St Michael's Mount, Marazion, Cornwall

On our way to the Minack Theatre we drove by the turning for St Michaels' Mount and you could see the island from the main road. I know I'm sad but I got properly excited! Our original plan was to head to the Mount on Friday as we knew that it was closed on Saturday but due to the aforementioned car problems we had to change our plans.

If you are heading to the Mount then you do need to check the website for opening times and the times of the tide so you know whether you'll be walking or getting the boat. It's a lovely island but I don't know that I'd want to be stranded there :) We made sure that we got there early enough to walk over when the the tide was out and parked right by the beach at a cost of £5 for the entire day. This was our first view:

The path over to the Mount is quite rocky so my white, battered converse were not my best idea. It was also packed, which I was naively surprised at thinking no one would be interested in going when it was closed.....

As everything was closed we could only have a potter around the harbour but it's a cute place:

The sea is sooooo clear that you can see the fishes:

There was some amazing flora and fauna too. I just loved these succulents:

Unfortunately I only got a couple more shots:

We did go back later that evening though to see if it looked any different with the tide in:

Just gorgeous! I can't wait to go back and explore properly.

Minack Theatre, Porthcurno, Cornwall

My OH and I talk about travel a lot and I would say it was one of the first things that we discovered we had in common. For the entirety of the time that I have known him he has told me stories of one of the greatest theatres in the world and how amazing it is, so when we first started discussing a child free weekend in Cornwall we knew it was on our hit list to have a good look around. A couple of weeks before we headed off it was birthday and to my delight he had bought me these:

Eeeeeek! I cannot being to tell you of my excitement as I had been wanting to see an opera for a while. 

We had a few issues upon arrival in Cornwall (our car died *sob*) but luckily enough we managed to get a hire car so that we could actually make our date at the Minack. It is hugely popular and our show was completely sold out. This is the view from the queue looking down at Porthcurno beach:

Amazing!! 

We did wait for a while to get in but then we were purposely very early. I would say as long as you are there half an hour before the show then you should get an ok seat. We had assumed from the website that we could sit wherever we wanted to but they fill from the front up so you have to  sit wherever they direct you to. 

I would suggest that you go to the loo before you take your seat as it's a long way down depending on where you are sitting. It's also really steep but as it's a cliff face I guess that's not a surprise to most people!! Once we found our seats we did go back to the little cafe to get some food and had one of the best cornish pasties I've ever tasted. Not only were they amazing they were also cheap as chips - not very often you can say that at a great place.

This was the stage: 

Have you ever seen a nicer looking stage in your life?  

Look at that view!! 

We were so incredibly lucky before the show started that we could see dolphins jumping in the distance. I do not have enough superlatives to describe what an amazing experience it was. Apparently it's quite common to see them during a performance. Unfortunately I only had my phone camera with me so I didn't manage to capture any reasonable photos.

The Minack Theatre was hewn out of the cliff face by an amazing lady called Rowena Cade, therefore all of the seats are either solid rock or grass covered but they were actually really comfortable. We did hire seat pads though which were £1 each from the box office, not sure it would have been quite so comfortable if we hadn't.  

The theatre is truly something else:

And our performance of La Traviata was just breathtaking:

Oh my goodness, the final scene had me sobbing like a baby:

Just so incredible. The main characters in the cast were outstanding.

As you can see from the pictures we were incredibly lucky with the weather. I'm not sure that it would have been quite so immense if it was rainy heavily or very windy. Most of the audience though seemed prepared for the weather and you would at least need a warm top and full length trousers. It was beautiful when we were there but it did get chilly towards the end.

There is a visitor centre which is open in the day to have a look around if there are no performances on and you can do a backstage tour which costs about £5 each but unfortunately we missed this due to our car problems. The cafe is also open during the day and if nothing else I would suggest going there just for the views and the pasties. I honestly can't recommend it highly enough to everyone!!

Mevagissey, Cornwall

We've been to Mevagissey twice this year once for a day trip and once for the weekend and it's just the cutest place. It's just South of St Austell and is a relatively small, old fashioned fishing village/harbour, and it's just how I expected Cornwall to be. 

The streets are too narrow for cars so apart from deliveries you need to park just outside of town. As it costs £5 for the entire day and takes 2 minutes to walk into the town it's not a huge problem. 

The streets may be narrow and hilly but they are full of colourful buildings:

Like I say it's a harbour town too so lots of busy fishing boats in and out all of the time:

And of course some amazing places to eat where you can sit and look out over the water. I had the most amazing full english breakfast at Tea on the Quay. All of the ingredients are locally sourced and I cannot recommend it highly enough:

Obviously when you are in a fishing village you also need to have the quintessentially British fish 'n' chips:

Honestly the most amazing fish n chips ever!! The other amazing thing is the colour of this water.....just look at it.....

When your childhood holidays are taken on the East coast believe me the sea is not this colour :)

Do you have a favourite fishing village??

Beaches of North Devon

For the last few years my Father in Law has owned a place down in North Devon and we've been lucky enough to stay there a couple of times. We went at Easter with the kids and although it was cold and windy the sun was shining and we made it to the beach every day. I thought it would be cool to share the beaches that we went to and what we enjoyed about each one so that if you are ever in the area you can choose which would suit you and your family best for a lovely day out.

Combe Martin

This is where the property is, it has the title of the UK's longest high street and the beach here is lovely. It's very pebbly which I think is a disadvantage but the kids love it for skimming stones and for rockpooling when the tide is out. Recently they've started renting out kayaks from the village so if you're looking for small and friendly then this might be the place for you. Car park is just above the beach and is very reasonable, there is also some on road parking but we've rarely been able to find a space. The chippy here is also fabulous:

Woolacombe

We've been to the beach at Woolacombe a few times and it's a huge expanse of sand and sea which is just incredible. The downside of this is when the wind is blowing it blows like a gale across it. There's a huge car park on the sea front which costs about £6 for the whole day and we've never had any trouble parking here. There are more facilities here so shop, toilets, rides to amuse the kids and a lifeguard station. It's also a great beach for surfing/bodyboarding and the kids like it because it's shallow for a long way out:

As you can see it was a freezing cold day but we threw on the wetsuits and got in anyway. 

Saunton Sands

J had done some research before we went this time and said that he heard good things about Saunton Sands so off we went. What an unbelievably beautiful place. We liked this as although there was a shop to hire wetsuits and buy ice cream there wasn't much else about from sand, sea, showers and beach huts. There's a huge car park hidden in the sand dunes and you have to be careful not to drive right by it. Again it was only about £5 for the day. You could hire a beach hut and /or wind breaks and deck chairs. This is definitely for the surfers, bodyboarders and kite surfers. Only downside was the trek to the sea when the tide was out but it was so incredible it was completely worth it!

Croyde

Awwww Croyde beach is definitely the family favourite. There are 2 car parks one on each side of the bay as well as very limited parking in the village. We always park at the Down End car park by the Croyde Surf Academy. There's parking, a toilet and outdoor shower and a very small cafe. It takes about 45 seconds to walk down the oath to the beach where there are two different beaches. One in a small cove and a bigger beach a bit further along. Like I say we all love it. Me because it's not too much of a trek down and back with all of the stuff and it's lovely and sandy, the girls because they can surf to their heart's content and the boys not only because it's shallow but also because there are plentiful rock pools so they never get bored.

Do you have any hidden North Devon treasures that we could seek next time?

My Sunday Photo

Linking up with @Photalife on Twitter for My Sunday Photo.

 

We've just gone back from a lovely week in Devon for the Easter hols. It was cold and windy but the sun shined nearly the whole time so we spent most of it on the beach. This gorgeous shot (if I do say so myself!!) was taken at Saunton Sands. Missing it so much today!

Happy Easter :)

Blogging round up........or lack thereof.....

I've been so slack at blogging this year it's been unbelievable. Mainly due to all of my available time being sucked up by university and work. Instead of a 'look at what I've already told you about' round up this is more of a 'look at what I didn't get around to blogging about in 2015!! Happy New Year :)

Seeing in the new year with two of my favourite girls

February saw me on a date night with the Leicester Riders!

 In March I finally got my 2014 Christmas present which was a trip to the Northampton Shoe Museum and the most FANTASTIC gig I've ever been to with the Quireboys.

April saw my lovely Nat's hen do and us staying in the most amazing house:

May found us in Cornwall for the first time:

June found us back at the seaside but this time in Norfolk:

This is getting silly now but July also found me at the beach.....

erm.......and August:

In September we fancied a bit of a change so went to the Lakes instead......

October was immense and not only did we go to the City of Love but my Chick also got to hang out at the most magical place on earth for Halloween:

December was long and busy but I'm sure you can guess where we ended it.....

All the best for an amazing 2016. Much love x