Toddlertastic

Today it is finally raining after weeks of unbroken sunshine, which we are pleased about as we have laid grass seed around the building project and would like it to have a good water now.  In other places grass is being dug today; as I type at 5.15pm on a Friday afternoon the new 'toddler tower' has just arrived from Derbyshire and is being installed into the play area.  It is a slide and climbing wall for our toddling guests which is very exciting.  Our youngest member of the family started walking this week so I am certain I know two little people who will test the new play equipment out.

Talking of testing things out we have been trying out the cycle trails that lead from the park.  I have acquired a bike trailer, so I have had great fun towing our girls along the trail - I even have the sore muscles to prove it as it some weight I am pulling along.  We had a lovely cycle up through the Kings Wood to River Valley Holiday Park towards St Austell, our other touring park, to visit Auntie Alison.  It was such a lovely ride that Bethany managed to doze off.  Then another day we had an adventure down to Pentewan.  The trail is flat so it is an ideal ride for novices like myself or for younger riders learning how to ride.  So don't forget to pack your bike when you come and stay, or if you can't fit it in then you can always hire from Pentewan Cycles.  If booked in advance they will deliver to the park for you and collect them.

We feel like we are on the home straight of the toilet block project now.  All the tarmacing around the new building is complete, we have ceilings going up in the laundry room ready for the washing machines to be installed next week.  The carpenters are installing the cubicles in the gents and work on finishing the skylights in there is complete too.  The cladding of the building has begun which is a long slow process, but it looks very nice and we have started painting the outside too.  We are now heading towards the finishing touches, which I cannot tell you what a relief that is after a very, very long winter.  I am off all over St Austell collecting mirrors, toilet brushes, ordering toilet roll and cleaning products - it really is a glamorous job!

That say I did have a more glamorous experience this week and one I cannot recommend enough.  My friend and I managed to re-home the children for the day and headed to Fowey Hall Hotel - ironically a very child friendly hotel.  We were treated to an hour long massage and facial and then proceeded to sit in the outside hot tub over looking Fowey and the sea for 2 hours (we were a bit wrinkly when we got out).  Followed by the biggest afternoon tea I have ever seen.  It was a belated birthday treat and what a treat it was.  If you are looking for a special afternoon whilst staying at Little Winnick Touring Park then why not check out one of the spas near by.  As well as Fowey Hall, there is The Cornwall just up the road or Watergate Bay Hotel on the north coast has a stunning spa on the top of the cliffs.

Finally my most exciting news of the week is the two new recruits that will be joining us here at Little Winnick.  Lady and Bird.  They are too bantam hens, who are very tame and friendly.  They are at our cottages at the moment, Tregongeeves, but once we get opened they will be part of the welcoming committee here and tonight I am off home to set up the incubator my mother in law gave me today.  I am not sure how happy Richard is about this, it is all part of my cunning plan to acquire a few more feathered friends!

Finally sorry for the lack of photographs in the blog, I had taken some and my camera ended up at home and I am at the office...next time!

Competition time, oh and the sun is out

So last blog I launched our competition for you to win a free ice cream!  We have Postman Pat obsessed children who love getting things in the post, but these days there is not much post - so we are asking you, are lovely blog readers to send us a postcard from where ever you happen to be and in return we will give you a free ice cream when you come and stay.  It really is a win win situation - you make two little girls day and we give you an ice cream!

I cannot tell you the delight at the postcards we have already received - trying to spot Fuzzy the bear was fun and the safari postcards caused great excitement!  Please send all postcards to:
Miss J&B Clemo, Little Winnick Touring Park, Pentewan, Cornwall, PL26 6DL.  Thank you!

In other news we have been blessed with wall to wall sunshine this week.  In fact on Wednesday we decided to head to Pentewan Beach - Little Winnick's nearest beach.  I stupidly told Jess we were going to beach, so we ended up there at 8.45am she was so excited.  Funnily enough we were the first people on the beach - it was glorious having the beach to ourselves with the tide right out.  With such a low tide brought with it some interesting discoveries on the beach - we spotted two huge jelly fish.  Apparently there are a lot of them off our coastline at the moment.  So that was the morning, we popped up to see Granny for a few hours, she has two new lambs so we went to see them at Tregongeeves Farm Cottages - Olaf and Elsa are bottle fed so quite tame.  We then headed back to the beach for tea - a fantastic barbecue and a beer with friends.  The temperature stayed high until gone 7.30pm so we felt very spoilt.

Work on the park is continuing.  The cladding is going up as I type.   We have now had all the new tarmac laid and we have sown grass seed where we have been digging.  Currently we have a trench dug so we can relay the tv aerial to the hard standing pitches on the river bank side of the park.  We are also excitedly waiting the installation of some extra play equipment - a toddler slide and climbing wall.   I know two little people who will test that out for everyone!

Spring Sun & Competition Time

View from Coastguard Hut

Breakfast. Yum

What. A. Scorcher.  Yippeeee.  We are all nursing slightly burnt noses in the Clemo household today having spent the afternoon celebrating Bethany's first birthday with a BBQ in the garden.  We were truly bless with amazing weather.  We have just about managed to put the toys back in the rightful places, collected all the balls from the ball pool and gathered up all the missing eggs from the Easter Egg Hunt!  Back to work tomorrow for a rest.

We have had a brilliant few days sharing it with visiting and local friends.  We enjoyed breakfast in the Coastguard Lookout at Caerhays - I have mentioned this before but it was the first time we have cooked there.  We took our own stove and had bacon and egg sandwiches with cups of tea. The view is staggering - it was really a fantastic treat.  We then walked the coastal path to Portholland to look at the film set - they start filming Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children in the next couple of weeks.  It was amazing looking around, we were tapping walls to see if they were real (they were not) and spent ages trying to work out which buildings had been added and which were always there.

We enjoyed a lovely cup of tea and cake in the Pebbles Cafe.  The lovely cafe is well worth a visit - take cash as they do not accept cards and take a bit extra for the wonderful crafts they create and sell too.

Pebbles Cafe Portholland

Film set

COMPETITION TIME

Now, down to the business of the the aforementioned competition! Each week I write the blog, I love doing it and love visiting places to tell you about.  In return for the blogs we would like your help.  We have a Postman Pat OBSESSED two and half year old who each day runs to letter box to collect the post when it is delivered as in her world every post person is Pat and has a cat called Jess with them!  So, I am asking all blog readers to make a little girls day simply by...

Please can you send Jessica (aged 2 1/2)and Bethany (aged 1) a postcard from where ever you are, near or far.  In return we will give anyone who visits us in the 2015 season who has sent a postcard a free ice cream of your choice. Please help make their days!

Please send postcards to Miss J & B Clemo, Little Winnick Touring Park, Pentewan, Cornwall, PL26 6DL.  Thanks x

A spring in our step

There is a real feeling of spring around the place right now ans the daffodils are out in full glory.  The rally are having a lovely time with a trip out last night to Jamaica Inn and many more activities planned over the weekend.  There are even more happier now the gale force winds have dropped down - it was pretty windy here mid week.

Work on the park has quietened down whilst we have the rally in - however next week sees a long list of people onsite.  The middle of the week we have the tarmacers in, along with flooring people, electrians and carpenters.  This week has been a bit odd with not much visible building work happening, given we have been a building site for almost 6 months it felt very quiet.  The new facilities are being given a good testing by our rally and we have had great feed back.

The family bathroom

This week we took yet another visit to The Lost Gardens of Heligan - their Easter activities were brilliant, so much to do for the children; we made a rabbit mask, mud nest (not loved that much by us at home!), did an Easter egg trail, painted eggs and much more.  I had a bit of a scare as my fearless child decided to hurtled out of control down a very steep hill.  Time for me was in slow motion as I realised she couldn't stop.  A very dramatic crash followed by lots of people running to our aid.  Luckily the crash helmet took the majority of the fall and the damp weather meant she had plenty of layers on cushion her fall.  There were huge amounts of tears but that was because I told her she had to push her bike and couldn't ride it!  Mummy was more traumatised by the incident than Jessica.

The ladies

The disable bathroom

This weekend we have friends visiting, they are pasty lovers so tomorrow we have promised them pasties by the sea.  We have in the past held the pasty championships with these friends where we brought pasties from all over the place to test them out to see who is the best.  We will be doing the same tomorrow in round two of pasty championships and of course the results we feature in next weeks blog.

Monday sees our youngest daughter turn one - I have no idea where that year has gone.  So we are having an Easter Egg Hunt and a BBQ, just hoping for good weather.  We wish you a Happy Easter where ever you are in country and hope you enjoy some sun too.

WE DID IT!

So we did it, against all the odds; the Cornish winter weather, late concrete, changing foundations and much more, yesterday we opened for the 2015 season.  We welcomed in the Devon and Cornwall Caravan Centre in for their annual Easter Rally.

I would be fibbing if I said it has been plain sailing and I can assure you there have been many late nights wondering how on earth we were going to ready for the Rally who have the whole park booked out - but we did it.  It was really down to the wire though.  I booted out the plumbers from the family bathroom at 4pm yesterday giving me enough time to give it a good clean.  The ladies look amazing, and as I said in the last blog are a dream to clean.  For the purposes of this rally the men are using the family bathroom and disabled bathroom as the gents is not ready for them.  I am so proud of the family bathroom.  As a family run park we love children and now we have a family bathroom I would happily enjoy a good bath time in.  There is a lovely bath for little people to have a good splash about in - I must get some bubble bath for the shop!

Talking of the shop it is now fully stocked.  In fact this morning I had to sample the pan au chocolates - purely for customer research - we would not want to serve sub quality things!  Fresh from the local bakers they were as yummy as ever.  I have extended our shop range this year, with a selection of baby food and snacks, dog food and a wide selection of cereals, plus all the usual things we have.  Obviously the ice cream is well stocked and again I will sample that for you soon!

Practice Run

the moment your little sister tries to take your donut!

Every season you have movements that you will remember for getting a bit more emotional than you should.  Today I had a tear in my eye as I cleaned the sign, ready to welcome guests tomorrow.  I don't know why but I got a stomach full of butterflies anticipating the season in front of us, the park is starting to come to life and that is what it is all about for us.  We are fully booked out to the Devon and Cornwall Caravan Club for their Easter Rally.  This is the second Easter we have welcomed them.  It is a 'soft ' opening for ten days for the club, after which we will close again to complete the works on the park.

Today I have been cleaning the new ladies facilities and my what a building it is.  There are seven toilets, three toilet and sink units and 7 showers.  Anyone who has visited us before might know that our old facilities were a cleaning challenge with lots of glass - however the new building is a dream to clean.  We are so proud of it and hope you like it too.  Tomorrow sees the family and disabled toilets handed over to us from the builders so we can crack on and clean them.  The dish washing area is now complete too, in fact I have been utilizing the hot water today for my buckets of water.

The men's facilities now have roof lights, a drying floor, all pipes and electrics in and are ready for the builders to finish after Easter.  So, as you can imagine we are exhausted, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel almost now.

This week I have also had an old school friend staying with us and we have been on some great adventures.  My favourite outing saw us start with breakfast at Gylly's Beach Cafe in Falmouth.  The lovely, bustling cafe is on the edge of the town and had great views and a fantastic atmosphere.  We had a lovely Cornish Breakfast which included the traditional Hogs Pudding.  The cakes caught our eye and we followed up breakfast with a donut chaser!  Oh. My. Word.  The donuts were the best we have ever eaten.  Cooked fresh at the cafe each day they were amazing.  

After breakfast we walked around the grounds of Pendennis Castle.  It was a beautiful walk with breathtaking views in all directions.  We followed this with a stroll around the delightful town of Falmouth and invested in a large quantity of fudge (because we had not eaten enough!).  We then took the King Harry Ferry to St Mawes and visited St Mawes Castle, followed by a fantastic drive around the Roseland, arriving just in time for afternoon tea at The Lost Gardens of Heligan.  En route we tried to go via Portholland but couldn't as the small village is currently being transformed for the filming of a Hollywood movie.  After much investigation we now know they are building a whole new village in the small village car park and transforming many of the existing buildings.  It was so interesting and very exciting!

Even the kitchen sink is having an overhaul!

the ladies...nearly done!

Work is progressing at a sprinters pace at the moment.  The toilet block has really started to take shape over the last ten days with the installation of the cubicles.  We are hoping tomorrow the shower cubicles will go into the ladies, then it is final push to get in the toilet roll holders, mirrors up and a big clean next week of the ladies.

The family and disabled bathrooms are having the walls and floors put in today and then they will be fitted out early next week.  We have also seen the installation of roof lights, the sinks being plumbed into the dish washing area, the outside tap for  dog/bike washing going in place and a final push on plumbing.

The men's toilet block is coming on nicely, the quick drying solid floor was finished off today, so we can start getting the toilets in there soon.

This year we have decided to welcome the Devon and Cornwall Caravan Club Rally in for the Easter period, but then officially open on the 1st May once we have finished off the Winter improvements.  So the rally are coming in next week knowing that they will have use of limited facilities.  This rally group joined us twice last season so we are really pleased to welcome them back this year.

dish washing area

men's flooring

As well as the toilet block there is of course the rest of the park to get ready.  I have been in stocking the shop today, I am very excited about our new bread baskets (it's the simple things that make me happy).  This year we will stocking all the usual's plus dog food, baby food, camping essentials and much more.  I have also been sorting out the back office - as a family we have a room in our reception building which we use when we are on the park with children.  It has become a bit of a store room, however it is now getting a make over with a table for us to have our tea at, a television and a toy corner for the girls.

This week we have had glorious weather, the sun is really warm - in fact I even got sun burnt yesterday sitting in the garden.  We ventured to Cardinham Woods this week.  It is a really lovely spot for both families with young and older children and dog walkers.  There are a series of trails varying in length - we always do the Lady Vale walk as it is short and doable for toddler legs.  The worm trail keeps them entertained too.  There is a lovely natural play area and a beautiful cafe called Woods Cafe which offers yummy homemade cakes.  I am very excited about the woods as we have just signed up to the new Forest School running there - keep an eye out for one of events in the holidays run by the brilliant Claire.  We completed a term at a different venue before Christmas and the girls loved it so we cant wait to start again in April.