St Erth (the nearest town being Hayle). St Erth is the perfect location for exploring some of the most popular areas of Cornwall, as it is about a ten-minute journey by train to St Ives in one direction and Penzance in the other. The other great thing was that our accommodation was literally a couple of minutes’ walk from the train station.

Obviously, most of the first day of our holiday was spent travelling, and we didn’t arrive at the lodge until after 6pm. However, there were one or two country pubs within a 20-minute radius, so we decided to try the lovely and quaint Watermill pub. This pub was built in the late 1700s and operated as a grain mill before later being converted and used to pump water to Trevethow Manor and the village reservoir. It then became a riding stable, a tearoom, and finally the great pub it is today that serves delicious food!