Snap shot of bank holiday weekend

As promised here are some of the pictures from the bank holiday.  We had a brilliant weekend, it was lovely to meet lots of you and see all your lovely tents, vans, motor homes, pets and children.  My favouirte was the VW camper van with matching trailer!

This weekend is a lot quieter as half term comes to an end and the children return to school.  As I mentioned in the last blog though we are now offering 7 nights for the price of 5, meaning you could have a weeks stay with us from £55.  

After a mixed week of weather, I can confirm as I sit here in the office typing it is glorious - blue skies with a slight breeze.  Fingers crossed it stays that way as my brother gets married this weekend (we are very excited!).

Bonkers bank holiday

Wow, what a bank holiday weekend!  With well over fifty pitches booked out the park really came to life (and brought a little proud tear to our eyes in doing so).  I have left my camera at home, but I promise some pictures soon.  With a VW party in, which was connected to the Cornwall Camper Company, a local group and many people making the most of the fab weather the site felt like it had found it's old mojo.  Bread, milk, papers, homemade cakes, retro sweets and ice creams were flying off the shelves faster than we could restock them - we hope to see many of you who celebrated the bank holiday back again soon.  Don't forget if you did stay you can leave a review for fellow campers at UK Campsites or Pitchup.com.

With the busy bank holiday out of the way our attentions turn back to the 'to do' list which we do seem to be making some head way on.  Last week we drained the swimming pool...we didn't find anything exciting at the bottom of the murky water.  There is some debate around the family dinner table as to the plans for it - we will keep you posted when we know.  We hope to have the new toilet block painted in the next few weeks having painted the old toilet block prior to opening.  The laundry was officially opened on Friday (we forgot the ribbon to cut!) we have washers that cost £3 a go and dryers that are 50p a dry.  Or you could make the most of the washing lines and the glorious Cornish sunshine. Other than that it is just small jobs left on the list - for now!

Does anyone know how to encourage chickens to lay?  Bernard, Shelia and Dorren have been on strike recently.  They are malting so we think they might be a little stressed and will hopefully start laying again soon.  Any suggestions welcome though on a back of a post card - or email them to us!

Don't forget we have our seven nights for the price of five offer running from 1st June - 12th July - why not make the most of it and come and have a weeks stay with us?

Half term ideas

With the half term upon us it is time to start thinking up ideas of things to keep little people happy.  Here is my top ten:

1. Learn all about the Beast of Bodmin Moor at Lanhyrock.  Should be fun for children and adults alike!
2. On the 26th May visit Kernow Fest at The Heartlands in Redruth.  Not only is there a free event celebrating all things Cornish, Heartlands is also home to the mothership of play areas
3. Have a little pamper at The Cornwall.  A short drive from Tregongeeves the Spa is well worth a visit and a great escape from little people.
4. Visit Lappa Valley.  We went before we had children with friends who had a two year at the time - now it is a firm favourite of ours - where children come first and life is all about having fun.
5. Enjoy breakfast at The Eden Cafe and then take a stroll around St Austell.  The breakfasts are a real treat and the family friendly cafe means you can relax in a safe environment.
6. Visit the impressive National Maritime Museum in Falmouth - with Seahorse Rocks activities for children you can make creatures inspired by the Cornish Coast.  For lunch why not indulge in a hearty feast at Gylly's Beach Cafe.
7. Visit the small precinct of shops opposite Tesco's known as Holmbush.  Here you will find the best local butchers (in our opinion) selling great pasties - why not pick up some 'bangers' for the BBQ whilst you are there, grab a cake from Niles (custard doughnuts are our favourite), then head out for a walk.  We recommend visiting the bluebells at Luxulyan Valley at the moment.
8. Explore Porthpean Beach.  This local haunt is small secluded beach with rock pools to explore - it's an ideal location for a picnic.
9. Hire a bike for the day and cycle the Camel Trail.  You can cycle into Padstow and enjoy the small fishing village without the hassle of finding somewhere to park.
10. Do nothing at all!  Just relax at Little Winnick with a glass of wine in your hand whilst the BBQ smokes away in the back ground - perfect.

'tis glorious here today

My oh my what wonderful weather.  It is absolutely stunning here today, very hot with blue skies.  I have just made the mistake of sampling another ice cream.  Today's lesson is not to eat ice cream whilst working in reception as I am now covered in melted ice cream!!  I do have a warm glow about me though having strolled around the site taking some piccies for this; it is wonderful to see so many happy campers, people who didn't know each other at the start of week now having a beer together and hearing children shrek with laughter whizzing down the slide.

We have spent the day wisely cutting the grass whilst the sun is out to help up.  Richard is pictured in charge of the lawn motor - it is a job and a half cutting all the grass here.  Richard has also been busy in charge of the pump which is pumping the water out of the swimming pool.  Sadly too much is needed to be done to open the pool this year however we are currently deep in thought as to what will become of it in the future.

We have started to gear ourselves up for the forthcoming bank holiday - we have a good number of bookings and a number of guests arriving who will be here for a large section of the summer.  We already have two seasonal pitches on site which helps create a really lovely atmosphere as people get to know one another.  Please do contact us if you are thinking about a seasonal pitch.

Too many ice creams to choose from!

Hello!

Things are going well here - we have had a steady flow of guests; both those who have booked in advance and people off the road.  It is so lovely to finally be sharing all our hard work with people!  Still, no rest for the wicked, we have had the tree surgeons back on site today pruning more trees and are already turning our thoughts to future improvements in the close season.

We have also had a lot of interest from rallies.  We are very fortunate to have a large rally field which is separate from the rest of the site.  Accommodating up to 40 pitches we have already booked in people for this season and there us lots of interest for 2014.

Perhaps the most exciting news I have to share with you is opposite...the ice cream freezer has finally arrived.  The many problem we now have is I feel the need to have an ice cream each afternoon...

This week also saw some much needed days out for us as we had friends visiting and what an education in Cornish weather it was.  We headed to St Ives and on route the weather did not look in our favour - heavy rain and wind.  In fact we came close to turning round as we had a pregnant friend with us.  However as we turned the corner into St Ives we saw a glimmer of blue.  We headed straight to Porthminster Beach Cafe for lunch which I can sum up in one word - WOW!  The food was amazing.  We had Jessica who is 9 months old with us and the service couldn't have been better - she was looked after better than us in fact!  After an utterly delicious meal we headed onto a deserted Porthminster Beach - it was stunning; blue skies, clean sands and clear sea.  We explored the back streets of St Ives and admired much of the local art work whilst basking in the sun.

Our second outing saw us go to Fowey.  Although it is their festival week it was very quiet.  Yet more wandering around the streets, down the Espanage to Ready Money Cove, which again was deserted, it was so peaceful and relaxing. By the time we made it to the cove a grey, overcast day had turned into a scorcher and I was regretting not bringing a hat for Jessica.  Luckily I have a baby carrier for Jess as the tiny streets of Fowey are not great for pushchairs.  We made our way to The Galleon for lunch - another very accommodating baby friendly place to grab lunch.

Then one evening we were treated to a meal out at Sam's on the Beach.  What a location and what delicious food.  One of our favourite haunts did not fail to impress with a yummy crab and scallops pizza on the special accompanied by a scrummy local wine.  Well worth a visit - but book to avoid disappointment.

Our final outing of the week was Padstow via Griggs.  Griggs is a agriculture shop selling a great selection of clothes including Joules, Merrell, Frugi and Barbour to name but a few.  My friends got Hunter Wellies for half the price they had seen in John Lewis!  Padstow was busy but lovely - there is nothing better than exploring the fishing harbour, eyeing up the cakes & pasties in Chough Bakery or smelling the fish and chips from Rick's.

Now back to work...and the diet!

the dreaded sea mist

Now I am not going to lie to you.  Despite our sun burn from yesterday contradicting me, the sun does not always shine in Cornwall.  Today we have had the dreaded sea mist in for the best part of the day.  It started glorious, in fact I shocked the world with my lily white legs and put poor Jessica in a summer dress.  By the time we had done our four mile stroll down to Little Winnick the sea mist had come in from the coast and it is now flipping freezing.  The strange thing about sea mist is you can be in one place and it is dull and horrid, yet a mile away it is glorious and bright.  Luckily the week ahead looks much more promising.

My walk got me thinking about the glorious walks around here, we really are so lucky.

From the park you can walk into St Austell. It is about four miles but it is all on cycle trails through the valley so it is very enjoyable.  Then you could get the bus back as the bus stops right outside the site. We can recommend doing the St Austell Treasure Trail  (or any of the Treasure Trails - they are brilliant fun).  You get to learn so much about the place.  It is a great family activity that does not cost very much but gets you exploring a new location.  We have Treasure Trails for sale at Little Winnick  for £4.50.

We made it!

I think I should begin by thanking everyone that has helped turn the site around in the last three months.  It has been a long journey but we are a  fully fledged open site - yippee!  In the final week leading up to the site opening we have had WiFi installed across the whole site - guests can access this for free for the first 30 minutes then purchase access codes to use it throughout your stay.

We have also taken delivery of Bernard, Dorothy and Sheila (aka the chickens).  So far I have had one egg from them - so they are not the fastest layers in the world!

We have also tested the showers.  Richard (my husband) was sparkling on Tuesday after a number of washes to test the pressure and temperature.  It made me smile that he took shower gel with him each time.

Alison and I also took on the role of Cinderella, as we scrubbed the brick toilet block until it was shiny, the floors took a day to get clean...however they look great now.  We have also installed better lighting in the wood toilet block and the shiny new picnic benches are outside the front of reception so you can enjoy some of the yummy Callestick ice cream that arrived this week!

And most importantly we have welcomed guests onto the site. I will post some pictures from this week on Facebook later - as you will we have had absolutely stunning weather this week - it has reached the barmy heights of 18 degrees at Little Winnick - it really is a sun trap here