Hidden Gem

the new hand basins

Sorry the blog is a few days late this week, it was my birthday and my parents have been visiting so we have been pretty busy both at home and at work.

Every so often we have a week when a mammoth amount get done at the park - this week has been one of those.  Perhaps the most exciting development is the installation of the vanity units, which look lovely.  The dish washing area has been paved, we have ceilings and floors being laid over the weekend in the family and disabled bathroom and the first of five new sinks for the dish washing area have arrived.  It feels like the end is in sight for the ladies facilities and we are very close with the family and disabled rooms too.

Views from Coast Guard Hut

I have had the glamorous job this week of sorting out the cleaning products ready to get to work on the ladies and to fill the new cleaning cupboard - not my favourite job but it had to be done.  I also had a tidy up of the reception and turned my attentions to thinking about restocking the shop.  On special this week we have 6 hand basins - free to a good home - please contact us if you would like them.

This week we have had mixed weather, but having been inspired by Poldark we headed down to Charlestown today to have a look at the tall ships and step back in time - the opening titles of the BBC drama feature Charlestown.  It was truly beautiful coupled with a rather yummy meal with the girls and my parents in The Rashleigh.  The old brewery pub has a refreshing renovated interior and is both dog and child friendly - well worth a visit.

Coast Guard Hut

Rock pooling with Nana

Lunch was followed by real life rock pooling.  In my last blog I mentioned how we had got a net for Jess but no rock pools, which was such bad planning on our part.  You can't buy a toy and then not let the 2 1/2 year old play with it so I have had a make shift rock pool in my lounge.  It has been driving me mad.  Today we headed to Porthpean to let her loose, having noted that the tide was on the way out.  It turns out rock pooling is not one of our strong points.  We caught one dead crab.  Hopefully we will get better over time.

We had a magical cup of tea near Caerhays Beach earlier in the week.  Having driven down there last week with sleeping children I took my parents to the Coast Guard Hut above Caerhays.  The roof of the small hut is barely visible from the road,  the enclosed garden and stunning views make it one of my favourite places in the world, and that is a bold claim.  It is a real secret gem and so child friendly as the small hut has a fence all the way around it.  For a more energetic experience you can take the coastal path down towards Portholland.  The views are worth the short walk to the pretty yet tiny Cornish village.

The sun has got his hat on hip, hip, hip hooray

Finally, the weather feels like it is on the turn and with the promise of a heatwave for Easter we certainly have a spring in our step.   Today the rarest of things happened - our two girls feel asleep at the same time in the same location (the car!).  We were actually on our way to see Richard - when the park is shut it is a great place for Jessica to practice her bike.  However playgroup this morning took its toll so I thought I would take a little drive.  About 10 minutes from Little Winnick is the exceptionally beautiful cove of Caerhays Beach - officially known as Porthluney Cove.   With the sun shining and the blue skies it was like a tonic refreshing the soul.    There is something about the beach at this time of the year when the skies are blue and the air is turning warmer.  It was stunning.  It is a great beach to visit either just to sit in the car and enjoy the view or for a day out with children and/or dogs.  With the castle behind you it is hard not to be transported to some magical place.

This weekend we had a proper Cornish weekend.  Saturday we visited The Eden Project for the Pasty World Championships.  A slightly surreal experience, with strange pasty creations, along with the very, very serious entrants, bands, musicians and crafts for the children - it was a lovely atmosphere.  Ironically we did not have a pasty -  we took a picnic, which given the amazing smells wafting around was hard to eat.



Sunday, after a walk around Little Winnick we headed to Mevagissey.  It is nice to walk around the site and take in the work when it is quiet.  After visiting Porthpean a few weeks ago, Jess has been hankering after a net for rock pooling.  So we took her for a treat.  Of course we should have thought it through, you cannot just buy a net for a 2 1/2 year old - they then want to use it.  With the tide in we were unable to find anywhere that would not risk drowning so, we now have a paddling pool with balls and a selection of toy fish to catch in the lounge!  The sooner we can go real rock pooling the better.

We also popped into The Polgooth Inn for a Sunday Lunch.  It was lovely.  Very child friendly, quick service with great food too - well worth a visit.

As for the work on the park this week it has been lots of little jobs, getting ready for the bigger jobs!  So yet more pipe work, plastering, insulation, fascias, landscaping and detailing to the roof.  This week will see us choose the cladding for the building, order various fittings for the family and disabled bathrooms, check and order missing signs around the park and maybe even a spot of painting.

Somewhere for us to relieve ourselves

Today is a momentous day in the history of Little Winnick's new toilet block - the first of the many toilets are being installed!   The toilets get installed then the cubicles go in shortly.  This is a relief for us all, especially for Richard who as I said last week is weather obsessed.  The rain is stopping play a little at the moment and causing some headaches as things will not dry in the rain so we are hoping things will improve over the next few days.  Progress is however ongoing, the groundsman have landscaped around the building and metres and metres of roofing boards are being installed.  Miles of pipes are almost installed and we are just about  to order the dish washing up sinks (we finally made a decision) and a baby change station for the family bathroom.

Talking of families this weekend we took our little family off for lunch on the beach.  Rather scarily Richard pointed out to me this week we don't have many more Saturday's together before the start of the season when we will start working so we decided to make the most of it.  We were unsure about our decision for a picnic on the beach as we unloaded the car there was a biting wind but we had been told that the Spring tides had brought with it a very low tide revealing bits of beaches hardly ever seen.

We opted for Porthpean Beach and as soon as we turned the corner from the little car park down towards the beach the wind disappeared and the sun shone.  It was glorious, very warm, calm seas and as promised the tide was out the furthest we have ever seen revealing a huge array of rock pools.  We even shared the beach with a seal, albeit, camera shy seal who kept the girls entertained for ages.

This weekend we are heading off to The Eden Project for the World Pasty Championships.  It is usually a fun day, although the judging is taken very seriously and done behind screens.  We will also be keeping our eyes on the football results as St Austell have got through to the last 16 of the FA Vase which is reaally exciting for the town.

Half term fun

My toilet excitement continues as I saw the flooring for the first time today - very exciting.  It looks super smart.  The plumbers are working very hard on the maze of pipes that are being laid and re laid - it is a job I do not envy them for.  Our father and son grounds team have done sterling work on getting the shuttering in place ready for the tarmac around the new buildings and the builders are up on the roof trying to get the wood up inbetween the rain - even working under gazebos to avoid getting too wet.  Richard is now slightly obsessed with the weather and knows where each rain cloud is within a 50 mile radius.  Each day we continue to be amazed by the developments and I am now rather excited about cleaning the new building as sad as it sounds!

Our current topic of tea time conversation is the dish washing area.  It is perhaps my favourite space of the new building, it is spacious and roomy, with a roof on to protect washer uppers from getting wet.  I cannot put my finger on why I like it so much, it just has a really lovely feeling about it.  We are currently debating what sink units to get and how to lay it out - you can't just buy campsite washing up areas off the peg so we are spending many an evening debating it to ensure we get it just right!  Another discussion point that is ongoing is where the cleaning cupboard will be housed - this was sorted until about 30 minutes ago....

This week we have also been busy at Tregongeeves which are our holiday cottages up the road run  by Richard's Mum and Dad.  The seven cottages are full to capacity this week as it is half term.  The guests staying have loved meeting the animals each morning, and yesterday we even did a spot of 'Tin can cooking' to warm us up after feeding the vast selection of animals.  To find out more about Tregongeeves visit  www.tregongeeves.co.uk.

Toilet talk

I have to confess, when Richard asked me to update the blog about toilets this morning my heart sank.  How can I keep getting excited about toilets?  So I went for a little stroll over to the toilets, having not seen them for two weeks, and I can honestly say it is the most excited I have been about any toilet or shower in a long time!  It is so, very exciting to see the block work complete, doors and windows going in, roof steels up and rendering started.  The guys on site are brilliant and putting their heart and souls into the project with many working weekends to keep up with the demanding schedule.  This weekend sees the first of the flooring being laid ready for the plumbers to start installing toilets and showers and the cubicles are soon to be delivered to site.  I am sat next to a pile of slabs and tiles in the office, having been told to pick what we would like in the dish washing area.

The dishwashing area did not fail to excite either - it so big and under cover so even a damp day cannot spoil your washing up fun at Little Winnick.  The laundry room too is impressive.   I can see our dinner time table talk tonight will yet again be filled with toilets, showers and flooring discussions!

As a family we are feeling a little refreshed after a lovely few days visiting my family in Norfolk.  We were able to travel light this time as my mum has most things we would take - but it never fails to make me smile when I look at everything we need for a few days away.  To help you this year we are offering guests the chance to borrow travel cots and highchairs to make just a little bit more room in your car for all the essentials you just have to bring.

As I walked back from my toilet tour I popped into see our wardens, Steve and Jude.  This is their first winter in England for seven years so they are acclimatising to the the Cornish winter.  But as you enter their garden their daffodils are trying to persuade us it is spring down here already

as they are out in full glory.

Pots of gold

Today something happened that I have been trying to do since a child.  My Mum always used to say there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  Well, on pitch one this afternoon, I found the end of the rainbow.  There was no pot of gold that I could find...we will keep hunting for it!  I couldn't quite capture the moment but right is the best I could do, it was the most amazing rainbow I have ever seen and there was not only one but two at the same time. Obviously a rainbow would indicate rain followed by glorious sunshine.  That is indeed the case, showers on and off and rather chilly.  No sign of snow...but perfect building weather apparently.

Talking of building, I have been taking loads of bookings in the last few days and many of you have asked for more pictures of the toilet block.  So here are a selection of the build.  The concrete raft was a challenge, but went in well in the end.  We have had to build a raft for the new building because of the water table.  A raft is held in place by a vast steel cage.  Once the cage was in place they poured the concrete - note the length of the concrete pouring pipe - that was the longest the company could find!  Once the first lot of concrete was poured we then had to have more steel then a second pour on concrete.

Following the installation of the raft we were able to start the block work.  The existing building you can see has been thoroughly gutted and new windows, walls, drains and utilities have been installed.  The floor has been 'diamond grinded' in preparation for the new flooring.  The plumbers have been hard at it installing miles of new pipes.  This building will house the ladies facilities.  The new build will house the male facilities, family, and disabled toilet along with laundry and washing up area.

I will try and get our this week and get some more up to date pictures for you.

Away from the build it has been a busy time with bookings coming in thick and fast, we are getting pretty booked up in August so please don't leave it to the last minute to book.  Also remember that we offer 7 nights for the price of 5 at various times throughout the season, so why not make the most of a Cornish break.  To take up this offer please book direct with us either on our website or by giving us a call on 01726 843687.

Sarnies on the beach

We may not be able to get to the beach much in the summer, but days like today make up for it.  Yes, that's right, we had breakfast on the beach in January.  It was glorious.  We ventured onto the Roseland to Carne Beach.  We last visited there pre children many years ago and I loved it then.  But today I fell head over heals back in love with the beautiful open beach.  It is fantastically child friendly with parking right on the edge of the beach.  This is a big winner for me when I often go to these places solo with two under threes - we need near by parking!  Today the whole family went and we took our trusty camping stove.  Bacon sandwiches on the beach with a cap of tea...does it get any better.   It was truly glorious.

I nervously declare that I think there are signs that spring is on it's way down here in Cornwall.  We have now spotted snowdrops and daffodils out in full bloom which teases us with what is to come in the wonderful Cornish gardens.  I am going to make it our mission to visit as many gardens as we can this year.

At Little Winnick the new toilet block is ongoing.   We have a wealth of trades people onsite, tomorrow there will be builders, carpenters, plumbers, flooring experts and electricians...that is a lot of cups of coffee!  The project involves using what we referred to as the 'old block' to house the ladies, with a whole new block being built for the family, disabled, men's, laundry and dish washing up area.  We will take come pictures this week for you.