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.

Happy Christmas from Little Winnick Touring Park

Enjoying the winter beaches

We would like to wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2015.  We hope where ever and however you are celebrating you have a happy and relaxing time.  Here we shall hopefully, if the weather is on our side, start the day with breakfast on the beach - cooked on our trusty camping stove.  We are yet to decide which beach but the short list is Porthpean, Charlestown or Pentewan.  After a bacon and egg butty we will head to Richard's family for a Christmas lunch and dinner.  In the lead up to Christmas we will be visiting the big man himself at Heligan and maybe take in the decorations at The Eden Project.

Work is cracking on here at a fair rate of knots with the toilet block.  As with all building projects we have had some ups and downs already.  Last blog I said we were pleased we would only need strip foundations.  Well as we dug more out it became apparent the water table in places was just too high for this to happen.  So we are back to plan A and have been digging out for a raft foundation with vast amounts of steel in place, the concrete was poured creating a raft for the building work to get under way on.  We are really pleased with how it is going and can not wait to share with you all the end result.

The wildflower meadow

As for other work, yesterday saw 40+ laurels and various other shrubs being added to the already established planting that divides the pitches.  This will help make the pitches even more private in places than they are already.  The bottom field is starting to really take shape.  It was sown in early Autumn as a wild flower meadow with 25+ trees being planted there too.  The field is really starting to come to life and we hope it will attract an assortment of wildlife whilst providing guests with a lovely area to walk your dogs.

Steel before concrete was poured.

Winter is our time to take holidays.  At the end of November we went to Norfolk to visit my mum and dad, followed by a midweek break in Center Parcs for just the four of us - our first family holiday since Bethany joined us, it was really lovely to stop and have a well deserved break.  We ended our trip with a weekend at friends in London - I was spoilt with afternoon tea in London....a real treat!

We are also using our time wisely to visit places - obviously so we can help guests with places to suggest when you visit!  Our latest is The Beach Hut Cafe on Watergate Bay,  dog and child friendly it offers the most amazing hot chocolates and scrummy breakfasts along with lunch and dinner.  The sausages were the nicest I have had in ages.  This week sees an outing to the Eden Cafe for 'Vicar on the Fiddle'.  The local vicar has quite a well known band that plays every year in the Cafe whilst you can sip mulled cider and such delights...I am very excited about the prospect of a night out to get in the Christmas mood.  As always we are spending lots of time on the local beaches.  We went to Pentewan the other day, where strangely there was a whale that had washed up, sadly it was already dead before it came ashore, but it was quite a strange site!

Once again we wish you and your family a very Happy Christmas.

Best Wishes
Richard, Heidi, the girls and our merry band of helpers

As one door closes another one opens

We waved farewell to our very last guests yesterday after an amazing 2014 season.  But as we wave goodbye we are busy in the office as we have officially started taking bookings for 2015 as of the 1st November. (How is it the 1st November already?).  You can make bookings on online or by emailing mail@littlewinnick.co.uk or calling us on 01726 843687.  We are already looking pretty busy in August with people requesting particular pitches they like so make sure you book as soon as you can to secure your pitch.  All bookings require a 25% deposit with full payment 4 weeks prior to arrival.

This week we had good news regarding the foundations for the new building work.  We had planned for a floating raft foundation (I should put a caveat that I am no builder so if I get the terms wrong I am sorry), any how when we started digging, with a structural engineer and various other experts on site we had the welcome news we only need strip foundations (those channel ones, that normal buildings have) so that is a massive relief.  With good news come other irritations.  The week has been spent on our version of spagetti junction.  The main water and electrical cables for the site are having to be re routed, which is a head ache for the guys doing this.  New trenches have been dug and as of Friday only one more electric cable needed to be moved.

On Friday there was lots of water pumping taking place.  On top of the toilet block is a large water header tank.  This has had to be emptied as we start knocking walls down the weight would be too much until they have been re built in their new places.  We normally do this over the winter, but this year we did it a lot quicker than normal.


Saturday also saw yet more tree planting in the bottom field where we have sown the wild flower meadow.  We have now planted over 20 new trees to re landscape the open field.

As for us, well at home we are having our own building project take place over the next 8 weeks so we have been very busy preparing for that.  Poor Richard is on a building site at work and at home!  I did manage to pop to The Eden Project this week.  It was 'Halloweden' so there was lots on for children; it was nice but it has got very, very expensive for food and drink there.  We also ventured over to Lanhydrock for our second walk there in a week.  You can park for free and with bike tracks, including balance bike tracks, walks and a fantastic play area over looked by the cafe serving amazing hot chocolates it is fast becoming one of our favourites.