Saturday 8 June 2019

A Half Term Break

Hello, thank you for dropping in and please excuse my absence.  A few hours after I published my last post the Best Beloved and I loaded up the car and set off on the long drive to The Lizard for a half term Cornish camping holiday. 

I had booked a lovely campsite which I'd found online and it surpassed our expectations.  It was quite small and very well-kept, bordered by hedges and established trees and we were almost deafened by birdsong the whole time we were there.  Here's the view from my dining table on the evening of our arrival.


Cornwall was beautiful, in and out of the sunshine.  The hawthorn trees in the hedges were still bearing their magnificent white blossom, unlike here in Shropshire, and the lanes were lined with frothy white Queen Anne's lace and pink campion.  I really wanted to get out of the car and take photographs but the lanes were too narrow for that to be feasible.  I was almost giddy with delight.  We went to the beach on our first day there, of course we did, even though it was so misty that we couldn't see much and I had to zip my fleece right up to my chin to keep out the wind, and we sat at a picnic bench outside the café and drank hot tea and I ate a hot pasty out of a paper bag while we watched wetsuit-wearing swimmers, surfers and kayakers, hardier than us.  I couldn't have felt happier.


After that day, the weather brightened.  We went to picturesque Cadgwith and ate crab sandwiches at The Cadgwith Cove Inn and we went to Kennack Sands and sat on the beach in glorious sunshine, him napping and me reading.  We went to a pretty tea garden and ate a cream tea - and please don't be shocked, but even though I was in Cornwall I ate it the Devonian way, cream first and jam on top.  In the evenings we sat in our tent and drank wine, chatted to each other, listened to children playing and I read my book.  It was idyllic.









The main purpose of our trip was to visit the churchyard in Crantock.  My dear friend Mary moved back near there in 2011 after living in Shropshire for almost twenty years, and the last time I saw her was during our Cornish holiday in 2016.  That day, she took us to visit the church in Crantock and showed us the grave where her parents and daughter are buried; she told me that she intended her ashes to be interred there too, and showed me how she had worded the inscription on the headstone so that all that would need to be added would be the date of her death, "if anyone's interested," she said.  I told her that I would be interested and that I would visit her.  Just after Christmas I learned that she died last year,  so I felt the need to honour my promise and that's why we took this trip.  The Best Beloved discreetly and thoughtfully made himself scarce while I sat beside the grave and said my goodbyes. 


While I was packing for this trip, I found my missing book!  Typically, it was in a place which I had looked in the previous day, and the day before that, but I was obviously looking with what my friend calls "man eyes"!  So, next time I can definitely share this year's books with you.
See you soon.
Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x

24 comments:

  1. A perfect camping holiday by the look of it and lots of time to read. Glad you had time to visit your friends grave. Looks like a beautiful spot. B x

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  2. Cream first, jam on top is fine by me! Your photos are beautiful! And I have to tell You, I only have one photo on my latest post and it is so much like your first one here that it is uncanny!

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    1. I've had a look - it's uncanny! I'd like to say that great minds think alike! I'm glad to find another cream firster. x

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    2. Thanks for taking the time to compare our photos, it is true, great minds to think alike! And honestly, I love scones anyway...my very favorite are the cheese scones! :-)
      And I forgot to say, that I am sorry about the loss of your friend. It is hard to say goodbye to good friends. xx

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    3. Thank you Kay. It is hard. x

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  3. What a lovely break you had, and Cornwall looks so beautiful.
    My mouth is watering at the scones. I always eat them the Jules way - no cream! X

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    1. I'm fine with just butter and jam but I really can't do jam straight on top of scone. x

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  4. What a super break! Tt all looks delightful and it was lovely that you could spend some time in the churchyard remembering your friend. The scone looks delicious, you can't go to Cornwall or Devon and not have a cream tea:)

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    1. I had three food requirements: a pasty, a cream tea and a crab sandwich and all those boxes were ticked. It really was a super break. x

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  5. What a lovely break away, really does sound idyllic and so nice that you were able to fulfill a promise and visit your friends grave.

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    1. It's always a risk going camping in May, especially to an unknown campsite, but the weather was kind and the site was a gem. It was just super. x

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  6. I'm envious seeing your photos and hearing all about your holiday, I love Cornwall, we've spent many happy weeks there, it's a lovely place to get away from it all. How lovely that you managed to fulfil your promise to your friend and not only that but you got to say your goodbyes to her too. You have me craving a cream scone now, but it's the Cornish way for me, jam first.

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    1. If only Cornwall weren't so far away - and it's an even longer drive for you. I had a cream tea in North Wales last year where the scones arrived at the table with jam already spread on them, I was SO disappointed! x

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  7. How wonderful to spend a holiday in Cornwall, it's a bit of a trek but definitely worth it when you get there especially if it's sunny and sparkly. Scones are always welcome in my book, as you know! So glad your book turned up, where do they go when we're not watching them! x

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    1. Definitely worth it, Karen. Honestly, I've no idea how these books escape but they turn up in the oddest places. x

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  8. You have some great holiday memories there. I am glad you honoured your friend. You must have been true friends. Jo xx

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    1. She was thirty-eight years older than me, Jo, but her mindset certainly wasn't. After her only child died I used to take her a card and flowers on Mothering Sunday and she referred to me as "my adopted daughter". When she told me she was moving to Cornwall I went home and cried. x

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  9. It sounds like you had a lovely time, I love that you sat chatting with your husband, precious. One day when the teens have moved on, I'm hoping we'll still have things to chat about. Of course we will, he'll chat about cars, Land Rovers and cats. I'll talk about food, craft and cats. I'm sure we'll also chat about gardening, church, holidays and more.
    Ooh those scones look delicious, I love butter, jam, then cream which may be totally uncouth. Take care, Cathy x

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    1. When my younger daughter moved out, I explained to the Best Beloved that it was now his job to chat to me and, more importantly, to listen to me! He looked quite shocked, it really hadn't occurred to him. He does his best but mostly just asks me a question and then lets me prattle on - I've told him that that's a cop out. Butter, jam and cream doesn't sound uncouth to me but it does sound decadent! x

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  10. I'm glad that you had a lovely time and all the things on your list were ticked off. It's a long journey there and back to The Lizard coastal area, but Cornwall is a such beautiful county.

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    1. Thanks Linda. I've spent many a rainy day in Cornwall but this time, it only rained at night once I was nice and cosy inside the tent so I didn't care. I love Cornwall. x

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  11. What a lovely deed you did in visiting your friend. I'm sure her spirit is out there somewhere and knows of your kindness towards her. Glad you saw sense and ate you scone in the correct fashion! x

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