Little Winnick Virgins

Until last night we were in fact Little Winnick virgins!  We had never stayed on the park, as we have a house near by and wardens who live on the park all the time.  However I undertook a 'Mum & Daughter' adventure and Jess and I pitched our tent and barbecued our sausages for her very first camping adventure at 2 1/2!  It was brilliant.  Richard stayed at home with our youngest as she is not very well and it turned out I got more sleep than him!  I was slightly nervous about being the 'noisy person on the pitch next door' as Jess is yet to master the art of volume control, however we managed to tired them out.  We had friends staying too and by 8.30pm the children had run off just about all their steam, from looking for treasure in the wild flower meadow, feeding Lady and Bird (the chickens) left over tea, playing on the play area and having the excitement of using 'toilets with sinks in' - only a 5 year old can get excited about a toilet and sink next to each other in our vanity cubicles! So my review of the park would be:

"Lovely family park, ideal for families to relax and rewind.  We were one mile from home but felt like we were miles away.  The clear blue skies and barmy warm evening meant we could make the most of the great outdoors.  The 5mph speed limit and park layout made me feel the children could have the freedom to be children but were safe in doing so.  We even had a visit from a little snuffling friend - one of the many hedgehogs who are living on park!"

With families in mind, we know that holidays can be expensive times and sometimes the cheaper days are the best days.  And paying lots to get in somewhere then buying lunch and everything else that you just 'must have' can really add up so with than in mind we have been thinking about how you can holidays for less.

First of all - equipment.  Please do ask if you need something or have forgotten something.  We have quite a collection of camping chairs, wind breaks, camping tables, BBQ's and much more that people have discarded whilst staying with us.  I will start posting what we have on Facebook.  We have decided to help our charity of the year - Parkinson's UK - by asking people to make a very small donation for preloved camping equipment so keep an eye on what we have, and feel free to donate.  My camping trip last night made use of a preloved BBQ, table, 3 chairs, wine glasses and children's glasses.

This week we had a brilliant cheap day out  with a trip to the beach.  We packed the camping stove, some burgers, the most amazing potatoes with butter and bacon from Lidl for 89p (a camping must as they are delicious and there is no mess or fuss with them -  just fry them up!), and the flask of tea.  We headed over to Caerhays.  Now considering we are full tonight we were surprised with how quiet it was.  At most there were 6 other groups on the beach.

We had a lovely beach picnic and an explore of the beach including the 'dinosaur cave' (just a cave but to Jess everything is a dinosaur cave) and then we walked right out across the beach as the tide was the furthest out we have ever seen.  All was going brilliantly until Bethany decided it was far too hot to not have a little dip in a rock pool.  It was the funniest thing we have seen in ages, it was like we had provided the best toy ever.  So not to be left out Jess joined in too.  We were all soaked with no change of clothes but some brilliant memories were made.

From the park why not explore the King Wood.  The beautiful wood has many path to explore, benches to rest your legs and a good selection of trees to admire.

If a more landscaped garden is more your cup of tea then pop over to Lanhydrock House.  Whilst it is National Trust property, and in out opinion one of the best examples of upstairs downstairs living, you can explore the informal grounds for free and make most of their brilliant play area, great for all ages.  There are also free bike trails, including a balance bike track.