Visiting the Big Tights Company

Hello love bugs! When I was on holiday in Cornwall a month ago I went to meet the lovely ladies of the Big Tights Company. I've spoken to them over email a lot over the last few years and I really wanted to meet them. They were one of the first companies to deal with me as a new blogger and as such they'll always have a special place in my heart. I also think it's important to show you, my readers that the companies I work with always have a human touch - they're not nameless faceless corporations, but often women just like us.

Trenance Gardens, Newquay and OOTD

Because I've been such a slacker over the last month I have many things to share from the last 4 weeks, including my holiday to Cornwall.

One sunny day we went to Trenance Gardens, near Newquay. It's comprised of two parts either side of a main road. You arrive at the car park near a children's play park and a small cafe, and there's a lovely garden with lots of mature trees and a gorgeous rose walk on the other side of the road, along with facilities like a tea room with a large seating area and toilets. We spent about an hour in each part. It's a nice place to go if you have people of all ages you need to keep happy. It's wheelchair accessible too, which is always handy. We were a family unit consisting 3 generations and we all found something to enjoy here. Of course I was in my element soaking in the views and admiring all the flowers.

Travel | Piran Meadows Resort and Spa

Hiya!

When we went to Cornwall recently, we stayed at Piran Meadows resort and spa, a gorgeous home-from-home not far from Newquay.

James's mum and dad found a reduced 4 night break, and seven of us went on a family holiday. James and I shared a caravan with his mum and dad to share the cost, and his brother, our sister in law and our baby niece stayed in one nearby.

The word caravan doesn't do the accommodation justice though, not at all.

The park itself is beautifully landscaped with not a bit of litter to be seen anywhere. I didn't see so much as a discarded chewing gum wrapper the whole time we were there. The caravan is the most luxurious one we'd ever stayed in, and I didn't think that possible after the caravan we stayed in at Easter. As to the cleanliness when we arrived, the only way I can describe it is forensically clean. You would imagine no one had ever stayed there before you. If you pass a staff member on the site, they'll say hello and make conversation, and not the kind of 'Oh, this is my job and I hate it' conversation, but an actual 'How are you? Is everything OK for you?' conversation.

Our caravan had 2 bedrooms and 2 toilet/shower rooms. James and I had the twin room, and the beds and bedding were to die for. We've both never slept so well in our lives. In fact, coming home to our own bed has been such a frustrating experience we're going to email Piran Meadows to ask them which mattresses and bedding they use. I think I only managed to keep up with everyone else on this holiday (after the busy few weeks beforehand) because I was crashing out every night as soon as my head hit the pillow. That NEVER normally happens. I toss and turn for hours each night.

In James's mum and dad's bedroom they had an en-suite and a massive walk in wardrobe, and even in our small bedroom there was ample storage.

Our bathroom

Our bedroom

There were lots of luxurious features like a flat screen in the living room and in the main bedroom, and plenty of plug sockets everywhere. Normally on holiday in a caravan everyone is antsy to get their phones and gadgets charged up, but despite us all being tech-heads who'd taken a minimum of 2-3 gadgets each, we were fine. Not only that, but there is free wifi on the whole park! Hell yeah.

Having 2 showers and toilets was wonderful as well, as there was no morning rush to get everyone ready. There was a full size fridge-freezer in the kitchen and plenty of good quality non-stick pans, not those hideous cheap ones you usually get which get ruined the first time you use them. (If you've ever stayed in a caravan you'll know what I mean because every single caravan I've stayed in thus far (dozens of them over the years) has used the same cheap crap.) There was a fire in the living room which got roasting hot, as well as radiators and a heated towel rail in the bathroom. And luxurious fluffy white towels are already in the caravan - a bath sheet and hand towel each. The beds were already made up, and there was a welcome pack in the kitchen with tea, coffee, biscuits etc. Everything has been thought of.

We only ate onsite once but the food was to die for. SO good. There are lots of facilities - a swimming pool, onsite bar and restaurant, spa and gym, bowling lanes, pool tables, play areas for kids, etc. On some of the more expensive accommodation like the lodges, they have hot tubs on the veranda! Oh my days. There are a couple of things some people may see as drawbacks - there's no evening entertainment, and the onsite shop is tiny. I frankly hate the cheesy evening entertainment that most caravan parks have and didn't miss it at all (I didn't even note the lack of entertainment until James's mum pointed it out) and we always do the shopping at a supermarket on the way to a destination anyway.

Would we go back to Piran Meadows? HELL YES. With bells on. As soon as possible! James and I want to go back next year.

If you're heading to Cornwall and want to stay in a central location in stunning style, then Piran Meadows is for you. It's worth every penny of extra money compared to its competitors - but I don't believe it has any real competitors. Caravan holidays will never be the same now they'll be held up to this standard! I know caravan holidays have a bad rap, but this place is not a caravan park as you know it.

https://www.darwinescapes.co.uk/parks/piran-meadows-resort-spa/
https://www.darwinescapes.co.uk/

Thanks for reading,
Leah xoxo

I wrote his post entirely of my own volition and have not been compensated for it in any way.

Photo Story #9

Hiya! Happy Saturday.

Today's Photo Story is St Michael's Mount, in Cornwall. I absolutely LOVE St Michael's Mount and have been to gaze at it wistfully many times, visited a few times over the years, climbed right to the top on one occasion, and even had to be ferried back to shore in a rickety row boat many years ago, when the tide came in while we were exploring.

I think these photos were taken in 2010 when we were on holiday in Cornwall with James's parents. 

I recommend clicking on the link above if you want to read more as there are lots of gorgeous photos as well as more information.

There's something magical about the place, and I thoroughly recommend a visit if you're in South Cornwall. There's something incredibly special about walking over the causeway, knowing in a few hours it'll be covered again by the sea. You may even see the dedicated National Trust volunteers maintaining the causeway as you walk across it. And once you're there, you can't help but feel dwarfed by the castle, looming above the lush vegetation. Whether you admire it from afar or go to the top to have a closer look, it's totally entrancing. I hope to visit again soon.

Have you ever been to St Michael's Mount?

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful weekend.
Leah xoxo

Holiday Post VI - Pretty St Mawes and St Just

Hiya!

Don't worry, I'm nearly at the end of this series, which I'm sure will be of great relief those of you who still read this blog! ;)

St Mawes Castle

We didn't actually go into St Mawes Castle. If you walk downhill from the castle you will arrive at the harbour, where there are a few shops, and a couple of pubs. It's a lovely picturesque quaint little place, and if you ever get the chance, do go. As we knew the main 'prize' for the day was going to be St Just in Roseland church, we didn't walk down to the harbour, but I regret that now!

 Then we drove the few miles on to St Just church, which is absolutely spectacular with its sub-tropical vegetation and waterside location. I visited the church about 10 years ago and was keen to go back. J really enjoyed it, and we stopped and had sandwiches on a bench in the tranquil graveyard. We were visited by a cute little robin. I changed the aperture setting on the camera so the background would be blurry and passed the camera to J as he was closer to the robin. We found all the wildlife we saw in Cornwall was friendlier than you'd expect. It's not just humans who benefit from the peace and quiet!

Oops, I quite obviously did NOT take this one ;)

A gravestone from 1608

It was absolutely lovely in the church - not just in the surroundings - but the silence inside. There were lots of little gifts like bookmarks you could buy in the church, and they'd even left tea-making facilities so you could sit and have a cuppa. Everything was there to be paid for in honesty boxes. I was so touched by their trust that I got a bit weepy. Hormones!

If you're ever in this neck of the woods, you must check out this beautiful place. It'll bring you real peace.

Holiday Post V - Perranporth

Hello you!

Here I am again with a few more photos from my travels.

When we went to Perranporth it felt like 'proper' Cornwall, because there were surfers about! Because this was the first time I'd stayed near the Roseland Peninsula, it felt alien to me for a while, as it was different from my usual Cornish holidays.

J on the phone trying to spot his parents

I'm fascinated with this rock!

Years ago there was a door here you could peek through.

You'd have to be brave/stupid to walk across here

As you can see, there's another window on the right.

Me and J's mum

Perranporth was one of my favourite places on our honeymoon. Sometimes it's just nice to sit and chill in the sunshine for a few hours.

Holiday Part IV - Close encounters of the bovine kind

Hiya!

We had a couple of close encounters with cows when we were on holiday. If you're not an animal lover, please do skip this one!

I had an opinion about cows before the honeymoon. I assumed them to be personality-free animals who are as dumb as bricks. Wrong! I discovered cows are curious (as in they want to 'meet' you), clever, sometimes skittish, and that some are more dominant than others.

Cow Encounter #1 was when on the Sunday evening of our holiday. As we drove out to meet J's parents and grandparents, I noticed a farm gate and a view of rolling hills. We decided to go back that night to take photos around sunset time.

When we got there, there were about 30 cows in the field. We went up to the gate with the idea of taking some shots of the fields with the cows in the foreground, but the cows swarmed over to the gate. In the next 15 minutes we saw 2 clever cows repeatedly try to open the farm gate with their tongues to get closer to us (it was chained as well) and several cows climbed over each other (it looked like they were trying to hump each other!) to get to the front. I put my hand out to touch them on their muzzles (if that's the right name for a cow face in between the eyes and their wet noses) and they were sniffing me like crazy and trying to lick me.

Onto the photos. As ever you can click on them for larger images.

This cow was mean looking

Cow Encounter #2 was a bit more scary at first.

We'd been to Perranporth and on the way back I asked to stop off just before we got to Mevagissey to take photos of the viewpoint of rolling Mevagissey hills and Pentewan beach, which is probably my favourite view in the UK. There are a few places to pull the car in, so we stopped at the one in the middle and walked down the hill a bit as the view was better there. I noticed a very overgrown coast path in between two giant bits of greenery and we started off down it. We soon came to a gate and signs for the coast path. We decided to go into a farmer's field to follow the path for a while as the view was outstanding. There were cows in the field. I got no more than 6 feet into the field before two cows - who were as tall as me up to the shoulder - started RUNNING towards me at speed. I had no idea cows could move so fast. I yelled at J behind me to run, and we got back to the gate just in time.

This was the gate I had to scarper back to

I'm watching you-hoo!

These cows were even more curious about me than the previous ones. I know they didn't want to hurt me, they were just coming over to say hello, but they still could've done me some damage if they'd run into me. They were taking deep sniffs of me and desperately trying to lick me. I'd put my hand out so far then jump back when they tried to lick me, which would scare them a bit, so they'd jump back too. I had my foot on the bottom bar of the gate and one of the cows started licking my shoe, so I put my foot out farther to see what it would do. It took my foot and shoe in its mouth and gently brought it down, not trying to bite me (besides which, cows only have top teeth at the very back, so it couldn't have bitten me anyway) but a bit similar to when a big dog puts its teeth gently around your wrist, to size you up, to investigate. I ended up with a slobbery foot and in a fit of giggles.

I was ambivalent about cows before, but now I'm a big fan.....but I still won't be getting into a field full of them any time soon! P.S. Stay upwind!

Have you got a fascination with a 'strange' animal?