At the end of August, we squeezed a little holiday to Cornwall in. We wanted to surprise my family and kept costs down by camping. This was a little nerve-wracking, as it was Autumn’s first time camping and we were approximately a 7 hour drive from home! We were only there for three days, but we managed to pack a lot into them!

Day 1

Camp site

We started our day setting up the tent at the camp site. We stayed at Elm Farm, a five minute drive from Porthtowan on the north coast. This is a small but cosy campsite, with limited numbers. Facilities are pretty basic with portaloos and wooden shower huts, but we didn’t mind. Setting up the tent went fairly smoothly, although I had a cold and had to keep stopping to blow my nose. At one point, as I stopped to do this, the outside of the tent blew off and much of the frame collapsed! We worked quickly after the setback and it didn’t take that long to sort everything out and move our things from the car to the tent. Autumn had been watching Peppa Pig in the car while we got set up, but when we got her out and she saw the tent she was so excited!

Helston

We decided to head to Helston as we needed some shopping and I wanted to visit Frugi HQ! Shopping is always more fun on holiday, somehow. Back home it always seems to be such a chore. Autumn enjoyed it too and kept saying “HAT!” and putting the receipt on her head as we walked through the car park to the car.

The Lizard

As we were over that way, we decided to round off the day with a visit to The Lizard. This peninsula is the most south-westerly part of the British mainland and is absolutely beautiful. While Autumn napped in the car and we waited for my family to join us, we took turns to look in the gift shops where there were some lovely locally made things. When my family arrived, we popped Autumn into the Pao Papoose on my back and went for a walk down to the little beach at the bottom. As I discussed with the lady in the gift shop, not everyone ‘gets it’, but there really is something magical about that little place. Looking out at the sea, breathing in the salty air, I felt so calm and happy. Autumn was happy too – as long as I kept moving!

Day 2

Land’s End

As it had been years since I’d been to Cornwall and it was the first time with my own family, I wanted to go to Land’s End and have our photo taken with the iconic sign post. You may notice Autumn’s Peppa Pig phone in this photo, as she wouldn’t part from it!

Apart from that, we enjoyed walking around, perusing the gift shops and looking out over the sea.

We had a lovely lunch there and visited Greeb Farm. Autumn particularly enjoyed the duck pond!

St. Ives

We joined my family in St. Ives for the late afternoon and evening. The town was absolutely bustling, but we managed to park the car, no thanks to the sat nav which tried to take us completely the wrong way! We enjoyed looking around the shops, looking out over at the water and at the lifeboat outside the station.

There is a wonderful variety of shops in St. Ives if shopping is your thing. A highlight was a visit to Moomaid of Zennor. Autumn had a great time there and was so happy eating ice cream, surrounded by family.

We drove back to the campsite after St. Ives and Dave cooked beans on toast on the camping stove whilst Autumn and I had fun with a colouring book and crayons. She really enjoyed her dinner and the novelty of it being cooked inside the tent.

Day 3

Our third day began with us starting to pack things away. After we got ready, we went up to the cafe for some breakfast. Autumn and I had some lovely marmalade and jam on homemade sourdough toast. We also played some puzzles together – and Autumn loved the doll they had there!

Dave had sourdough toast too, but he opted for egg and bacon. With our tummies full, we headed back to the tent to disassemble it. My family kindly came to the campsite to help us take it down and get it in the car faster so that we could get on with our day. Besides, I’m not sure we’d have fitted everything in the car if the tent hadn’t been folded properly!

Healey’s Cornish Cyder Farm

Tractor Ride

We headed to Healey’s Cornish Cyder Farm to stock up on some cider, not really sure what to expect. We knew there were some animals there, but didn’t expect our visit to last much more than half an hour. We were pleasantly surprised to find there was more than we thought! We started our visit with a tractor ride around the orchards. Autumn really enjoyed it and the information played over the speakers was really interesting. For instance, I had no idea that traditional orchards weren’t planted in rows like they are today!

Animals

After our tractor ride, we walked past the Rattler bar (which looked AMAZING) to see the animals with Autumn. The rabbits delighted her so much that she danced, and we all adored Berry the beautiful Exmoor pony.

There were also some baby goats which were so cute!

A lady, who I believe was Welsh, was looking at the horse when we got there. She smiled at Autumn and sang a lovely song to her that I’d never heard before. I think it said something about a horse with its bridle painted blue. Unfortunately, I don’t know the rest of the song and an internet search didn’t bring up anything of use. If you know what it could have been, I’d be very grateful!

Afternoon tea & shop

We were all hungry and I’d spotted a chalkboard advertising cream teas. I was adamant that we couldn’t leave Cornwall without having a cream tea (jam first, of course!)

The scones were beautiful and we really enjoyed it. Autumn enjoyed hers too! With our stomachs full, we went to visit the shop, which was another treat in itself!

Mevagissey

After our visit to Healey’s, we drove on to Mevagissey. Spotting a tin mine across a field in a country lane we drove through, I took a quick snap. Although it was still August, I think it looks quite autumnal!

We met up with family in Mevagissey and had a lovely walk around the harbour, the warmth of the sun on our backs. There is a lovely little selection of shops and I enjoyed looking around them with my mum and nan. I think Autumn liked looking out at the boats with us.

It felt so peaceful and I paused for a few moments to watch a man painting the scenery.

I’d like to return to Mevagissey with Autumn when she’s older and catch crabs from the water, as is a popular activity there. We finished off the day with a delicious ice cream, surrounded by our loved ones, looking out at the boats and beautiful sparkling blue water.

We almost didn’t go as my cold was so bad and I’d felt absolutely awful on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. However, I was so glad that I’d taken lots of cold medication and pushed through on Wednesday as I felt quite a lot better on Thursday and really enjoyed our time in Cornwall.

Have you visited any of these places in Cornwall before? Let me know in the comments 🙂

Disclosure: I have not been asked to endorse any of the aforementioned places. All views and opinions are honest and my own.