Trip to Cornwall - Day 4 - Rick Stein

As I said, the Tuesday of our holiday was our wedding anniversary. While we were planning the holiday, I said I wanted to go to one of Rick Stein's restaurants. I like his TV shows and I love his food, with his emphasis on good seafood, so I wanted to go to one while we were in Cornwall. The main one is in Padstow which was ages away from where we were staying, so I considered going to the one in Newquay. But then when I was on the website I noticed there is a restaurant in Porthleven, which was only about twenty minutes away from where we were staying near Helston. So I booked us in for lunch.

The lunch menu doesn't have a ton of options, but it does have a set menu of three courses for £21.50 which is really reasonable. This is what Lee ended up having. I'm just saying this in case you think it would be prohibitively expensive!

We arrived in Porthleven and parked. I stopped to get Lee to take photos of my outfit and a lady passing by asked if we'd like her to take a photo of both of us, which was really lovely of her!

The restaurant is right along the harbour with gorgeous views of the harbour and the sea. The restaurant inside is really cool, light, and airy. We could have sat inside, but since it was such a gorgeous day we asked to sit outside. We managed to snag one of the umbrellas which was good because it was extremely hot and neither of us wanted to get burnt.

We were served quickly by a really lovely girl. I ordered a carafe of French rose which arrived ice cold and was honestly delicious.

For starters I had salt and pepper prawns with an Asian inspired salad. Lee had Indonesian curry with a poached egg. I loved mine and his tasted good too, and they both looked so good. For mains, I had salmon fishcakes and chips. The fishcakes were really fresh and yummy - and huge! Lee had sumac chicken with crushed potatoes. For dessert he had ginger pudding and ice cream, and I had chocolate pave which was gorgeous.

The bill came to just over £70 which is definitely more than we'd usually spend, but we had had three courses each and my wine, so I felt it was very reasonable for a treat for our anniversary. I would always tip, so when it came to that I asked our waitress if they keep all tips in house. She told me that they do, and that they get shared with kitchen staff too. I thought that was brilliant!

I would heartily recommend the restaurant, I'm really pleased we made the effort to go.

The harbour in Porthleven as the tide was out

The photo the nice person offered to take - I try to do this for strangers too!

With the town in the background

My view from the roof terrace. Weirdly, Lee shared a similar photo in his work Slack group showing off that he was here and they weren't, and a colleague of his had basically the same photo taken from the same place! Coincidence!

Lee in the sunshine

How cute are these water jugs?

My wine - honestly it was gorgeous

Salt and pepper prawns - I don't enjoy peeling fresh prawns but they are worth it for the taste

Salmon fishcakes which were perfect with a squeeze of lemon

As the water came in and all the boats started to move again

Chocolate pave. Sorry for the blue tint on these photos - I was under the umbrella by this point!

The sign outside the restaurant

We were in Porthleven until about 2.30, and then we drove up to the north coast to look at Godrevy Point. I thought we'd been on our last holiday but actually I'm not sure. We didn't stop, just drove into the car park for a little bit 

Doesn't it all look so idyllic? Looking back at these photos is making me jealous of myself! We were so lucky with the weather - it was 28 each day and we relished it.

What I Wore 26th June

26th June was our 13th wedding anniversary, which is just unbelievable to me! It feels quite weird. We went to Porthleven, so I'll post more about that in the next post, but here's what I wore.

I got this Joe Brown's dress in the sale from Simply Be recently and had been saving it for my holiday. It's a really nice thick cotton, and it has a little bit of layering at the bottom which makes it a little bit special. It has elastic shirring at the back and nice thick straps. I love Joe Brown's dresses, I think they're always nice quality and the styles look good on me.

I wore it with this white cardigan from Sainsburys which I've had forever - however I ended up binning it because it was stained in places and ended up covered in suncream. I'm now on the look out for another short sleeved white cardigan with buttons!

Trip to Cornwall - Day 3

Monday of our holiday was not that good of a day. We went to St Ives, and it was stressful and awful and we ended up having a huge row. Weirdly, the last time we went to St Ives the same thing happened, so we've decided we're just not going to go to St Ives ever again. It's extremely busy and full of people which stresses us both out. I'm really sad that one day of our holiday was basically lost, but we did manage to have a nice evening and we definitely had a good time the rest of the week, so that's good. It's fine; we're doing loads better than we were at the beginning of the year, but things can still be bad.

I'm trying to be honest because when you've been together as long as we have (eighteen years! And married for thirteen!) people assume everything is fine, and honestly, long term relationships can really be a struggle.

Anyway, I took a few photos in St Ives because it is a really beautiful place. We didn't see much of it, but we did have a nice lunch on the harbour. We ended up parking in a park and ride which was really useful, I would recommend it if you go to St Ives because parking in the town is limited.

In the evening we went back to Porthoustock beach for a barbecue. We paddled a bit again and considered going swimming, but the sun was falling rapidly behind the headland and I didn't want to get out of the water and be cold while the barbecue was cooking. I ended up a bit chilly anyway, so I think that was the right decision.

We had a simple barbecue - burgers for me, a chicken something for Lee, a couple of salads, and breadsticks and dips. It was really lovely - I haven't barbecued on the beach since I was really small, and Lee doesn't think he ever has! There were a few people swimming or paddleboarding, so lots of things to watch.

One of the tiny roads we drove down

St Ives from the top of the hill

The harbour - the sea is such a gorgeous colour here!

I would have loved to swim here

There were tons of these little boats for hire in the harbour

I had this amazing Greek salad!

Barbecue on the beach at Porthoustock

Lee putting it out with seawater - the noise was very satisfying!

What I Wore 24th June

One of the things about being on holiday and going swimming a lot is that I end up getting changed a lot! I think my record was four times in one day. But that does mean that I got lots of outfit photos for my blog!

I had bought this cover up for the pool a few weeks ago on Crazy Clearance because it was really really cheap and I liked it a lot and thought it would be perfect to shade me a little bit from the sunshine. My swimming costume came from Yours, but a while ago. I like it though, it feels comfortable but also looks really lovely. I will definitely be taking the wrap with me on holiday later in the year too.

I always try to wear either a hat or a headscarf when swimming in the sun because I do burn my head easily. I forgot one day and ended up with a burnt parting which is so painful and then awful when it peels!

After my shower I got dressed. I had taken this yellow Scarlett & Jo skirt because it's perfect in the summer as it's just one layer and really cool. I bought this top three years ago just before we went to France and although I don't wear it a lot I do really like it and I thought it looked cute with this skirt.

We took this photo on the steps of the caravan just before we sat outside in the late sunshine with a cold drink each!

Trip to Cornwall - Day 2

On our second day in Cornwall we packed a lot in, looking back at these photos! We got up and went swimming first thing. We went into both the indoor and outdoor pools - I thought the indoor one needed a bit of work so much preferred the outdoor one, which was a nice temperature and got nicely deep for swimming, too. The weather was gorgeous, already nice and hot.

We left the pool about midday and got showered and ready, then went to Sainsburys in Helston. It was a decent size supermarket but didn't have some of the stuff we wanted, so we ended up having to make changes to the stuff we had planned on the menu. Oh well, it all worked out for the best.

We took the shopping back to the caravan and set off out again, driving round Lizard Point. We followed signs and ended up at a place called Porthoustock, which turned out to have an absolutely gorgeous beach made up of stones. We spent ages just sitting there and paddling a bit. We also thought it would make a nice place for a beach barbecue (one of the things on my wishlist for the holiday) so decided to come back the next day.

On the way back, Lee saw a sign for Roskilly's ice cream, so once we'd googled to make sure they were still open, we followed the signs. It's in the back end of beyond but I'd say it's worth it - there's a full restaurant, a petting zoo, and a gift shop. We just had ice cream - mine was salted caramel and cream tea and they were both yummy!

After that we just went back to the caravan and had burritos for tea :)

Me sunbathing, and also showing how blue and clear the sky was!

Gorgeous boat at Porthoustock beach

Lee paddling. The beach was quite narrow, but there was a big car park there too and great access to the beach, which was good. The stones weren't too uncomfortable to sit on, but I was glad we had our beach shoes for paddling.

The building was so weird and did look a bit like a nuclear bunker. I think it might have been an old lifeboat station? It was cool, I liked it

Panorama of the beach

Lee and I, but I do realise it looks like I'm trying to stealth take a photo of the people behind us. I wasn't, I promise!

Ice cream!

I started a new cross stitch project while we were away - I'll show more when it's finished!

Trip to Cornwall - Day 1

On the 23rd of June Lee and I went to Cornwall for a week. We went in 2014 and had such a lovely time that we wanted to go again. I looked for a cottage but they were all really expensive, so we ended up booking into a static caravan on a holiday park near Mullion Cove on Lizard Point. The park had an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, mini golf, an arcade, and loads of entertainment. Some of that stuff we avoided, but we made good use of the pools. We managed to pick a gorgeous week for the weather - it was in the high 20s every day. This meant that we spent a lot of time sitting on the beach or round the pool, instead of spending time exploring small villages. I think we both needed it - we're making plans already for our next trip to Cornwall!

We set off from home around 9.30am. We made good time until Bristol, where there was traffic on the M5, and we didn't get to Mullion until just before 5pm. Now, Lee and I always like to go swimming as soon as we arrive somewhere, to shake off the car and relax a bit, but unfortunately the pools closed at 4.45 so we had just missed them. So we decided to head down to the beach instead.

We put our swim stuff on in case we ended up going into the water properly. I had a list of things I wanted to do and one of them was to swim in the sea, which Lee hasn't done in years and which I've never done with him. So I didn't want to miss out on an opportunity.

Now I'd been told that Mullion Cove beach was gorgeous, and maybe it was, but we couldn't find it. We ended up going slightly further up the coast to Poldhu Cove. It is a gorgeous beach and there were loads of people on it. There's a stream that comes down, so we paddled in that for a bit and then sat in the fading sun before heading back to the caravan to eat.

We had planned to bake something to take with us, but didn't have time, so I'd gone into one of the cafes in our village to ask if they would sell me a whole cake, and they would! So I ordered a chocolate fudge cake for £10 and we picked it up as we left home. It cut into ten pieces so it was definitely value for money, and it was really yummy too. We would definitely do this again!

We went to bed early because we had been travelling so much. The caravan was really clean and cosy, and the bed was perfect for me!

Lee took this as we set off - I drove his car for the first time!

Paddling in the stream at Poldhu Cove, I have never looked so glamorous

The beach with the stream/rocks in the middle

The caravan from the corner sofa. It had two bedrooms which I was glad about - the park has one bedroomed lodges on site but honestly they just looked tiny

And the cake! I will definitely do this again

Books of the Month - June

I read nine books in June which was loads! It means I am, at the halfway point of the year, ahead of my Goodreads reading challenge. I set it for 60 books in the year, and at the end of June I'd read 34, which I'm pleased about. I loved loads of the nine books. As always, my reviews are over here on my book blog.

Being on holiday did mean I read three books, but even before that I was making the effort to sit in the garden and read in the sunshine. It made me feel so much better in general - I really do thrive in the sun.

Here's some of the books I read:

Films of the Month - June

I watched eleven films in June. This doesn't seem like many, especially as Lee and I were away for the last week in Cornwall. We usually watch loads of films on holiday but due to the proximity of the beach and the gorgeous weather we had, we spent a lot of time outdoors instead of inside in the evenings. We only watched four films in seven nights, which for us isn't many at all! Anyway, here's what I watched:

Someone mentioned on Twitter that Suffragette was on Netflix so I thought I'd watch it. I think it did a decent job of showing that working class women were involved in the fight for equal votes too, even though most of them weren't given the vote in 1918 (it was given to women over 30 who owned property, which disenfranchised a LOT of women...). Carey Mulligan irritates me but lots of the cast were really good, so in all I enjoyed this and would recommend it. 

Being Star Wars geeks Lee and I went to the cinema to see Solo: A Star Wars Story. It isn't amazing, but it is amusing and I did enjoy it. I liked the bit where Han met Chewbacca for the first time, and I liked Woody Harrelson a lot. I honestly don't think it deserved to be slated the way it has been. 

As I said last month Lee and I started the Hunger Games trilogy, so we watched Catching Fire, which is my favourite of the four films. It's a perfect middle film. (For reference, my favourite Star Wars film is The Empire Strikes Back, so...) Lee enjoyed it.

I first heard of Telstar ten years ago because Carl Barat is in it and I'm a big Libertines fan, but I was warned off it because of Joe Meek's suicide at the end and my dad had just died by suicide. So trigger warning for that! But I felt I could deal with it now and I wanted to see it. I liked it, it's pretty dark and depressing but has some really funny bits. 

Further on my list of Disney films I wanted to see was Coco. I thought it was excellent, really fun and it looks stunning. I'll definitely watch this again. 

The History Boys is one of my comfort films and I love it so very very much. It has its problems but I find it really dry and funny. I haven't seen it in a while so I enjoyed the rewatch. 

I can't remember what reminded me of My Week With Marilyn, but I thought I'd watch it again. I saw it in the cinema in 2011 but have only seen it that once. It's alright; I don't really like Eddie Redmayne which sort of scuppers loving it. Michelle Williams is great at Marilyn, though

Ratatouille was also on my Disney list, so Lee and I watched it on holiday. Neither of us had ever seen it and we both really enjoyed it! 

My Cousin Vinny is one of our favourite films. Yes it's not deep or anything but it is really funny and Joe Pesci is great. We watched this on our wedding anniversary after we'd been out for the day. 

I saw Hidden Figures at the cinema with Sam but Lee had never seen it. He really enjoyed it, which I was really glad about because I think it's perfect!

Finally, we watched X Men: Days of Future Past. It is probably my favourite X Men film, but I am still holding out for two hours of Quicksilver effing shit up.