Beautiful Cornwall

We stayed in a cute n' cosy cottage called The Gingerbread House (right), by the sea in sleepy St. Mawes over New Year's.  To get there Rob had leant me his car - what a nice guy!  He also later became our local guide on New Year's Eve as he was back home in Cornwall visiting his ma and pa.

We had a very pleasant drive down from London, taking the scenic route as provide by AA Route Planner (http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp) and taking in the sights of Stonehenge along the way (a lucky bonus, even if it was the safari park method of staying in the car, viewing from the road).  It wasn't until we got near St. Mawes that we noticed the directions were asking us to "Cross the river Fal"... bit late in the game to be noticing such details, but it was only one line of many in the directions!  Luckily the car ferry was still running at the time - another half-hour and we'd have had to swim (or drive back round the long way).  The ferry costs about £4 one way, £6 return.  Here is a nice bird's eye view of it: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=st.+mawes&sll=54.162434,-3.647461&sspn=10.909632,34.628906&ie=UTF8&ll=50.216723,-5.026524&spn=0.002907,0.008454&t=k&z=18&om=1

New Year's Eve was spent playing cards in the cosy cottage, then out to the local pub, the Victory Inn to be started at by local Cornish people.  Not really - most of them were very friendly.  Rob bought some champagne, which was a big mistake for me to partake in, but a nice gesture.  All in all a very good way to spend New Year's! (before the champagne headache).

...is an amazing place, carved out of the cliff face at Porthcurno, near the amusingly named Mousehole.  I didn't get to see a play on here but you should definately do that if you can.  Check out the website to see what's on when you go: http://www.minack.com/theatregoers/whatson.htm.  To be convinced, take a long at these high-res webcam shots taken live right now!  Look at those tourists!  Don't they look like they're having fun?!  http://www.minack.com/theatregoers/webcams.htm

As I was going to St. Ives, I didn't meet any bigamists or kittens in sacks or a pieman or anything.  That's probably because I was doing 80 round the windy Cornish roads in Rob's car (not really).

St. Ives is lovely.  Everyone's an artist.  I liked the fact that you could walk in to several open gallery/workshops and see them in action, churning out the same chaff time and time again for the tourists.  Made me want to move down there and do the same.

The Tate St. Ives is in St. Ives.  It's an amazing building.  It's also amazing that they charge you the amount they do to get in.  Though I did get on a free tour around the then collection, where one of the curators enthuses over all the paintings and tries to explain that they're just more than a bunch of childish scribbles.  Check the times of the tour and get on one or you will be mystified.

...is not just for the worthy do-gooder save-the-planet types.  There's something for everyone there.  Plenty of car parking space to burn up in Rob's huge smoke-belching jallopy (not really).  Here's a tip - if there's three of you going, why not take three cars?  You'll all get home much more quickly.

Poor jokes aside, the Eden Project is well worth a visit.  Well, one of the domes is anyway.  The 'Temperate Dome' is a bit like "Oh.  There's some plants I've seen a million times before and it's a bit cold in here."  But the Tropical Dome is the dog's.  There's a cloak-room outside so you can hang up your big coat and other English Summertime gear, but they will be open to public rummaging. 

The whole place is really well laid out and there's even a sizeable garden centre at the end for when you've caught the gardening bug.  Bet you're glad you brought three cars now, eh?