Those who know me well (or at least, follow my Instagram) will know I’m not one to stay still. Whilst it’s been a while since I’ve managed to fit a proper vacation into my schedule, Connor and I are often darting around the country exploring, for a weekend or just for a day. Despite this, I’d never actually been to Cornwall before, so when Travelodge got in touch to find out if we wanted to spend a weekend in Cornwall with them, we of course jumped at the chance!
Depsite I suppose being pretty close to Cornwall on the map compared to the rest of the country, the heart of Cornwall is still a good four hour drive for us, so we hopped in the car on a Friday lunchtime, and made the trip down south!
After traffic and a few stops along the way, we arrived at the St Austell Travelodge pretty pooped, so we decided to stay close to home for dinner. St Austell is a very small town – we picked it for it’s proximity to The Eden Project, so there wasn’t much to offer for dinner. There was a Prezzo that had a queue spilling out the door, or a Frankie and Benny’s which was only a 15 minute wait for a table – and other than McDonalds that was all there was in walking distance! So we settled for Frankie and Benny’s ordered pizzas and beers, and retired for an early night in our king size bed!
Saturday morning we woke up bright and breezy after a good night’s sleep! After a quick shower, we headed down for our breakfast, which I still think might be Connor’s trip highlight! Whilst it wasn’t the biggest breakfast selection (don’t forget, Travelodge is a budget hotel!) everything we had was really great. There was bacon, sausages, beans, scrambled eggs, hash browns, mushrooms, tomatoes, toast, croissants, yogurts and cereal – so plenty to keep you going! Connor adores breakfast buffets, so after we got our fill, we decided to head out for an explore.
Our initial plans of walking along the beach, grabbing ice creams and just chilling were scuppered by the rain, so we decided to have a bit of a drive and ended up at Hawksfield Cornwall. At this point the rain was hammering down, so we bundled ourselves into Strong Adolfos in search of coffee.
I’d sussed this place 0ut on Instagram beforehand and was super glad we managed to stop by because the coffee in this place was fantastic. I had a caramel latte, and Connor had a flat white he liked so much he ordered a second. We split a frangipane and spent a leisurely hour sipping, munching and chatting whilst the wind and rain died down. If you’re in the Wadebridge area make sure you swing by, the coffee is strong and reasonably priced, and it’d be the perfect place to get some work done too.
Since we were there, it would have been rude not to have a wander around the other shops wouldn’t it! Highlights included Jo & Co Home, a beautiful homeware store stuffed with everything from furniture, to crockery, to soft furnishings, to books, with a few clothing bits thrown in for good measure + Wadebridge Flowers, a gorgeous independent florist with stems, succulents and a few natural beauty bits too. There’s also a local produce food store + a vintage shop, definitely worth swinging by, especially if you’re into independent retailers!
Next stop was Padstow, which came highly recommended from my parents who are regulars in the area! There was still a bit of a wind and lots of misty rain, but we decided to brave the coastal hill walk, trekking up the hill from the quay. Even on a hazy day, the views were worth it, looking out over the bay from a field of wildflowers!
We headed back down the hill once we were suitably windbitten, picking up a pasty from one of the hundreds of pasty shops in the harbour. We sat on a bench with our backs to the sea watching the world go buy as we chowed down, until a seagull swooped down and stole Connor’s pasty. It was one of those moments that would have been comical had he not been so upset! He kept saying ‘but…but it was steak and stilton’ and I had to go grab another before he declared war on all seagulls.
Note to anyone travelling to Cornwall – Seagulls are vicious.
Seagull catastrophes aside, Padstow was a great spot to explore. Independent shops, cute bakeries, 1001 establishments belonging to Rick Stein, there’s a lot to explore. I’d love to go back on a Sunny day to explore more, lay out on the beach and eat fish and chips!
After that we headed to Truro, but the rain had picked up again, so after a brief look around a few shops, we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. We picked up a coffee from Costa, conveniently located under the hotel, and flaked out on the bed watching rubbish tv for a few hours. I’m so glad I remembered to chuck my Lighthouse jacket in the car, it came in so useful!
We got a second wind around 8pm, so decided to book last minute tickets to see Wonder Woman at the local cinema. I’m so glad we did, it was a fantastic film, and so good to just relax and spend a leisurely evening together! Also – cinema tickets in Cornwall are much cheaper than Bournemouth, so it was good to take advantage of!
After another good night’s sleep and big breakfast, we popped down to Charlestown, a 10 minute drive from our hotel, and grabbed a table in Short & Strong for a pick me up. It’s a gorgeous little coffee shop across from the harbour, where you can get coffee, cake and a posy of wildflowers. It got a big thumbs up from me for having more than one option for dairy free milk which is always nice. I ended up opting for a mint tea after eating too much breakfast and it was the perfect warm up on a cold morning!
Drinks finished, we had a little meander round the harbour, admiring the pirate ships, cute cottages and beaches! Charlestown is such a beautiful, unspoiled little village, it was lovely to see a quieter, less commercial side of Cornwall. It felt like the perfect Sunday morning, I was so relaxed when we left!
We had planned to go to The Eden Project from here but the heavens opened and we decided to call it a day and head back home to get ready for another week!
We had such a lovely, relaxed weekend in Cornwall, I can see why so many people use it for a getaway!
And funnily enough, I went from never having been to Cornwall, to going back again two weeks later, so maybe it’s growing on me!
Our stay at the St Austell Travelodge was complimentary, but all thoughts are, as always, my own!