'Sunshine' on a rainy day

"Sunshine on a rainy day

Makes my soul, makes my soul

Trip Trip Trip Away..."

And you know what today my heart and soul tripped away as my 15 month old reminded me that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.  She was that little ray of sunshine on a rainy day.  Although she has been walking a good three months she has not seen big puddles (a good indication of how good the weather has been!).  Today she was utterly amazed by the puddles.  I cannot put into words the shear joy and delight she had towards puddles. She started touching them, sitting in them and then jumping in them.  She obtained a small crowd outside reception, as the joy and excitement was infectious.  When do we loose that love of jumping in puddles? Or in fact the love of the rain?  It is, after all, at this time of year warm rain! So with that in mind, I have complied some wet weather ideas for you...just incase you get the odd damp spell during your holidays!

1. Jump in puddles.  You are NEVER too old to stick on a pair of wellies, or even better take your shoes and socks off and jump in puddles until your hearts content.  Don't just watch the children - do it yourself.  (there will be a prize for the best picture of puddle jumping during the summer holidays - post them on Facebook)
2. Forest School Adventures at Cardinham Woods - join Claire and her team for what are brilliant sessions exploring the outdoors, eating scrummy things and developing outdoor skills, all around the campfire.  (we go and these are BRILLIANT!).  The weather will not spoil your fun, the more mud the better.  Daily sessions throughout the school hols.
3. St Austell Brewery Tour - well worth a visit, all indoors and you get to sample their produce at the end!  Booking is a must as the tours get very busy.
4. Bodmin and Wentford Railway - Enjoy a ride on a steam train.  Can you beat the smell of a steam train?  If you fancy stretching your legs get off at Bodmin Parkway and walk the old coach road into the grounds of Lanhydrock.
5. National Maritime Museum - I used to groan at going to museums as a child.  This would have been my idea of heaven though; lots to do, touch, try, experiment with and learn.  A really interactive place for young and old, situated in the vibrant town of Falmouth, also well worth a visit,
6. Mevagissey to Fowey Ferry - we went on the ferry on a glorious day and got soaked from the sea spray so logically you might as well go on it in the rain and you will not notice the spray.  Treat yourself to lunch at Sam's - the burgers are brilliant.
7. Multi Activity Days - 8-14 years old - Polkyth Leisure Centre - a fun day of activities from swimming to tag darts - sounds like great fun.
8. Kidsworld - a huge indoor play centre in Par, it has a skytrail, climbing wall, dodgems, indoor play, sand and water play and a treehouse scramble.
9. Take a bus trip - bus no. 24 stops right outside the park, so why not take a trip to St Austell Bus & Train Station where you can access connections across the county.  You can purchase a weeks bus ticket for unlimited travel for £25, which works out £3.57 per day to roam around the county.
10. Drive to the other coast.  More often than not, if it is raining here then the North coast will be basked in sunshine.  Each valley seems to have it's own micros climate so go for an explore and hunt out the sun.  Or just stay put and puddle jump!

Getting broody (this could end in divorce...)

It is exciting broody times at Little Winnick this week.  Lady and Bird, the two very tame and adorable chickens who guard reception have been broody for a while.    Lady is the broody one -we got her some eggs, but she stopped sitting when we put them under her so I have had an incubator in our back bedroom - in the meantime she went back to sitting on her eggs.  To cut a long and some what miraculous story short this week three chicks hatched!  So Tuesday night I returned home from work with a box of chickens under one arm and a Mcdonald's under the other!!  Richard's reaction was not good.

So on Wednesday we undertook an 'adoption process'.  Lady is very young and I was not sure how she would react.  But after consulting our friend Google, we converted our shed into a little pen, and then when both Lady and Bird were asleep we took her eggs and replaced them with chicks.  Now, a few days in, so far so good and the adoption seems to be going okay.  We will give them a week or so then they will return to Little Winnick.  Best not talk to Richard about the chickens though.  He does not want chickens in the garden and was less than impressed when the very tame Bird came into our kitchen last night when we were having a BBQ.  They are just so tame!!  I should say our new chicks have be named Annie, Clarabel and Thomas.  We have no idea what sex they are but I will let you work out who we allowed to name them! (Thomas mad Jessica)

We have had a lovely week both weather wise and adventure wise.  Last Saturday we were lucky enough to enjoy an evening meal at Salamander in Mevagissey (a rear treat with two young children).  What a treat - the locally inspired menu is a delight and the service was brilliant.  We then wandered to the front to watch the finale of the Mevagissey Feast Week - a huge fireworks display over the harbour.  What a treat.  If you are thinking of when to stay next year then you must try and be here for the end of Feast Week - it is spectacular.

On Wednesday we popped into Griggs.  From the outside this is a agricultural store, however their selection of Joules, White Stuff, Frugi and various other clothing at a cheaper than normal price is well worth a visit along with the restaurant which does brilliant food.  We enjoyed breakfast there, we were there to buy chick food so I had to butter Richard up a little!  It was one of the nicest breakfasts we have had a while, and very reasonable too.

What's on this week:
Today - Truro Carnival
13th July - Stithians agricultural Show
17th -18th July - Lafrowda Festival - Penzance
18th July - Camborne Show
18th July (and every Saturday morning) - Lanhydrock Park Run
19th July - 12th Annual Motorbike Show - Lemon Quay Truro.

Herman - officially the best guest of the week..maybe the month

We love all our guests dearly, but some times you can't help smile every time you see some, or even just think about them.  And Herman has that effect on me.  When I saw a group of guests pointing at him I thought it was a bit rude and wondered how I  would defuse this situation, poor Herman cannot help his looks.  Then I realised what Herman was.  A tortoise!  As I am writing this I am smiling to myself.  He is without doubt the loveliest four legged friend we currently have on the park!

We are full this weekend again, the good weather and two rally's have ensured we are full to the brim.  Many of those in are extending their stays longer to make the most of this glorious sunshine.  This week, as with the rest of the country it has been glorious.  We have had the odd shower, but to be honest it is a welcome break from the heat.  The touring park is look lovely at the moment with a fantastic mixture of tents, caravans, motor homes and various other set ups.  I have been wandering around the park this morning look on enviously at those cooking breakfast, eating the fresh strawberries and generally enjoying the sun.

With two tired and teasy little girls on the afternoon of our day off we went for a drive, as we sometimes do to aid sleep.  Now it was a brilliant example of the SAT Nav Vs. Maps Vs Guess Work dilemma people often face in Cornwall.  The first rule of thumb is don't solely follow your SAT NAV.  It will take you on, very, very little roads.  We can normally tell by the colour of people if their SAT NAV has taken them on a little adventure to get to us.    So with this in mind, with our trusty road atlas in hand we set off for an adventure across Bodmin Moor and then through some country roads visiting other campsites along the way for a little bit if market research.   We were fine, until I missed a turn and went on some very skinny roads which were not on our map.  The sort where the hedges are 10ft tall, your wing mirrors touch either side and there is grass growing up the middle.  In fact we ended up in the entrance of a farm and had to do some very tense reversing. According to Richard there is never a problem as if you get too lost in Cornwall you will eventually get to one of the coasts, then just turn around and go in the direction you actually want....as the driver I am not sure my nerves could cope fully with this view.  Moral of the story - use agood map!

With the mixed bag of weather comes the dreaded need to pack tents away wet.  We had that fun after our camping adventure here last weekend. with two tents used we had a lot of wet tents to put away.  I have to say putting up tents and to an extent packing them away is one of my favourite past times.  Randomly, believe it or not, I actually have a degree in Adventure Recreation.  Some 15 years ago when I got my degree I never thought we would be in Cornwall with our own campsite.  But that said those skills learnt over three years on various expeditions, putting up various tents and staying in some awesome places are coming in useful now.  You just can't beat putting up a tent, the smell of it, the noise of rain on it, the anticipation of unzipping your door to see if the sun is out...I love tents.  So if need a hand putting up a tent give me a shout!

A new feature of the blogs for those of you staying over the next few weeks is what is on, so here are a few highlights for the next few days:

Tonight - Carninval and fireworks at Mevagissey

11th July - Truro Carnival

11th July Craft Fair & Children's Fun Day at the Merlin Centre, in aid of MS 

18th July - St Ewe Garden Fete (a lovely old fashioned church fete)

26th Jul - Trewithen Country & Classics Show, in aid of Marie Curie

A feast full of fun

This week sees the welcome return of the Mevagissey Feast Week.  A full programme of events is available from reception along with a summary on the daily notice board.  Highlights include the Fish Procession, the amazing Mevagissey Male Voice Choir,  a fishing boat race, crabbing and the finale of fireworks from the harbour.

Many moons ago Richard and I went to the Carnival, it was fantastic watching the processions through the small streets  - it really is worth a visit.  As for the fireworks which go off over the harbour - I still maintain they are the best I have ever seen and I am a lover of fireworks!  It is a late one but it is well worth it.  We are having a rare night out on Saturday for dinner, and then watching the fireworks as a birthday treat for Richard.

I say rare, but this week we were out at one of the 'Eden Sessions' watching Paloma Faith.  It was a stunning evening with great music and company.  Cornwall is a fantastic place to catch a little bit of culture outside, especially with the amazing long evenings.

For a bit of alfresco culture why not visit one of the following:

9th July - Spandau Ballet at the Eden Project
21st July, The Jungle Book at Pentille Castle
25th July - 23rd August - 946 from  Kneehigh Theatre at The Lot Gardens Of Heligan
29th July - The Manificent 3 from Miracle Theatre at Pencarrow House
19th August - Mama Mia outdoor cinema at Caerhays Beach

There are rumours flying around that we are in for a bit of a heatwave,  It looks like Cornwall is set to bake next week.  We are full to the brim next weekend but if you fancy a spot of Cornish sun then why not head down before the schools break up in mid July to make the most of the fantastic weather?

Here at Little Winnick we are pretty full at the moment, with only a hanful of pitches available over the next ten days - it really is lovely to see.  Our wardens who live on the park are away at the moment, and we always like to have someone on the park so we are camping (I know, twice in a week!).  This time it is all of us.  We have stretched to an electric hook up this week so we can listen to Glastonbury on the radio when the girls are in bed whilst listening to the river and watching the stars.  Sounds Lovely doesn't it?!  It is!  I am testing out a new canping kitchen and gas stove - so far so good.  We had sausages last night and bacon this morning.  It was in fact sweet cured bacon from Kittow Butchers who supply our shop.  Wow it was good!  We are stocking their sausages and bacon in the shop.

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.

Beauties of Cornwall

This week has been wonderful, we have had some lovely interesting guests staying, we have an amazing day exploring Boscastle and we had the honour of showing Malcolm Bell - head of Visit Cornwall around our new facilities and to cap it off I have just read in the visitor book that someone has written "Probably the best site we have ever stayed!"

Sometimes when you are running a holiday park you get so bogged down with bookings, inquires, cleaning and everything else that goes with a campsite that you forget the reason the majority of people are coming to you is they are on holiday and they want to relax and get away from everything.  This week I have had the pleasure of enjoying the park on a number of warm long evenings and it is not an exaggeration to say that is brought a little tear to my eye when you see people just enjoying themselves, kicking back and relaxing.  We had a group of four huge German motor homes in on Tuesday for a few days, they are so big they have their scooters stored inside them.  Amazing pieces of kit.  Our German friends had a wonderful time; so much so many other guests joined them for a glass or two of wine.  Their leader made me a laugh a lot though as she was just blown away by our 'fizzy cider'!

This week we ventured over to Boscastle.  It took about 50 minutes to drive to but it was well worth it.  What a magical place.  The small harbour more recently is known for the terrible floods, however it has long been a 'must visit' place.  You park in the centre of a small village, not dissimilar to many a Cornish village but as you walk past the Museum of Witchcraft

and over the small bridge you realise this is no ordinary Cornish village.  The clear turquoise waters make you feel like you are in the Mediterranean but then you see the Cornish fisherman tinkering with their nets.  Carry on up over the inner harbour (this is not for pushchairs or those unsteady on their feet) and you will be blessed with the most amazing views - truely sensational.  We had clear skies and and hardly any wind and it was the most beautiful place.

After exploring the harbour we indulged in some lunch.  Fresh caught crab sandwiches.  Oh my word.  They were delicious.  Now since I moved here and read Tessa Hainsworth books Up with the Larks, a lovely true story about a lady who moves down to Cornwall to become a postlady, who enjoys fresh lobster I have had a hankering for lobster.  So after chatting with the lovely ladies in Boscastle Fishing Company we took the plunge and invested in a fully dressed one.  It was a lovely treat and something you have to do when so close to the coast.

This week we saw the installation of the radio throughout the new toilet and shower facilities.  A guest just commented that even if it is raining you could pop in and have a lovely shower and listen to the radio!  Talking of toilets; I had the honour of showing Malcolm Bell, head to Visit Cornwall around the facilities on Wednesday with the aim of sharing with other parks and highs and lows of building such an enormous building.

If you are thinking of coming in the school holidays it really is worth booking to avoid disappointment.  We have a handful of pitches left the first week of August and limited availability throughout the rest of the month so please do get in contact if you are hoping to stay with us,

Reviewed & Rewarded

All our hard work building brand new facilities on the park this winter have been rewarded with our latest AA Quality Standard 2015 inspection as we have been upgraded to Four Pennants.  We are so pleased and grateful that the inspectors liked the new facilities.  They were particularly impressed with the cleanliness of the new facilities and commented on the impressive family bathroom and disabled facilities.  Coupled with this we have had some lovely reviews on Pitchup.com, ukcampsite.co.uk, and Facebook.  If you stay with us please do leave us a review - we read them all and they help other guests when booking to stay.

This week has been a mixed bag of weather.  Monday we were hit by high winds, which saw me having to try and remove a tree from the middle of the road on the way home after the evening in reception.  Obviously myself and the two other people who tried to move the tree were never realistically going to lift a tree...but we tried!  Luckily cars could just squeeze past it.  After the storm has come the sun.  It has been glorious.  On Wednesday we walked to Charlestown and had a lovely lunch at The Rashleigh; Richard had a burger and lobster and I had a crab and lobster sandwich.  We can highly recommend the Rashleigh, they cater well for everyone with a lovely children's menu and enclosed garden suitable for dogs and children.  We then walked on down to the harbour and enjoyed an ice cream on the beach.

It really is an ideal time to visit Cornwall especially if you prefer it when it is a bit quieter, but want to make the most of the gloriously long days.  If you are bringing your four legged friends with you why not make the most of the local area.

Dog Friendly Beaches:

Caerhays Beach - or Porthluney as it is also known is a lovely bay, with the Caerhays Castle as it back drop.  The settled cove is often very warm even when there is a breeze as it is nicely tucked away.

Par Beach - This long sandy beaches has a number of carparks and toilet facilities.  The beautiful beach is a short drive but well worth an explore.

Polstreath Beach - for those more adventurous and after a quiet secluded beach then venture to Polstreath,  Accessed via the South West Coastal Path, this side of Mevagissey it is a bit of a walk and the final descent to the beach is via steep steps, but the walk will reward you with a quiet, dog friendly haven.

Dog Friendly Attractions:

The Lost Gardens of Heligan - walkable from the campsite via teh cycle trail, up the old coach road to Heligan House.  The walk is all up hill and takes about 40 minutes, but it will be all down hill on the way home!  Dogs are welcomed at Heligan.

The Eden Project - whilst The Eden Project says it is dog friendly it is worth noting that you cannot take dogs into the Biomes (the big greenhouses) and as this is the main attraction you will miss quite a lot.  You can of courses take them around the vast outdoor gardens which in itself will take the good part of a day.

Lappa Valley - a family steam train attraction with steam train rides, a huge array of play equipment and rides for young and old to enjoy are dog friendly - even allowing logs to travel on the trains.

Dog Friendly Pubs:

The Ship Inn, Pentewan is walking distance from the park down the Pentewan Cycle Trail.  About a 20 minute away, along a flat wheelchair and pushchair friendly track.  If you are going to come home late take a torch as the trail is very, very dark with no street lights!

The Polgooth, a good 45 minute walk away or a 10 minute drive away this proper Cornish Inn provides excellent food along with good Cornish ales.  Well worth a visit.

The Fountain Inn - Mevagissey is a true Cornish fishman's pub, although small it provides a brilliant atmosphere, great food and a warm welcome.