Sun and sand in Cornwall

Continuing with the 2020 trend of lockdown UK airbnb vacations, I spent 5 days around the August long weekend in the UK county of Cornwall. Cornwall is one of the few popular British tourist spots which I have visited only once and that too for a very short time. So I was quite excited about exploring it well this time. And the whole holiday turned out to be much better than I had imagined.

View of Polruan village

For one, the weather was expected to be cold and rainy the entire 5 days we were supposed to be there, and it turned out to be exactly the opposite! It was sunny and hot each of the days. Secondly, the airbnb we had booked had looked too good to be true. It was a lavish Cornish manor set in its own grounds and we had a whole guest suite to ourselves. I was actually expecting it to be a fake booking but it turned out to be real and fabulous. And both these happenings made the holiday a lot more fun than expected.

We did treks, went to beaches, stopped at quaint Cornish villages, ate at some awesome places with stunning views, watched some spectacular sunsets and generally had a fabulous time. No wonder a lot of my friends were also visiting there the few weeks around when I was there. Cornwall doesn't just have a lot of activities to do, but also very friendly people and is warmer than the rest of the UK. All adding to its charm.

Our itinerary during the trip was as follows:
Day 1 - Drive to Cornwall, stop at Dartmoor national park on the way, do a short trek at Belston near River Taw
Day 2 - Drive to Penzance (visit Kynance and Praa Sands beach) and enjoy sunset at Senner, Lands End
Day 3 - Beach hopping at Tregantle cove, Tregonhawke cove, visit Millbrook village and enjoy sunset near Downderry beach
Day 4 - Trip to Fowey village
Day 5 - Drive back to London, stop at the English Riviera 


Day 1 - Drive to Cornwall, stop at Dartmoor national park and trek at Belstone near River Taw

It is a long drive to Cornwall, and even though Google Map shows about 5 hours, given delays on long weekends, time to get out of London and much needed stops on the way, it generally ends up taking about 8 hours to get there. So we left early in the morning, renting a Virtuo car (by the way, they have a seamless digital rental process which is ahead of all other rentals. I have become a big fan of it!) and were off.

View of Dartmoor Park

I wanted to get out of London as soon as possible, so we got out before the weekend traffic started but then stopped on the way for a McDonalds breakfast in Slough itself 😆. Then we drove all the way West, aiming for the Dartmoor National Park where we were planing to have a late lunch and do an afternoon trek. The weather was sunny and gorgeous all along. We drove through Bristol but missed driving on the famous suspension bridge as it was closed. And after Bristol, as we left the motorways, the drive turned beautiful - we were driving on small roads in the countryside, it was green everywhere and looked bright and lovely. There was a lot of traffic everywhere and we had some delays, but it wasn't as bad as holiday traffic could have been.

Lunch at Tors

We reached the car park in the village of Belstone quite quickly, within 3 hours. It was a cute little village, and we walked in, past a small little tea house to the Tors restaurant. We had a very tasty burger lunch there, sitting outside on the benches and enjoying our view of the moors. There were quite some tourists around which surprised most of us as we hadn't done a proper holiday for a while. And didn't realise that everyone except us had already been out and about for a while.

Views on the trail

We then went on a short 1.5 hour walk around the River Taw. We went down the valley in front of the restaurant to River Taw, and then walked up and down the hill through the woods, all along the river. There were some nice bridges on the way, lot of trees around and it was all green and fresh everywhere. Very quickly, we got lost I think, so we couldn't really do the full walk. And somehow we made it back to our village, using logic to find the right path. Even though we didn't get to see all the sights on the walk, it was nice to stretch our feet in the open. My friends hadn't got out of London after lockdown yet, and this already felt like a good way to start venturing out.

First view of Cornwall

We then drove around the Dartmoor park, towards Devon, onto Cornwall. We drove past a beautiful viewpoint which offered us our first views of Cornwall. And just looking at it, we felt a difference, that we were entering a different place. The houses are painted white and look different from England houses. The roads also got narrower by now and it felt like we had left the city and fast life behind.

We reached our airbnb at Torpoint just before sundown at 730 pm. It was good to reach before dark as our place was out in the woods and would have been tough to find at night. We were staying at the Sconner House in the village of Polbathic near Torpoint. And the house was breath-taking.

It was a huge Cornish manor on a small hill-top, with grounds and fields all around. And we had the guest suite, with a huge living room, huge kitchen and lovely bedrooms looking out into the gardens. It had an interesting history of ownership, passing through major families till the current one who converted it back into a home. It almost felt like we were living the high class life there 😊. As it had been a long day, we just enjoyed exploring the house and called it an early night.


Day 2 - Drive to Penzance (Kynance and Praa Sands beach) and enjoy sunset at Senner, Lands End

We had not planned much for the trip, so we took every day as it came. Since our house was so amazing, we had very lazy starts to our days. We would just come in to the conservatory and sit there for sometime every morning. It was a room in the manor, filled with sofas and surrounded with glass all around, overlooking the gardens around. It used to be sunny and green outside and very hot inside. It felt perfect just to sit and read something there, or just laze around. And we did that every morning, spending a few hours there after breakfast. We also walked in the grounds and the gardens, enjoying the views of rolling hills covered by fields all around. One day when I was walking outside in the grounds, I even found an old abandoned tank nearby! I never got a chance to explore that again though. 

We had tried to book a few activities to do nearby, like kayaking, surfing, cycling etc.. But it turned out that everything was booked out by the time we started making the bookings, as everyone was visiting Cornwall in the summer! Apparently the restaurants were also fully booked out by now, and required early bookings to get a spot. So we spent most of our time visiting places nearby which didn't need a booking, though trying to avoid crowds as much as possible. We would wake up in the morning and decided what we would do during that day and then be off.

Kynance beach

Today was the day we drove the most and farthest. We first went to Kynance Beach which was about 2 hours away. There were green rolling hills all around and we drove lazily through them. On the way, there were lot of small picturesque white villages. We passed a very scenic town called Penruth on the way, which I liked. There was a lot of traffic all day though, on all the big and small roads. And the traffic never let things slow down. 

Kynance beach is supposed to have a turquoise colour to the water there. That day though when we reached the cove, the sun hid behind the clouds and the water didn't sparkle as much as we expected. Also, there were lot of crowds everywhere, kayaking, surfing and swimming, but especially at the cafe. So we just walked down to the beach and sat on the rocks for a bit, with our feet in the water. It felt nice to be there for some time but as we were looking for food, we drove to our next stop which was the Praa Sands beach, about 30 mins drive away.

Praa Sands beach (crowded)

Praa Sands beach was a good spot and we spent a long time there. There were lot of homes in white on the cliff there. The beach wasn't very long and there were lot of people there. The water was not too cold, so we went into the waves for a bit. The tide came in a bit too while we were there. After spending some time on the beach, we went to the Sands Bar and spent some time there.

Praa Sands beach (empty)

The food was tasty there, and it had an outside seating area with a gorgeous view of the beach and the sea beyond. After such a long time, it felt nice and normal to sit in a restaurant again like this. I was eating out after so many months, just the the feeling of being in the open at a place like this was enough to make me like the restaurant. Also by the time we finished our late lunch, the crowds had left and the beach looked a lot better than when we had come in, in the early afternoon.

Sunset at Lands End

Our next and last stop of the day the end of UK, the village of Senner at Lands End. We saw a glorious sunset there and walked on the beach and harbour for a bit. The reflections of the sun in the sand were stunning. By then it had got late and we started our drive back which was about 2 hours. Also the petrol in our car was about the finish and we were starting to get a bit anxious having heard earlier that places in Cornwall generally shut down early. We were already getting ready to being stuck somewhere and having to call for an emergency rescue! We somehow found a petrol pump open till 10 pm near the town of Penzance, and raced there before that time. Thankfully it was open and we were saved from the ordeal.

The drive back at night was also quite delightful as we could see the lights of the villages on the hills on the horizons. The moon was out at night and we could see all the constellations in the sky, given how far we were from city lights. From far, Penzance looked like a pretty harbour town with some impressive buildings on the beach. We also saw Newquay lights far off on the sea. Soon we were home and ready to retire in our comfortable accommodation. It had been a fun day of exploration, made even better because of good weather.


Day 3 - Beach hopping at Tregantle cove, Tregonhawke cove, lunch at Millbrook village and sunset at Downderry beach

This day, we decided to spend in and around our airbnb as it was a weekend and the typical far off Cornwall places would have been very crowded. Again, we had a late start to the day, sitting in the conservatory and enjoying the sunny views outside in morning. The rest of the day, we did beach hopping nearby, in the Whitsand Bay area. It is apparently a hidden gem of Cornwall, with a long coast, lined with cliffs, leading into some excellent beaches.

Holiday homes on the cliffs

The first place we went to was Tregantle cove, which was about 30 mins away from Tolbathic. The cove is named after the Tregantle fort on one of the cliffs. The drive was all along the coast, with steep cliffs all dropping below. I think this is the typical Cornish coast, right? There is a funny parking rule in this area, that you can park all along the road, as long as the tires do not touch the gravel. In fact, we also ran into a policeman who was checking each car's tyres and giving them parking tickets if they even touched a single gravel stone. After parking our car, we checked with him if we were in the clear, before getting out. 

Tregantle cove (from above)

From the parking, we walked all the way down a steep descent to the beach. It was quite a long one, with loads of people there. We sat on the sand in the sun for a bit, and then I went into the water and swam for an hour or so. The water was not deep till very far. It was also very calm with very less waves. The water was cool but not too cold. The perfect place for a long swim. Surprisingly, after 11 years in the UK, this was the first time I had ever swum in the sea within the UK, and that too with it being an island! Clearly, Cornwall was a more warm place than the rest of the country.

There were lot of paddle surfers and some jet skis in the water. I also saw some stalked jellyfish while swimming. The beach has a division in between where the rocks jut out outside. And when the tide comes in, the other beach becomes inaccessible. While we were still there, a car came and was announcing to people to shift into one of the beaches if they wanted to leave or be ready to be stuck on the other, till the tide went back. It felt quite dangerous honestly.

Tregonhawke cove (from above)

After that, we started looking for a place to have lunch and drove to Tregonhawke cove which again had a beach. There were a lot of holiday homes on the top of the mountain here. We walked 30 mins, all the way down the steep cliff but the cafe was closed by then. It was a beautiful location though and had a big beach too which had all but vanished in the tide by the time we went there.

Sunset at Downderry beach

After icecream and a short break at the cafe, we got back up and drove to the nearby town of Millbrook, hoping to find something to eat. It was a small village but had a co-op and an open pub to serve us a very late and well deserved lunch. We had lunch at the Devon and Cornwall pub (finally!), bought some much needed groceries and then drove on to find a good sunset.

I searched for a village on the coast and we started driving towards Downderry. Once there, it turned out they had a beautiful beachside restaurant - Inn on the Shore - and we plonked ourselves there for a few hours which we watched the sun go down over the beach. It had gotten cold outside, so we couldn't sit out but it was still wonderful to enjoy the sun going down, from the warm inside.

Sunset drive

And then we drove back with the full moon out in the sky. On the way, we saw some divine reflections of the moon on the sea as we drove by. It somehow always felt appealing driving in Cornwall, with all its small green hills, dotted with small villages, cows and other farm animals. I think Cornwall is the only warm and idyllic place you can find in the UK. The closest a place here comes to the Spanish or Italian coast.


Day 4 - Trip to Fowey village

Lunch at Fowey Hall Hotel

We had a very lazy day today and took a trip to a nearby village of Fowey which was supposed to be a picturesque Cornish village. It was a 45 mins drive away, and we reached there around lunchtime. We first went into the Fowey Hall hotel, which is built on a hill, with a 180 degree view of the Fowey river in the valley and a fabulous view across the river of Polruan village. It was a sunny and gorgeous day and we had a long lazy lunch, while enjoying the sun and the view.

Walking in the village

Then we walked down to the village, through the main street and spent some time on the waterfront. There were lot of coloured yachts in front and it felt like a bustling village centre. It was full of people walking around without a mask, which felt a bit unsafe. 

To avoid the crowds, we then started walking along the mountain towards the edge of the land, towards the St Catherine's castle. We first stopped at a small beach on the way and then walked in the woods to come to the edge of the land. There wasn't any real castle here, just remains of an old watch tower. But there were lot of impressive views from here, all around of the bay and the two villages. And I loved every minute of the time we spent there.

Panorama of the bay

We were back home early that day and were as usual looking for a place to eat, given most popular places were booked out for dinner as we were booking last minute. So we went out in the evening to our neighbourhood pub, The Halfway House which was the only one open and with available bookings. It was not great at all and the food was also just about okay. But we didn't mind as we got to eat!


Day 5 - Drive back to London, stop at the English Riviera towns

Beach at Torquay

And soon it was time for us to bid goodbye to our vacation. While driving back, we passed by the village of St Germans which was very near our accommodation, and it was a charming little village filled with stone houses and looking very ancient. It is sad we missed exploring it. Then we crossed the Tamar river, on the Plymouth bridge, crossing back into England. After that, most of the drive was through Devon. It wasn't a great day today as the weather was rainy and dark.

Waterfront at Torquay

While driving back, we decided to visit one of the 'English Riviera towns', from Torquay, Brixham, Babbacombe and Paignton. We picked on Torquay and walked around an hour on the waterfront there. We could see the whole bay and a couple of towns all around it. There was a small beach there, but it was not as impressive. 

The place looked just about ok, but not the Riviera I was expecting. When it was sunny, it felt a lot better though. I could also see a lot of old people and yachts all along the bay, so the place was clearly popular. After this stop, we headed back to London. On the way we stopped for lunch at La Champagna, near Buckland St Mary which we liked. There wasn't a lot of traffic today and getting into London was very easy.

And just like that, the trip was over. I loved our time in Cornwall, it turning out way better than I expected. The sun was hot, the waters were warm and I loved the beaches in the coves. And there was a chillness in the air which is very rare in UK. I can see myself going to Cornwall again for sure.

Maps

From London to Lands End

Around Polbathic

Exploring the UK countryside - Brightling in Kent

2020 has turned out to be the year where normal life as well as normal holidays have gone for a six. So after cancelling a lot of the travels during the year, when the restrictions finally lifted for a few months in summer, I did a few vacations all within the UK. To be honest, I have done a lot of UK vacations before but this time, they were different. 

One we didn’t go far, only where we could get to in a couple of hours. And second, we rented some amazing airbnb properties, which were standalone properties with huge uninhabited areas around them, so we could be away from people. And we spent 4-5 days mostly in and around our airbnbs. It felt different to start with for sure, as we didn’t do any touristy stuff and just stayed within the nearby areas most of the time. But soon enough we got used to it and enjoyed them totally. All these airbnb vacations turned out to be leisurely days spent out of London, exploring fields and small villages around, all in non-descript parts of the UK.

This break was in August this year when we spent 5 days in the village of Brightling in and around the High Weald AONB in Kent. To be honest, Kent is not a place I would typically have gone to for a holiday in the UK but these are not typical times. And the place provided a much needed and convenient change of scenery, after almost 4 months in lockdown. 

Brightling was about a two hour drive from London. We left on a Thursday evening and it was a convenient short drive to get to the property. Get on to the M25 and drive all the way till Sevenoaks when we turned south within the AONB. It was raining heavily that day and was foggy all around. As we were driving through the AONB, with all the greenery and small hills around, it almost felt like being in the Western Ghats during the rainy season. Our house was located near the historical village of Robertsbridge which we thought we would explore but never got to. As once we entered our village, we didn’t really venture out far from there.

Our airbnb

We reached our house much before sunset and were blown away by how amazing it was. Its photographs didn’t do it enough justice and it turned out to be much better than we had expected. The place was built in the 16th century and was used as a rectory earlier. We spent an hour or so just admiring the house, it was huge and very well done up. It had a huge stately dining room looking onto the fields and the woods outside. The main living room also looked out onto the far off lights of London, across the hills and was the perfect place to spend a nice relaxed evening.

View from the living room

The house had a huge kitchen, 4 different large and small living areas, 7 bedrooms and at least 3 studies. All the rooms were full of hundreds of books and art pieces surrounded us all around. You could however see the difference in the size and height of the rooms which were in the owner’s half and the servant’s half.  

Outside, there was a pool, with a linked pool room. And lot of garden furniture to just sit outside, relax and watch the world go by. The grounds of the house spread till far too. The owners apparently raise and train horses and the stables were right next to our house where they kept 8 horses. During the day, we saw a few of them grazing around the grounds, as well as some kids who came and rode them for a few hours. It all felt like being in a fairytale. Or being in an Agatha Christie or PG Wodehouse novel. It definitely got us excited for the time ahead and we made the most of exploring all parts of the house and its grounds around.

Over the next 3 days we went on a few walks, exploring the villages and grounds in the area, with me making one trip out of the AONB, to the coastal town of Hastings. But overall, it was a relaxed vacation where we ended up not doing a lot other than eat, walk and talk.

Church in local
village

The first day when the weather was sunny and it was a weekday, I decided it was time to go to the beach. To avoid the crowds. So I decided to drive till the nearest beach town, Hastings, which was about an hour away. The drive till Hastings was mostly through the AONB, through narrow country streets, surrounded by greenery, dotted with small bright coloured villages, with their own picturesque churches all along the way. And all the streets were lined with trees on both sides. It was a very refreshing drive and felt amazing to be out of London after so long..

 

Crowded beaches of Hastings

Hastings turned out to be a typical English beach town. It had lot of holiday homes on the hills, all in white. And a pier with lot of activity, roller coasters, hotels and so on. When I reached the main city, it was super crowded even though it was a weekday. The sea road was chock-a-blocked with traffic and all parking areas were full. I kept driving till the end of the road and even found a parking spot. But I was shocked to see the crowds on the beach there, given the ongoing pandemic, that it scared me enough and I decided to leave immediately.

Holiday homes in Hastings

So then I drove to the other end of the town, planning to drive to the next coastal town to find some peace and quiet. But surprisingly, as I drove through Hastings and crossed the tourist areas, I turned up at a place where the beaches were emptier and there were less crowds on the road. I also found parking next to the beach and decided to just stop there.

There was the beach right there, with the pebbles and the water right across. But it had got very hot by then, so I walked away from the beach into a pub, the Bo Peep. It had outside seating and was quite empty, so I had a leisurely lunch there, waiting for the sun to get more comfortable. While chatting with the pub owner, he mentioned that this part of the beach was less crowded, as the tourists didn’t know about it much. And it was more popular with the locals. I felt lucky that I had stumbled here, as it felt so much better to be away from the crowds. He also mentioned that at some point, his pub was right on the beach, overlooking the sea but over the years due to reclamation, now its was some 100 meters away. That was an interesting titbit.

Quieter beach in Hastings

After the temperature cooled down a bit, I walked for a few miles along the beach, away from the town and it was lovely. The clouds in the sky were making characters in the sky, the breeze was cool, the sun was warm and the waves loud. I hadn’t realised till I had come here, how much I had missed having a view of the sea, the freedom and openness it symbolises, which we were all missing during lockdown. I felt amazing just to be there.  

I admired the views all around, sat on the beach for a while, got into the water just a bit but generally walked around just to take the feel back with me to London, to last for some more time. The drive back to our airbnb felt awesome too. It was all through narrow roads through green woods and small villages with huge bungalows, of people who stay there but commute to London to work.

The next day, we did two walks in and around the Brighling village. In the morning, we walked to the village and followed one of the paths we saw around there. We didn’t go very far though as we had kids with us, so we just explored nearby areas. We first went to the local church which surprisingly had a pyramid next to it. Then we walked into the woods nearby and made our way through it without a path, which the kids enjoyed,

The Brightling rotunda

After a bit, we found a walking track and followed it till we came to some open fields. We could see grass covered hills all around, with some corn fields in between. And one of the hills had a rotunda on top of it. We were trying to get there when it suddenly started raining. So we took cover under one of the farm structures in the area.

Views on the trail

And then it was time to walk back to our village. On the way back, we walked through some farms and ran into some horses and lot of wild jungle fowl. Overall it was a 2 hour walk up and down a few hills and turned out to be fun as we were trying to find the route as we walked along. It was a refreshing walk, with some picturesque views of the villages around.

The same evening, I went for another walk nearby, again without a map. It was a good walk for the first half but the second half turned out to be a mixed bag. I left our house and walked into the woods right in front. I ran into a yellow footpath and followed it for a while. I also came across some wild deer on the way, who ran away after seeing me. This path then took me through some farms, horse fields and swamps. It was a nice countryside walk where I had to jump a few fences, when I finally came to the road.

After that I walked a bit to the neighbouring villages looking for more footpaths but didn’t really find any. So I had to walk on the road itself which was ok as there were not many cars there. But still it was not as fun as the cross country walks I prefer. I did pass a few small villages with some pretty houses. I reached the Darwell car park from where there were a few paths going into the woods but it was too late in the evening to take one and risk getting lost. So after not finding any other footpaths, I just walked back to our house. Our house was surrounded by road on three sides, so generally it was easy to get back. The sunset that day was gorgeous and there were some fascinating views of the hills around. All made for a nice and tiring day out.

Trek in the woods

The next day, I drove to the same Darwell carpark I had come across the previous day and went into the woods for a walk, trying to get to the Darwell reservoir. The route wasn’t well marked but there were a few people I met on the way who gave me directions on how to get there. At a couple places, there were multiple turns, and I took the wrong one at one point. I ending up walking along a mining conveyor belt for a bit, but then turned back and tried the other turns. I used Google maps to help me with general directions and after walking through some more woods, finally reached the reservoir.

Darwell reservoir

The reservoir turned out to be pretty nice, and I sat there for a bit, on a log in the sun. It wasn’t large or deep but had some pretty views around. I could have walked all around but didn’t as the wind was coming in. So I headed back and somehow managed to get lost for a bit. I did find a track and turns out they all land back at the car park, which was helpful. Back at the house, I finally got some time in the pool, which was nice. And spent the rest of the evening, just lazing in the living room, looking out at the horses grazing all around and the lights of London far away.

The last day, we left the airbnb early in the morning and went to the Darwell car park again. We went for a walk into the woods, on a different path. It was a well made path and we passed some fields and a lone house in the woods. We also had a picnic lunch in the open fields, just sitting and admiring the greenery around. I think we stayed there for quite some time, as we did not want to leave and come back to London anytime soon.

Anways it started raining then and we soon left, happy that at least all our full days had been with good weather. Coming back to London felt like a downer, but I had another vacation to look forward to, so it wasn’t as bad. But hopefully, will be doing more of these airbnb holidays soon…