We booked the the four days following the late bank holiday, but we did not realise that it was half term too, so not only did we pay over the odds for the rental cottage, we would also Ben on Cornwall with a lot more people that we thought we might. We decided to set off at 06:00 to get ahead of most people.
Helen was up at 05:00 and I was up soon after, and we managed a coffee and some toast before leaving the house about 06:05, the planned route A41, M25, M5, finally A30 to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. The roads were quite congested when we got to Bristol then more so later on when we got onto the A30. Whilst on the M5 we spotted a Bat mobile on the back of a trailer which we guessed was heading towards a car show, as we saw a few more shiny cars heading in the same direction.
A quick review of the map and we had and alternative route heading south cross country on B roads to St Neot. Taking the B road allowed us to see what appeared to be the Lake District of Cornwall with lakes and rolling hills it was beautiful and an aspect of Cornwall I have never seen before. We noted some horses we guessed were similar to the the ones you see on Dartmoor.
The traffic was quite heavy again on the local roads but we got to the Lost Gardens of Heligan at 12:00. Heligan is a gat place to visit, and have a wander around it is set in a damp valley that is sheltered enough to grow some fairly exotic plants, as well as a lot of rhododendrons which unfortunately we’re past their best by a week of two. The gardens are fairly extensive but principally set in to two distinct areas one is a jungle in the damp valley and the other is formal gardens and vegetable plots. For lunch we had a sandwich each from the Stewards cafe, then it was exit via the expensive farmshop on site and back on the road destination Gwithian via Truro and Redruth.
At some point we passed through some towns and villages with interesting names; Fairy Cross, London Apprentice and Probus spring to mind. We drove through Truro and then stopped at Redruth where I managed to get an long over due haircut, Helen got a watch battery and we found and evening meal for later at the local Tesco. To get to the chalet we rented you have to go to Hayle then turn towards the sea and head back the way you came, the at the end of a two mile road is a group of beach hut like homes ranging from large beach huts to modern takes made mainly from wood.
We took a walk on the beach the weather was warm enough to just need a tshirt. Then we went back to the hut to have something to eat and settle in to watching some Madmen episode on the Amazon Firestick we we had bought with us and connected up to the wifi. Whilst we were watching with a view of the Sean through the windows behind the TV we saw a pod of many Dolphins pass by heading east. We were early to bed it had been a long day but don’t before watching the sunset.