A Cornish Adventure

Living in the South West for over 3 years it was time for us to venture down to Cornwall. We needed a little break from crazy work schedules, master degrees, netball clubs and football clubs. So our bags were packed and we headed down to the beautiful South East coast of Cornwall staying in Polperro and visiting Polruan, Fowey and Looe. 

Driving down the road into the deep valley you get a sense of what a wonderfully remote village you are making your way into. The views are breathtaking especially with a clear blue sky above you. 

Down the narrow roads you make your way into the tiny village all the time looking for that first glimpse of the sea. 

Our lodgings for the trip was the beautiful Natal House B&B. 

 We were warmly welcomed by Jackie and Simon and in the 'Teal' bedroom we were greeted by a large comfy bed, crisp white bed sheets and a snugly duvet. The hospitality we were shown was fantastic with the cherry on top that fantastic cooked breakfast by Simon.

The River Pol outside of Natal House making its' way down to the sea.

Our first venture took us to The Blue Peter right on the edge of the harbour as our stomachs were calling for lunch. We had huge sandwiches and a portion of chips with a real Cornish ale on top. 

Spring was sprung so we enjoyed an ice cream from the famous Treleavens.

We headed to The Ship for our first drink(s) of the evening and we really loved this watering hole with its raging fire, selection of ales and a double G&T. It was finally time for dinner and it had to be steak and chips with all the trimmings at The Buccaneer washed down with a bottle of Pinot Noir...glorious!

We followed this up with a late night walk around the village...

...and another stop at The Blue Peter and my first real ale!

The next morning the sun was shining so we went for a little stroll around the harbour.

We loved seeing some of the tiny details around the village including the small blue doors on the cottages, the national heritage signs and the fishing equipment. 

The great seaside details on some of the cottages gave this little village even more personality and the little narrow streets meant you couldn't help but imagine the sights and sounds of a thriving fishing village many years ago. 

 

I couldn't leave without a photo of this gorgeous cottage. All higgledy piggledy style with its leaning walls it reminded us of something from Harry Potter.

We walked along the Coastal Path to get a better view and spring was definitely in the air.

In the afternoon we travelled along the windy lanes and found ourselves at another small village called  Polruan. A steep walk down to the harbour and we boarded the passenger 'ferry' over the river to Fowey. 

We loved this little town, with its quaint streets, sea views and food galore.

We couldn't help but imagine ourselves living in one of the ice cream pastel houses...well a girl can dream!

 For lunch it had to be a Cornish cream tea. 

We finished the day with a late evening visit to The Kitchen.  A small restaurant in Polperro run by Harry in front of house and his wife Jane the chef.

Our food was quite simply delicious in fact it was so delicious we didn't take the time to get photos. Fresh sea food, locally sourced meat cooked to perfection all washed down with a drink or two.

The great food, comfy bed and fresh sea air certainly meant we were rested and relaxed. The perfect little seaside break.

Holiday Reads

I was a very lucky girl over the New Year and headed to Sharm El Sheikh for a spot of sun, sea and snorkeling whilst we brought in 2014. We had such an amazing time.

Now I am not going to lie there was only 2 things I was interested in on this holiday:

1. Getting some much needed vitamin D 
2. Catching up on some good reads

If you are looking for something new to read or just add to your Amazon Wish List (am I the only one that has a specific 'To Read' wish list) you might be interested in what I downloaded for my holiday.

Life After Life  - By Kate Atkinson

This book follows Ursula, a girl born into a relatively wealthy family during a snow storm in February 1910. Ursula immediately dies. In the next chapter her birth is played out again but this time a few facts are changed and baby Ursula survives. 

The book follows in this vein, with Ursula as a child and adult often being in the wrong place at the wrong time but when she re-joins life and we re-join her she has the opportunity to make certain changes that will influence her path through life. Throughout Ursula doesn't realise that she is being re-born and instead views it as a series of deja vu and an instinct to travel in a certain direction. 

As a result the book is very jumpy and goes back and forward in time which can be a little taxing. I have to say that at the beginning I found this really difficult, never before have I had to pay such particular attention to dates in a  fiction book. But around a quarter of the way in it started to pick up pace and I had got my head around the large swathe of characters that come in and out of the story depending on which period in time is being written about. 

The story is interspersed with some philosophy and other literary references which I think are supposed to reflect Ursula's intelligence and wisdom from having lived a 'number of lives'. 

As Ursula grows we follow her life in the context of great historical events given that she 'lives' through 2 world wars. We see her married, single in London and in Berlin following various life paths including being a housewife, mother and civil servant. During this time she is also able to influence the fate of other key characters. This is not necessarily something that I like, but is always tied into the storyline. 

The story was spoilt slightly with a rather far fetched and honestly random sub-story featuring Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler but excluding those few chapters it is a great read. Whilst other reviews have commented on the repetitiveness I really enjoyed seeing the same scenes with the eyes of a 'different' Ursula, who is viewing them for the first time after following a different series of choices to get her to that point. 

Perfect for any reader who often wishes "If I had just..."

Jemima J - By Jane Green

Jane Green is one of the queens of chick lit, writing about glossy women leading glossy lives in glossy cities. Perfect sun lounger reading if you ask me 

The story of Jemima J starts with an unhappy overweight 27 year old working as a journalist at The Kilburn Herald with dreams of being skinny, beautiful and writing features for a  women's glossy. We learn early on that Jemima J has the talent and ambition to hit her career goals but unfortunately not the confidence after years of rejection from editors, "friends" and her mother. Her lack of self-confidence has led her into the life of an isolated recluse.

Like all women who have something they don't like about themselves, Jemima believes that everything in her life will be perfect - a great job, great friends, great parties and of course a great boyfriend preferably in the shape of Ben, Deputy News Editor, at The Kilburn Herald - if she could just loose her weight. 

First published in 2006 it was interesting to hear Jemimas thoughts as she dials up the modem upon discovering the internet and its opening up of the world to her, where no one knows what she looks like. The catalyst for change in Jemima is meeting the very hunky Brad, a Californian, on an internet chat room. 

One of the things I really like about this book is that Jemima only changes through her own hard work and dedication - a lesson to us all during the January resolutions. But unfortunately that is where my love for this tale ends. Perhaps it would have been a little twee but there is no 'beauty is on the inside' message here. A little detour through LA and Brad but of course like any good rom come Jemima gets her happy ending!

Predictable, yes and frustrating moral undertone at times but certainly a pleasant and quick read whilst soaking up the winter sun. 

Room - By Emma Donoghue

Jack is 5. Jack lives in Room. Room is 11 foot by 11 foot with a sky light and a locked door. Ma was captured 8 years before by Old Nick and held in this fortress in his garden unbeknown to everyone around them. Jack is the result of the relationship between Old Nick and Ma. 

We are given a detailed description of Room through the eyes of Jack. Each key reference point uses capital letters to depict its 'Name'. It is part of Jacks life rather than merely an object. We realise that every aspect of his life is in this room with his mother protecting his view of the 'outside'. This naive viewpoint is endearing in a strange way. 

You realise relatively soon in the book that Ma and Jack do get out of Room. This part of the book is written so well. My heart was actually pounding and ensuring their safe recovery meant that I stayed up well past my bed time. 

Jack is the hero of the story and watching him learn about the outside world and meeting his new family and surroundings is fascinating. As if a baby could articulate how they feel. 

The story then focuses on how Ma and Jack try to assimilate in the first month or so. They realise its not going to be an easy process and I love the optimism shown by both of them through a list shared with us towards the end that details all the things they want to do together in the future. 

I was genuinely upset when the book finished with unanswered questions. Does Ma recover? Does Jack integrate back into his new world? What happens to Old Nick? Do Ma and Jack get the justice they deserve? I suppose its nice to think of these things yourself because then you can create the happy ending you want for them. 


Have you read any of these books ? What did you think? Do you have an recommendations for my virtual reading list?

I want to wake up in that city that doesn't sleep...

New York has been top of my places I most want to visit for as long as I can remember. So I was so excited when I knew that we were going to visit as one of the cities on our East Coast tour. This was part of the trip that was planned meticulously. We only had 2 full days in the city and I wanted to make sure that we hit all of the main tourist spots. For such a little island it certainly crams a lot in.

We arrived into a very wet Penn Street Station, early on a Sunday evening and scuppered the 100 or so metres to our very well placed, given the down pour, hotel - The Affinia Manhatten on 31st and 7th in mid-town.

I want to say that we lived the dream from that moment onwards but every day was packed and so after settling into the hotel we took a little stroll, although in New York that was about 30 square blocks, and settled on a small pizzeria off Time Square for some sustenance before hitting the sack, ready for a day of exploring the following day.

Day 1 was planned as uptown, the park and some of mid-town. Shopping was planned at every stage of the trip.  Without knowing it, 7th Avenue was a good place to actually start out. We headed North towards Up Town looking for the park and after our small foray the evening before knew that at some point we would stumble across Times Square. This was not before small diversions into American Eagle, Macy's and MAC.

Nothing can prepare you for the noise and busyness of this city and Times Square just epitomises it.

As you walk up you walk some more and then some more and then finally there is a hint of green and then a wall of luscious leafs and you know the park is in sight. I wanted to hire a bike and cycle around but the hubby totally disagreed so instead after another stop in Starbucks (it is air conditioned) we made our way into the park via Columbus Circle.

This photo was taken from the 'Sheep Meadow' and I just love how you see the city popping up over the tree line. Manhatten doesn't look that big on a map and Central Park is only a small part of that but let me tell you this is one massive park. We were in there for 2 hours and didn't even make it the whole way around.

There is a section of the park along The Mall and near The Terrace (recognised this from Gossip Girl) where the street performers converge and we spent a little while just wandering around and taking it all in. There were lots of people making huge bubbles which were so pretty.

We finally made it to the Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir with slightly sore feet (I think my husband was regretting the choice not to get a bike by this point) and I thought of all the movie and television scenes that use this as a back drop.

We exited the park at the east side on to 5th Avenue next to the Metropolitan Museum and slowly made our way back down towards the city. The east side was just magical, not a neon sign or Starbucks in sight just row after row of gorgeous park side apartments full of the worlds wealthiest people!

On 5th Avenue we had a little shopping break and browsed around Bloomingdales, Sephora, Apple and Dylans Candy Bar where we literally acted like kids in a sweet shop wanting to buy everything. It is a total playground full to the brim of every sweet treat imaginable!

After another pit stop at the hotel to rest those weary feet we freshened up and headed to the Empire State building wanting to watch the sun set over the city from this famous landmark.

Followed by a walk to Times Square to take in all the lights at night - and it is still as crazy at night as it is in the day!

Day 2 was our chance to see some of down town and we started with a helicopter tour from the pier close to the South Ferry terminal port. This was a birthday present for my hubby and we couldn't of been happier with it!

The flight takes you around Ellis Island so that you get a great view of Lady Liberty, before heading up the Hudson to see the island of Manhatten from this unique perspective. From this aerial view you really can see the distinct up town, mid town and down town areas. The flight took us all the way up to The Bronx and over the Yankee Stadium before heading back down The Hudson with views of New Jersey. 

We've never been in a helicopter before and I would recommend a couple of travel sickness tablets before hand if you have a sensitive travel stomach like I do. 

Our flight was with HeliNY.com and I couldn't recommend it enough.

 Whilst down town we really wanted to visit the 9/11 memorial garden and new freedom towers. These are very impressive and I thought the garden was a really apt and tasteful memorial to those who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the city. 

As a tourist be warned that the queues to get in this are massive and on a hot day there is absolutely no shade until you make it into the garden so do make sure you have water with you and visit the bathroom before getting in the queue!

 

We were so lucky that the ice hockey league play off's were under way during our visit and as our hotel was right outside of Madison Square Gardens we were lucky enough to get up in the build up to that nights game. There was a total buzz as the fans arrived and the drummers tried to get the atmosphere up.

I love the fact that walking around this city is like walking around a movie set. Everywhere you go from Central Park, to 5th Avenue to Down Town there is a location you remember seeing in a film and we were lucky enough to see them filming part of the next Spider Man movie.

I have to say that the countless blogs, tourist guides and guide books I had read while planning couldn't prepare me for this city there is just too much to see. I can't wait for the next opportunity to go back and spend some time seeing a little bit more of the hidden city rather than the tourist hot spots that we packed in to this trip.