Our Family Trip To Cornwall - What We Did, Where We Stayed, What We Loved And What Didn't Quite Go To Plan

It's been a little while now since we've been back from our trip to Cornwall with my in-laws and my sister-in-law Ellie. I shared a video of our highlights from our trip on my youtube channel, but I'm only just now getting around to sharing some of the photos I took. With all the renovation work that we've had going on, plus my gastro issue that's decided it's going to flare up again, life has just sort of been whizzing by. 

Cornwall was really lovely - it was so nice to escape the chaos of the renovation work being done at home and just get away with family and switch off for a while. Though, I have to say that we did end up having a few stressful events like managing to follow Apple maps down a road that turned out not to be a road at all and getting the car stuck in the middle of woodland with no signal. I had to squeeze my way out of the car and help Adam reverse the long windy track back. That was certainly a moment to remember!

And then there was beaching the car in the sand at the beach! Adam initially thought he could dig us out with a kids spade that we'd just bought for the boys, but in the end it took a tow from a land rover and quite a lot of help from kind passers by. The funniest part was getting a huge cheer from people on the beach who'd been watching when we finally got the car unstuck from the sand! 

And then there was the matter of getting a parking ticket at the beach whilst Adam and I were squabbling over something (literally the worst time to get a parking ticket ever!!). 

But the important thing is is that we look back at each of those things now and we just laugh - I mean at least we can say that Cornwall was certainly eventful eh?! 

Lanhydrock
One of the first places we visited in Cornwall was a stunning property called Lanhydrock. It's a late Victorian country house with gardens and wooded estate located in Bodmin. It's also a National Trust property and so as National Trust members we didn't have to pay any extra to get in which was great. If you're ever in the area then Lanhydrock is absolutely worth visiting, it's just stunning and there's SO much to see and look at. It's a fantastic way to spend a few hours. 

There's also a great cafe to grab some lunch and a fab play park for the children there too (located next to the toilets). I didn't really take a lot of photos inside as I was too busy looking at everything, but I did capture some footage of the inside which you can see in my video if you'd like to see. And we took plenty of photos outside in the grounds as you can see below. 

(If you can't already tell by the number of photos of it. ;).)  We loved this secret door area with the greenery growing around the top it

Bodmin Jail
Another place that we visited which wasn't too far from where we stayed (Camelford) was Bodmin Jail. I love anything with a bit of history and I had been so excited to visit Bodmin Jail, but I think that my expectations were perhaps a bit too high. It was an interesting place to go and spend an hour but I'd had in my head that we'd be looking around real old jail cells and sadly we weren't. They were all closed off as the building is so old and so it's no longer safe. I heard they are potentially going to be making the building with the old cells into a feature hotel which will be really cool, but at the moment it's a bit disappointing when you go expecting to be able to walk around the old cells.

That said, there is lots to read about and things to look at. You'll certainly learn a few stories from years gone by which will shock you. But if you go with children it can be difficult to read everything. However, it's worth a visit if you're on your own or with other adults and you're interested in learning about some of Bodmin's previous inmates and their past convictions and sentences.

Port Isaac 
We visited Port Isaac for my Mother-in-Law's birthday as she wanted to go and see where Doc Martin was filmed and it was absolutely beautiful. Everywhere we turned were idilyic pretty Cornwall coastal views and the little streets you walked down were full of lovely little family-run shops and cafes where you could buy rock, or cornish pastries and such. Port Isaac really is such a picturesque town you can totally see why it was chosen as a filming location. It's a must visit if you're ever close!

All of us (we asked a passerby to take a photo for us). 

Adam with his sister Ellie.

The boys really enjoyed playing down by the waterfront, Ethan collected shells whilst Logan enjoyed digging the sand and putting it in his bucket.

Doc Martin's house in the TV series. 

The views at Port Isaac are all so picturesque, I absolutely recommend a visit if you are ever near the area. It's nice to also grab a Cornish pasty or an ice cream and just sit for a while if the weather is nice. We actually found several great places around Cornwall that offered amazing meat-free pasty's. 

Polzeath Beach
We found that the best beach near to us from Camelford was definitely Polzeath beach. The car parking was really close and we always managed to find a spot (though it was during term time that we were there). The sand was lovely and there was a stream of seawater running across the sand which meant that we could be quite far back from the actual sea and the boys could play in the water far more safely then if we were closer to the seafront, which took the pressure off a bit.

There were also nearby toilet facilities (though you do need about 20p or 30p to access these) and also shops and a bar to get a drink. My mother in law, sister in law and I found a perfect spot on the bar terrace to have a nice cocktail on our last afternoon before heading home which looked over at the beach and the sea and it was amazing!

Daddy fell straight asleep at the beach and was snoring and everything! 

Building sandcastles with the boys. 

Cocktails on the bar terrace at the beach on our last day. 

Adam used his creative flair to make probably the most awesome sand castle I've ever seen for the boys. 

The Old Post Office

If you have a National Trust membership then The Old Post Office in Tintagel is worth a visit. It's a Grade 1 listed 14th century stone house and though it doesn't take very long to walk around, it's really interesting and full of history. The cottage garden out the back is also really lovely, it's full of beautiful flowers and it reminded me a bit of a secret garden as you could walk around the flowers and plants and find little-hidden spots to just sit and take some time to chill. We're going quite modern in our new garden at home, but gardens like these will always be my very favourite. (I'd just never be able to keep all the flowers alive if they were mine!).

Bodmin and Wenford Railway
The boys love travelling by train and so they were really excited when we took them to Bodmin and Wenford railway station to ride the steam train. We literally only took a short trip back and forth but it was just nice to show the boys the old steam train. They loved having their lunch on the train too.

Padstow
On one of our days in Cornwall Adam's parents had kindly offered to take the boys to the beach so that Adam and I could have some couple-time, so we took a couple of hours to go and have a wander around a little fishing village called Padstow. Padstow is a lovely little village to go and have a wander around and grab a bit to eat. There are lots of lovely shops to wander around and places to grab a drink to just chill for a bit. There are two lovely little ice cream places that we saw that serve all different flavours of ice cream and we also found a few places that served amazing meat-free Cornish pasties too.

Throughout our trip we stayed in the most amazing Air Bnb - it was a Victorian 4 bedroom house called Cobbetts that has been restored and we were all wow'ed as soon as we walked through the door. The decor was grand yet modern and just so completely perfect. The house felt huge, there were so many rooms and so much space. It was definitely the perfect place to stay as a big family. I'm so glad we had it as our base.

#Dadlife 

  

Cornwall was really lovely - it's such a pretty part of the UK and we'd definitely like to return sometime in the future for another family trip.

Watch our video: 

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Thank you for reading. 

Alex xo