c o r n w a l l

As part of my travels in Europe, I had always wanted to visit the English country side. Part of that infatuation had been because I had always wanted to see the rolling green hills, the sheep – basically the natural surroundings that would be so untouched in comparison to the city. One of the places that I had been told about many times was Cornwall. Off to the west coast of the island of the United Kingdom, Cornwall was known as the beach town in this region. It was far away however as the easiest way to get there is probably by car and I didn’t have one while I was here. The reason why I say it would be the easiest is because without one, you just don’t get wander around like you would want to. But this weekend, myself and my friend Bhawi drove there (she drove from Manchester!) so that we could explore the area.

The drive did take a little while but it was worth it. The first town we went into was Newquay. There was a surfing and music festival while we were there so the town was buzzing with people but it was a nice vibe. The beaches were all full of sand and the views were brilliant. There were plenty of waves, of varying sizes, so you could see why people liked to bring their boards here.

After we spent some time in Newquay, we continued to drive up the coast towards the town of Padstow. This is where we stayed the night in a fairly budget looking hotel in the Cross Hotel. It wasn’t cheap though! I don’t think Cornwall is meant to be but anyway, there were plenty of more expensive places available, we just chose this one since we just needed a place to put our heads down. 

The next day, we went down to Saint Ives which we really enjoyed. A beautiful coastal town, it was easily the most developed of the towns we stepped foot on in Cornwall. There were even palm trees that made us think twice about where we actually were (were we even in the UK?). In addition to that though, the waters were so transparent and turquoise in color. It was beautiful and it was hard to find a reason to complain, we had some good food there and enjoyed some very welcome sunshine as we walked along the harbor and the beach side. 

The weather wasn’t great while we were here but this is the British Summer. So long as it didn’t rain, I thought we were in good shape. We were able to venture out and see some random cliffs and coast lines. It was still very much worth while.

Food

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called the Cornish Arms. It was located very near Padstow but it had some quality food. Essentially a pub/restaurant, the food produced out of this place were very tasty. They even allowed dogs in as well which most families took advantage of. I love this about the country side – people have the decency to only bring in pups and dogs that are well mannered enough. The other thing is too that the people there are so friendly. Do this in the city and you will have a completely different mix of people…

Anyway, I had a ribeye with peppercorn steak while Bhawi had the whole fresh seabass with fennel mayonnaise and new potatoes. It was delicious and a good way to prepare ourselves for the “sunset” shot.

When in Cornwall, I was told by people that you had to have some of the Cornish food. This included the Cornish ice cream which I did end up trying in Newquay. It was slightly yellow/orange in color but it was distinctively very sweet and refreshing. Oh and I also had the Cornish Original Pasty. This is a pasty which was stuffed with onion, potato and beef. SO GOOD, SO CRISPY, SO HOT. Lol. It was good, if you couldn’t tell. 

Overall

I would love to come back here when the weather is nice so that I can take more pictures and actually take in on some surfing. Cornwall is beautiful and a lot bigger than I actually thought! Definitely worth going to and worth staying for at least 4 days – we only had 2 but it was a nice taster of what would be if we stayed for the holidays.