Diary catch up #5: Half term holidays in Cornwall

I briefly mentioned in my last post that "Operation Sandringham" was rudely interrupted even though it was running woefully behind schedule - by our Half Term trip to Cornwall.  Although it feels a bit odd writing about this autumn holiday when I haven't yet got round to writing my diary catch up about our lovely summer holiday to Wales yet, nevertheless I shall shamelessly proceed.

Following what appears to have become their tradition, the children insisted upon going in the sea as soon as we arrived.  All the way in.  Snorkel and all.  Admittedly not much actual swimming was achieved, but even so...Never mind that it was fairly chilly, fairly cloudy and almost dark when we arrived...

The first dip

One of the hightlights of this trip was enjoying a Heligan Hallowe'en - fantastic because as well as partaking of their amazingly created Spooky Quiz Trail (and who doesn't love a Quiz Trail?) which winds through the wilder gardens punctuated by these astounding artworks of Hallowe'en-ness (children today really don't know they are born - when I was small the spookiest thing I ever saw was the decidedly dubious Penny for the Guy that the local boys used to prop up hopefully outside the little local supermarket), I also got to enjoy a full day investigating the whole of Heligan again.  The last time I went it was Easter a few years ago, and so was all fading camellias and just opening rhododendrons etc.  Of course this time the productive walled gardens were in full harvesting mode and the tree and shrubs were awash with autumn colour glory.

Fortunately there is more to Heligan to appeal to the children even once the Spooky Trail was done - a lot of effort seems to be put in to provide a good spread of interest and activities during the school holidays.  This meant we were able to alternate between 'something for them' and 'something for us' throughout the day so that everyone was happier.  Although these did include the usual 'Hallowe'en Craft Activities' - pumpkin carving, making a spooky picture which charcoal, weaving a dream catcher, etc, all of which required an additional couple of pounds here and there, which adds up over the course of the day.

Evie nonchalantly working out the next quiz trail question, seemingly oblivious to the huge spider about to eat her

There was also an enormous Storyteller's Yurt, all bedecked inside with branches and fairy lights, a snuggly woodburner and rocking chair, with straw bales and cushions around the edge to sit on while the very good team of 2 storytellers did their thing, with costumes and props, lots of audience participation and really captured the children's attention with suitably themed 'Spooky Cornish Tales', which gave a shiver of excitement but didn't go too far.

Aspects of the garden were also very appealing to my children, they enjoyed the rope bridge so much that they ran round 3 times to do it again - while I sensibly waited at the other side - as it is so narrow there is an official 'one-way' route, so running up and down the steep gorge several times to do this helped to wear them out a bit in time for their picnic lunch!

Crossing the gorge - Indiana Jones style

The Engineer, as always, looks for the artistic shot.  Fortunately you can't see my white knuckles from this distance, as I clung on trying to pretend to Leo that I was quite brave really...

My favourite area will always be the walled gardens, though, and I especially like the fact that like Barrington (closer to us in Somerset) the productive gardens are worked properly to produce produce for use and sale, rather than just being an atmospheric and beautiful echo of some long lost productive past.

The Melon Yard gardeners' buildings

Lusting after the amazing coldframes AND the espalier fruit trees

Brassica and Scarecrow envy

Cabbages as a work of art, really.  But they are immaculate - hardly a nibble on them - how do they manage this???

The Engineer always prefers a 'posh garden visit' if there is the option of a reasonable yomp through some pretty woodland.  Acres of this available here, we never manage to cover it all before little legs start to groan, though.

If only things were always this harmonious!

Heligan's pumpkin harvest - almost as good as ours this year!

Of course we only spent the one day at Heligan, and the rest of the week was general bodding about on the beach, reading books and colouring in and watching awful films when the weather was less friendly.  We had nearly 3 full days of the most terrible fog, which meant that Leo's usual fave cliff top walks were a definite no-no, much to his daily disgust.  And inland walking in thick fog down narrow Cornish lanes isn't really that much fun with small-ish children, as you never can tell when a car is going to suddenly appear out of the mist, but we did enjoy one good misty inland walk without hiccups.  Oddly, the fog makes you focus more on the little details of the berries in the hedges and the strange differences that fog makes to the noises you can hear, I suppose because normally you would be focussing your attention on the more far-reaching views.

On our drive home we stopped off at Knightshayes near Tiverton - for that essential National Trust cafe lunch and stroll to break the journey!

Evie particularly enjoyed the gothic grandeur of the house interior, but I like this little spot at the back of the walled garden area:

Knightshayes

It was an ornamental walkway, which obviously has it's own microclimate as many of the plants still flowering merrily there were borderline hardy even for the mild Devon climate.  It was the heart shaped last leaves of the tree on the right which really grabbed me by the throat - I think it must be some type of redbud/Cercis canadensis or siliquastrum.  I saw one in Heligan too - the way the bright leaves look like they are floating in mid air as you approach is magical.

Sometimes I want so much to hold a picture in my mind to remember and create the feel of it at home, and this whole walkway was like that.   I wanted to photograph each metre of it to replicate! Impossible anyway - as most of the plants would NOT be suitable for frosty heavy clay old Windy Acre...but the feel and the shapes - yes please.