So, last year I bought an AMAZING pop-up tent, and various camping accoutrements, which I sadly never got to use due to some change of plans.

This year I was determined to make use of my tent and camping gear, so my friend Betty and I went off to Cornwall for a week’s holiday.

We stayed in a fab campsite in Padstow, with a pool and a bar and a shop, as well as nice hot showers etc. What we didn’t realise was that most of the other people who camp there are essentially pros who bring MASSIVE tents and have multiple rooms in their camping repertoire.

This is my little 3-man pop-up tent next to the neighbouring mega-tents

My poor new pop-up tent looked puny in comparison! We also didn’t really realise that camping is a predominantly family-orientated activity and that it might be odd to be the only unaccompanied adults on site. Though in their defense, the children around us were incredibly quiet and we barely heard a peep out of them the whole time we were there!

Here is the view of the pool from my lounger

Evening glass of wine next to the tent

And a rather nice sunset over the sea

Morning cup of tea on my little stove!

Morning camping hair

And then on our first day in Cornwall, after settling in, we went off to explore the Lost Gardens of Heligan, which was FAB!

There were all kinds of cool things in the trees for an interactive theatre experience – sadly it wasn’t on the week we were there but looked like it would be an excellent theatre experience – you presumably have to follow a map to go to each point to watch a scene unfold…

Watching a traditional wood-turner at work making spinning tops….

Pit stop for a picnic in the shade

Glorious fuschias in full bloom

More random theatre props hidden in the trees

The most glorious Rhododendron forest I have ever seen. It was enormous and dark and twisty and writhing – exactly as Daphne Du Maurier describes the giant Rhododendrons in Rebecca.

Loving how posh this sign is

These wedding dresses were SUPER creepy waving in the breeze

Memorial field of poppies – you can’t see them well in this picture, as I wanted a view of the village and the sea, but trust me they were there.

I adored this giant sleeping woman – my favourite I think

All in all, Lost Gardens of Heligan was brilliant and we loved it.

Here’s a picture of us drinking our tea in the tent, as seen in the reflection of my kettle

The next day we decided to go and see Tintagel Castle (pronounced Tin-TADGE-el as we eventually discovered)

Tintagel is an extremely weird little village with lots of strange shops and rather odd locals, but the castle is beautiful and supposedly the place where King Arthur was conceived (or possibly born?).

There was an AMAZING fudge shop – here’s the guy making fresh, hot, squidgy fudge – mmmmm….

 

Basically it was a lovely walk along the hills and cliffs with some amazing views and some old ruins thrown in!

Later in the evening we went for a lovely posh meal in Padstow and watched the sunset over the boats in the harbour

Another slightly wet and damp morning – making tea under the cover of my tent!

Then we went off to see the Eden Project. Both of us had been a few years ago, but it is worth seeing and re-visiting – it’s a group of domes where they have managed to re-create certain eco-systems, including a Mediterranean one and a rain forest. It’s rather magical to think that they managed to grow a tropical rainforest in south-west England.

Lovely driftwood horses at the entrance

The skywalk – a viewing platform you can climb up to see the whole thing from above. Last time we visited a few years ago it was too hot so the skywalk was closed (the average temp in the rainforest dome is about 30-35 degrees, but of course if you go right up to the ceiling the temperature gets hot – once it hits a certain temperature they have to close it so that people don’t faint).

So this time it was our first thing, as we missed it last time!

Views from the skywalk

Giant lilypads

There are also some birds and things living in the dome – must be a weird sort of life….

Then we moved into the Mediterranean dome… Much cooler and drier!

Some lovely bacchanal statues in amongst the grape vines

Driftwood pigs/boars

A view of the domes from the outside

And that’s about it!

We had a really lovely time, and saw lots of fab things. I’m positive that I remember being dragged around national trust gardens and so on as a kid and generally found it utterly dull, but now it appears I have reached an age where I just love a good botanical garden! Wandering around in a leisurely sort of way looking at trees and plants is something you apparently grow into, and this year I have done Kew Gardens, Eden Project AND the Lost Gardens of Heligan!