Hi everyone! Travel blogging isn’t usually my thing, largely because I don’t travel much beyond going to visit friends and family on the weekends. However, last week I went to North Cornwall on only my second trip away since the pandemic began (and first one since restarting this blog), so I thought I’d try something new and tell you about it, just to break up the blog posts a little! I’ve included links for information in case you were planning a trip to a similar part of the world and wanted some ideas, but just to clarify, any links I include are simply for information and not affiliate links (definitely don’t have a large enough following on this blog to make money from it!)
I travelled with my mum, and we stayed for four nights in a static caravan at Aria Resorts Bude. I’ll be honest, I had absolutely no expectations of this – we simply wanted somewhere that would allow us each a separate room and to cook for ourselves, wasn’t too expensive, and wasn’t a holiday ‘cottage’ because my mum lives in a cottage so going to one really isn’t much of a holiday for either of us! However, I was pleasantly surprised – the caravan was extremely modern and well equipped, with a nicer kitchen than either of us have at home. There was a massive fridge and freezer (a family of 4 could easily have stayed here for a week and been entirely self-catered) plus a dishwasher and washing machine as well. They also provided us with everything from all the crockery to little tea sachets to washing up liquid and shower products – the only thing lacking were the dishwasher tablets but that wasn’t really much of an issue!
The only slight problem I had with the caravan was the bedroom arrangements – as with most of these kind of places, they are aimed at ‘couple with children’ so while one room was huge with a double bed and an ensuite, the other was tiny and cramped with twin beds. Since my mum has back issues which make her less mobile, she had the larger room while I squeezed my way into the small one. The storage was so cleverly designed that I didn’t really feel a lack of space to put things, but it didn’t exactly feel luxurious. However, this is something I have to deal with on most holidays with my mum, as very few places consider the needs of travellers who are not couples or families with kids.
The resort itself was super quiet, which might not be great if youre hoping to keep kids entertained, but was perfect for us. There was a restaurant, which looked like it had a nice menu although we didn’t go there, and a lovely swimming pool which it was unfortunately slightly too cold to use (yay British weather). The best thing, however, was the direct access to the coast path, which meant that we could walk out of our front door and be on the beach in 10 minutes
On our first full day in Cornwall, we chose to stay local and explored Bude, a pretty seaside town boasting a beautiful beach, semi-natural sea pool and peaceful canal. We had fish and chips at a restaurant called Life’s a Beach while overlooking the sea (delicious if a bit chilly). I’d recommend going here if you’re in Bude and want some lunch without straying too far from the beach – promise the food does taste as good as it looks! Afterwards, we explored the heritage museum, which isn’t very big but is free to get into, and drank hot chocolate next to the canal. Again, it was unfortunately too cold to swim, which was a shame as I’d been looking forward to trying out the Sea Pool when we planned the trip.
The next day, we ventured a little further afield to visit Tintagel Castle familiar to me from studying the Morte d’Arthur in my second year of university. On the way, we stopped at a little farm found a lovely little farm shop for brunch (waffles, can’t go wrong there) and explored a local waterfall. When we eventually got the castle, it definitely lived up to all my expectations as a ‘site which has inspired great literature’ (remind me to make a blog post listing those at some point). It was a shame about the sea fog that seemed determined to cloak the castle in swathes of mist, but you can’t fault it for trying to be atmospheric! I wasn’t sure what to expect as there isn’t a lot of the castle left, but the path took round the various remains and explained their significance, and I can imagine on a better day you can get some brilliant views up the coast. It’s s very easy to imagine King Arthur being born here, and if you’re a fan of all things medieval, I would absolutely recommend going. Especially since they’ve recently built a new bridge connecting the island and the mainland which is not only beautiful and great fun to walk across, but also makes it much more accessible! Worth bearing in mind, however, that the visitor centre, cafe and toilets still sit at the bottom of the hill, and getting down there can be a bit of a long trek if you can’t manage the steps or want to go before visiting the castle. There is a land rover service that will take you up and down between the visitor centre and the car park, although I’m not sure how often it goes or where it stops as we didn’t use it.
Our final day, we drove up the coast the other way to the village of Clovelly, which you might recognise for its starring role in the film ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’. This pretty seaside village has a unique feel, largely because the high street is completely inaccessible by car, and the inhabitants of the village build sledges to transport things down! I wasn’t sure initially if it would be worth the £8.50 entrance fee, but if you’re lucky with the weather, it definitely is! There are a few little shops run by residents of the village, one of which sold the most gorgeous soaps and bath bombs, plus of course the famous Clovelly donkeys! We also had a cream tea overlooking the sea, and your ticket also gets you into Clovelly gardens which are a nice place to sit after the long climb. In the evening, we ate pizza at La Bocca in Bude, and I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen so many pizza choices on one menu! The food was delicious, and it was an excellent way to round off our holiday before we very sadly packed up our things ready to rush off early the next morning so my mum could get back to work.
If any of you are thinking of visiting Cornwall this year, I would absolutely recommend Bude and the surrounding area. I don’t know if it’s because of the time of year we went (midweek just after the May Bank Holiday), but it felt much less crowded than when I have visited other areas further south in Cornwall. We could easily have spent many more days exploring; unfortunately, we were limited by my mum’s work as to when we could go.
Have you taken any holidays this year, or are you planning to? I have another trip lined up for later in the summer so I’ll be blogging about that (and maybe even making a reel this time!)
Cadence x
The Literature Lighthouse 