Staycation '21

Firstly I hate the word staycation, it's just a regular holiday but in the UK.

So this summer we split our time between 10 nights in Cornwall and 2 nights in North Yorkshire.

Cornwall came first after a 5am alarm and 7 hour drive(it felt a lot shorter) this was the first time we had headed down that way as a family. We chose Polzeath thanks to some on the ground research from my local wave hunter friend and pitched up the tent at Southwinds. A great location for exploring that coastline.

We weren't blessed with the weather but made the most of it, a wetsuit helps and at only £35 for the week, i thought it was really reasonable. If I was to draw what a local surfer dude looked like, "that guy" served me and was as laidback as he looked. Yeah man, whatever, enjoy the surf, see you in a week.

I was lucky enough to get some really useful pointers from a customer of ours who was a frequent visitor to the area. Whilst we were down there we took in some of the tourist spots like The Eden Project which was worth the visit but you would only visit once, and Healeys Cyder Farm which I really enjoyed, from a business point of view it was great to see where they came from and the companies growth. 

But for us, it was the beach days and evenings that we went for. 

Down a narrower than normal Cornish lane is Daymer bay, it's beautiful and calm, and perfect for playing on the SUP. There's a beautiful walk round the beach to Rock if the tide is out. We were recommended Haryln bay, it's vast and the kids loved the rock pooling whilst dad body boarded to get the most value out of his £35 rental board. A huge carpark too so pretty safe you'll find a spot. Polzeath was great for playing in the sea and the girls explored all the caves and pools right the way round to baby bay where we watched the sunset with the most amazing steak and wedges from the Gypsy Kitchen, I also enjoyed their ethos of "enjoy first, pay second" 👍

Even with the rain battering down one evening, we grabbed fish and chips and sat up on the cliff and watched the surfers do their thing. It felt just like a scene from Point Break.

However, our favourite had to be Treyarnon bay with its huge Natural swimming pool and wavy undercurrent. Oh and toasties and smores on the beach with friends made a cool day a little brighter towards the end of our holiday.

We had a great time all in all but couldn't help wanting a little more, plus I suspect this is the busiest Cornwall has been in recent years. Maybe, we underestimated the lack of luxury spending 10 days in a tent on top of a windy hill. 

Onto Grouse Hill in North Yorkshire for a couple of nights over Bank holiday. Once again, spoilt the minute we unzipped the tent in the morning with more beautiful scenery,

We spent some time in Robin Hoods Bay, we must have timed it perfectly with the tide and got an afternoon of playing in the sea which meant fish and chips on the slipway was a must before the steep walk back to the top.

On the Sunday we ventured to Foss Falls, we picked the further away car park and walked a good mile through the woods and streams all the way to a hidden beautiful café before the last part of the adventure down to the waterfall, this was a slippery climb that almost caught me out as I hurtled down towards the stream with only the last protruding root to slow my fall. Enough of adventure-dads escapades. Luckily someone had tied ropes and branches together for the steeper sections. It was well worth it though when we made it to the falls, very peaceful.

As the sun rose on Monday, we packed up and completed camping tetris, we headed to the neighbouring Boggle Hole which I would recommend for a quiet cove with coffee and cake at YHA, top notch. 

Numerous tanks of petrol later along with all the broken sleep were worth the precious family time.