A visit to Cornwall in The View from the Terrace

We have been away for just over a week with very limited internet access so I have a lot of catching up to do with my reading. I will get to everyone eventually, so please bear with me!

We had a week’s holiday in Cornwall staying at a caravan site at Holywell Bay, ten minutes walk from a beautiful beach. The beach was featured on the Poldark TV series and looked gorgeous; I was excited to find the site so close to it.

We have visited Cornwall many times but never before in the spring. We wanted to visit some of the beautiful spring gardens that we have seen on the TV, but this year spring has been so late coming that I was really worried it might still be cold and damp for our holiday. Then a few days before we were due to go the weather changed and spring arrived at last. I even managed to get Hubby to dig up one part of our lawn so that I could sow a wild flower garden there before going away.

The day we travelled down, April 20, was the hottest April day since 1949 but, to be on the safe side, I packed both cool clothes and warm clothes and also an electric blanket just in case. Just after arriving in Cornwall we stopped at Jamaica Inn for a cream tea. There were people sitting outside in the sunshine.

We arrived at the holiday park in the late afternoon. As we approached we noticed a mist was coming down; the weather in Cornwall has a way of going from one extreme to the other in a very short time.The site is in a valley down a winding road; by the time we were at the bottom it was really chilly. Undeterred, after unpacking; a quick trip to the site shop for a few things that we couldn’t bring with us like milk and cheese; and a drink and a snack, we walked down to the beach.

It was really quite mystical. We couldn’t see the sea until we were a few feet from it, but we could hear the roar of the waves pounding to shore. There were rugged rocks jutting out to the left and the beach stretched out on our right. I knew there were two great rocks just out in the sea but we couldn’t see them, then suddenly the mist lifted for a moment and there they were. They are known as the Gull Rocks, the brochure said, because the seagulls nest there. I took a few photos, although I didn’t have a lot of hope of them being much good on such a dull misty night but I hoped they may capture the atmosphere.

One intrepid surfer made his way down to the water. I wouldn’t have gone in the sea on an evening like that for anything.

Saturday was another glorious, hot, sunny day; we made our way back down to the beach. It was about a ten minute walk, down a little lane, across sand dunes, over a little bridge,

round a wet, marshy bit then over another bridge to a narrow valley with a stream flowing along one side and a grassy, sandy hill on the other. Everyone else had had the same idea. There were families sitting by the stream watching their children paddle in it, people with dogs, young men with surfboards and older couples walking together. This time I was able to take clear photos. We decided to walk up a broad, sandy path to the top of the grassy hill to see the view.

When we reached the summit the whole of the bay was stretched out beneath us with the sea sparkling in the sunshine.

We strolled down towards the caves at the north end of the beach. In one of them is a well that the bay takes it name from. I had heard about how beautiful it is and that it has healing powers. We explored several caves but couldn’t find anything resembling the pictures I had seen on the internet.



I think Hubby should have used flash for that one!

We were getting tired and hungry by now so we went back to our caravan to make some lunch and spent the afternoon lazing in the sunshine.

The site brochure said we must go to the beach in the evening to watch the sun set behind the rocks, so we decided to do that. When we got there, at about 7.30, the beach was still full of people. Many were on their way back after having been there all day. I don’t blame them as it was more like summer than spring. Other people had, like us, come down for the sunset. There were a group of young people on the hilltop who had lit a bonfire. Gradually the sun went down behind the rocks throwing it’s deep pink reflection across the sea. It was very beautiful.

We walked back up to the caravan in the twilight discussing our plans for the next day. I will write about that later as our next day has an entirely different atmosphere.

Last updated May 04, 2018