Our Cornish Adventure...

After the news of Tuesday, it was wonderful to get away on Wednesday. To head to a beautiful part of the country, to catch up with good friends, to just spend time enjoying my little family and being together.

We had such a lovely time... of course, no holiday of ours would be complete without a trip to a local National Trust property, and the beautiful Lanhydrock did not disappoint. It was a wonderful concoction of stunning, fascinating, hands-on and informative. Ava enjoyed following the pumpkin trail around the vast rooms, Heidi loved trudging around and being given freedom to explore, we enjoyed the fact that there was enough to keep the children amused that we could actually appreciate the history, and soak it all in. It was a living, breathing museum; you had the feeling the family had popped out; and we all left the house raving about it.

After a bite to eat, we enjoyed an autumnal wander through the estate; Heidi having a doze in her buggy, and Ava collecting enough chestnuts for us to roast that evening. The fog was thick, but it only added to the atmosphere and it was a lovely time of chatting, and walking and just appreciating God's beautiful creation.

We returned home with two tired girls to a wonderful homemade Thai feast (thanks Dave and Victoria) and enjoyed an evening spent in front of a wood burning fire with a bag of roast chestnuts to devour.

The next morning, the fog had lifted, and even better, the sun had come out! So we headed to Crantock beach for a morning of wave-chasing, kite-flying and sandcastle building. It was the girls first proper beach experience (within their memories) and after an initial uncertainty on Heidi's part about the feel of the sand beneath her toes, both girl's were in their element. There is nothing like gazing out on an open sea to have a new sense of perspective. Somehow I seem small before the vast ocean, and it leaves me awestruck and thankful.

We packed up our things, dusted off our sandy toes and travelled down to Mevagissey for a cream tea lunch and an afternoon exploring this beautiful little fishing port. Ice-cream, little shops, crabbing, moseying round a little museum... you name it, we did it! The girls loved the crabbing, watching the little creatures swimming round our bucket before returning them safely to the water and we rounded off the evening with fish and chips under a starry night sky wrapped up in our cosy coats overlooking the harbour.

It was a wonderful couple of days... a literal and figurative breath of fresh air, and we're so thankful to our lovely friends for having us to visit...

... we will be back!

One happy traveller!