Back From Our Jollies!

Yes we are back! We holidayed in Newquay at the beautiful Trevella Park near Crantock beach,Cornwall. I love a good stay-cation but what I love even more is staying in my beautiful home county and finding out what's on my doorstep.

First, a little about Trevella Park. I found it incredibly family friendly with kind and helpful staff and plenty of facilities. There is everything on site; from a swimming pool, games room,playground and park to an on-site shop, cafe and laundry facilities. Put it in the simplest of terms, you don't even have to leave the site to enjoy yourselves. The site does not have any bars, cheesy night do's or kids clubs making the park a wonderfully peaceful and ideal get away

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We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday to find a clean and spacious caravan. I've never stayed in a static caravan before and forgot quite a few things so we headed to the on site shop as soon as we could! After that it was all about the pool until bedtime!

We woke up the next morning to one of the hottest weekends I think we'll have in July! We started with a family breakfast with 2 excited children looking forward to their Ranger Adventure with Wayne who works on site. Wayne introduced himself and we met another lovely couple before we set off for just over an hour of nature fun! The Ranger Adventures is a new addition to Trevella Park offering your little ones a chance to get up close and personal with the bugs and small creatures of the park's beautiful surroundings.

  

Beautiful bed-head babies!

Here is Wayne showing the children a vole. None of the animals are harmed at all when they are trapped hunting for food and Wayne knows exactly what he's doing. The children loved seeing such a small creature up close and with more luck, next time we'll see more!

We ended the trail with leaf rubbings, looking through magnified tubs at mini beasts and ticking off all the creatures,leaves and plants we'd found along the way.

The Ranger Adventures will also include pond dipping, fishing, den building and much more for various ages (and adults! I had great fun!) Sessions start from the end of July so do ask at the reception when you arrive!

We spent Sunday relaxing on site, enjoying the heated pool which was amazingly refreshing, venturing into Newquay town where we visited a handmade market and found a mini carnival! Midge played on the bouncy castle and we sat overlooking some gorgeous views from the cliffs.

The beautiful view of one of the parks lakes. 

We also got to meet Ollie the Owl who lives on site very happily watching the world go by. We were extremely lucky to be offered to see him be fed and for that I am very grateful because the children adored him!

On Monday we enjoyed Newquay Zoo! (Yes we loved the park so much we paid to stay an extra night!) Called Cornwall's largest zoo, it is packed with birds, otters, meerkats and of course your monkeys and lions. The zoo is not a large zoo when compared to other zoos in the country so do bare that in mind when visiting or you'll feel disappointed like a few people I spoke to. We however had a lovely time and enjoyed the fact that the trails weren't too long and the park wasn't so big we missed anything.

Some very old bird cages from all over the world were showcased in the tropical sanctuary . Here, we saw a variety of beautiful looking birds, snakes and other colourful reptiles. Oh yes, we mustn't forget the bats! (Little A liked those!)

This handsome chap came to say hello

I think it's fair to say that we enjoyed our little get away and had a lovely stay. I can honestly recommend this park and we can't wait to go back next year!

CupcakeMumma

*We were offered a 3 night stay at Trevella Park for the purpose of this review. We paid for the fourth night ourselves. As always the opinions expressed in this post are all of my and/or my families own. It really was a fabulous weekend.

It was a bit of a mixed day yesterday. Weather wise the sun was shining and it felt quite warm which was a considerable contrast to cold and wet the day before. We had a pretty miserable night, well I did, Husband has a knack of sleeping through anything which I'm very jealous of! The children were up twice, I think the noise outside disturbed Little Man a bit but he soon settled off with a kiss and a cuddle.
I was kept up till 4am thanks to some drunken tiff or something like that, I really have no desire to spy on these people and find out. Once he left the youngsters came out to create a bit of their own noise for half an hour before scuttling off as well.

So as you can imagine I wasn't too pleased to be greeted by Midge waking me up at 7.30am no matter how reasonable that time may be. Husband left me to have a lay in but I quite fancied us all going out as a family. Unfortunately we ended up having a minor disagreement setting my mood right back. We also decided that perhaps swimming wasn't such a great idea and opted for Heartlands instead.

As luck would have it, Heartlands is right next door to Comet. Why is this luck I hear you ask? Well, thanks to a rather substantial milk spillage the previous day our microwave decided it had enough of our family and refused to work anymore. Not even a fuse change could tempt it. Another bit of luck was having received a £50 gift voucher for Comet from some family members which we're really grateful for! We let Midge pick out the microwave on the way home and I have to say she chose a nice small, stylish one.

We all walked to Heartlands which was a bit tiring being that all of us were a bit worse for wear. We had a good look around the outdoor and indoor market, found a nice hair band for Midge for 50p but not much else. We then went to Tesco for a spot of lunch. I was a bit fed up at this point. Midge was getting an earache, Little Man wasn't interested in eating his lunch which I had just spent £2.50 on and a lady in the que bitched about us taking too long in the children's section. We heard her well enough but never really bite back. What's the point? If you have nothing nice to say just don't bother saying anything surly? We sat in front of them as well which was annoying, I was in a much better mood when she left!

  We finally got to Heartlands where we had a quick walk through. The children played on the grass, the sun held out and Little Man had his first dip in the running river. I have to say that I am glad we did decide to go out and about. The fresh did us some good and the children had fun.

Midge's earache came out good and proper when we returned home so she went to bed all dosed up and warm while Husband and I caught up on our trashy television and I started making my sisters going away present which is proving difficult with limited funds!

Shattered after a long day. But still smiling.

CupcakeMumma

Cheerful post!

I have a good few things to write about this week (and perhaps last week as I was too busy to blog!) I haven't joined in with Reasons To Be Cheerful for some time so I thought I would start again this week. I'm also linking up with You're not from Round Here to join in with What Has Made Me Happy. Enjoy!

First of all I'm very happy to be a newlywed! Myself and Husband had such a wonderful weekend, received lots of wonderful and generous gifts as well as collecting some brilliant memories. In the end it all went very fast and we both wish we could rewind the evening one last time!

Little Man had his first haircut. At first I was a bit shocked to see his little curls all gone but the neat, blond head of hair he now has makes him look a little more grown up and doesn't half remind me of my brother when he was a small boy!

I also visited St.Ives recently with my Mum and younger sister. It was such a wonderful day and I loved dipping in and out of crafty, hand made shops, eating a delicious lunch and visiting The Tate St.Ives Gallery. 

I hope you've all had something to smile about too!

CupcakeMumma 

A Day in Penzance

We all went out, rather spontaneously I must admit, to Penzance the other day. It was lovely and sunny with occasional showers. Lucky by occasional I mean 2 showers lasting all of 10 minutes. It would seem it was pouring down back home so I'm glad we made the decision to pop out for the day.

We got off our train at Penzance train station, Little Miss already excited at seeing the sea. We weren't there to see the sea or have fun in the sand though as we did have a slight agenda. We're having our wedding reception in the beautiful Penzance, over looking the promenade no less (insert big grin here) so we needed to visit the venue to pay some final funds off and double check everything was still going to plan. Unfortunately the lady we needed wasn't there, the manager was really rude (I don't care how stressed you are you never deal with customers in an off hand manner) luckily we spoke to a lovely gentleman who sorted what could be sorted and everything else is running smoothly.

We stopped off at a restaurant called Renaissance which is situated right at the very top of the shopping centre. There is a lovely view to look at while you sit down to eat. Little Miss and Man opted for a couple of teacakes and I went for some chips with Mediterranean roasted vegetables which was really, really delicious. The children coloured in a bit whilst waiting for their food and I had a good natter with The Man (who very kindly paid!)

Next stop was Peacocks to look for some nice underwear for said wedding day, I found some nice items in the sale and bought myself a new jumper (first jumper I have ever owned! I love it) and then we proceeded to take full advantage of the half price sale for Little Miss who desperately needed new clothes! We ended up with a good haul leaving very pleased with our finds.

We're all allowed to show off now and then!

After having a good town browse, not spending too much unless it was something in the sale, we ventured down to the front where the arcade is centered. Little Miss is so lucky when it comes to playing in the 2p slot machines. I personally can't stand the place but The Man has a bit of fun, they won some tickets getting a barbie and a small teddy ornament while I sat outside with Little Man patiently waiting for the arcade phase to pass!

I loved these flags on the promenade.

The little shop I always came to when on holiday. Here I would always buy a
postcard and some rock for my primary school class mates.

We had a lovely walk along the promenade, it was very windy so we all held on tight to each other and the pushchair. The view was beautifully clear so I got some pictures of the sea (surprisingly calm despite the wind) and the wonderful St.Micheal's Mount in the distance. The photos make it look further away than it is. If the tide wasn't in so far I think we would've gone and walked there but it's just something lovely to do for another day.

The bonus to walking this way was that we saw our very gold sprayed Royal Mail post box! This was done to celebrate Helen Glover who won gold with her team mate Heather Stanning in the rowing. Little Miss just had to get her photo taken and I had to have the memory!

We had a long walk back through the main roads to go and meet our train. Unfortunately we missed the train and had to wait for an hour to catch the 7 o'clock one. This meant sitting in a large waiting area which slowly filled up until we decided to buy a large portion of chips and sit outside. Luckily we didn't miss the next one (imagine that) and didn't loose money on a return ticket (always annoying isn't it?) by having to take the bus instead.
Little Man was pretty tired and screamed most of the way home. He ripped off all of poor Barbies limbs which meant Little Miss was extremely upset. Needless to say, despite a lovely day I was glad to get home and pop them to bed!

I'm linking up this post with the lovely Natalie at Ready,Steady..Mummy! who is hosting a 'Best of Britain' link up to share our parts of the world. I really do love Cornwall so I hope you enjoyed my post!

CupcakeMumma

If You Go Down To The Park Today...

You're Bound To Have Some Fun!

It may have been a bit dull but there was the sun, peeping out behind the clouds and the air was warm so I decided to leave the Mr in bed after being seemly poisoned by kebab the previous evening and head out to the park with Little Miss and Little Man. They were both ever so patient as I had a few errands to run before we got to go and have some fun.

First stop was the bank which I never have problems with as Little Miss seems to have cottoned on that Mummy going to bank means she has pennies to pick things from shops especially for her!

Next we had to nip to the post office to post a few bits. We rarely visit the post office so again this was fine, the ques were fairly quick (for once) the staff friendly and the change of scenery gave both children a lot to stare at- as weird as that sounds!

We then had to pop into the shoe shop. I was going to buy some wellies but ditched the idea thinking the weather really didn't need anymore encouragement. I opted to look for some trainers instead but they were all quite frankly hideous. I'll have to look elsewhere though because my shoes have holes in.

Finally we got to the park, the sun had come out a bit more and our coats came off. I took this opportunity to let Little Man test out his new shoes which he loves. Little Miss held his hand with me on the other side as we took the path into the play park. Once there they both had so much fun together. Little Man was loving being out of the buggy and exploring all this wonderful outdoors that his sister has been enjoying for so long.

I'll leave you now with a photo round up if our fun day! There was lots of laughing, running and exploring- especially for Little Man who was excellent (until of course it was time for the buggy again, this wasn't much with as much enthusiasm but there's no way I'm ready for pavements and roads he's only 18 months!)

Little Miss on the round about. She loves making me sit
on it and tries to push me really fast. Now she's getting bigger she
has quite a push on her!

Exploring the climbing apparatus 

Having some fun on the baby climbing frame. He loved looking out of
the window on this one and went down the slide a few times
with his big sister.

Little Miss spotted this bee crawling along the pavement- I nearly squashed it with
the buggy wheels! I'm so glad he didn't. Clearly the bee had lost its sting so we rescued from harm
using a twig and placed it on the wall of a neighbours garden.

I nice random shot of a hair tie we found wrapped around the tree branch.
Someone must have been missing it for a long time but I couldn't resist a
little photo.

Finally to round our day off we visited the bakery for some cookies and crisps. We also made a point to pick up litter around the park to make the place look a bit prettier. Little Miss is big on litter and hates seeing it. If it's not too dirty and there's a bin near or I have the buggy to put the rubbish in my basket i'll pick it up or allow her to. keeping our local environment clean is very important.

What did you get up to at the weekend?

CupcakeMumma

The New Life in Cornwall

Until recently there was a vast, empty space just screaming out for attention in Cornwall. One day I was walking up to Tesco's for some supplies when I noticed boards attached to newly erected fencing. The Wasteland was being transformed into a wonderful space for playing, relaxing and exploring.
And here it is:

Heartlands in Cornwall.

When the tin mines closed down in Cornwall it left this area a wide, empty space of nothingness. It's hard to believed this now beautiful area was nothing but mud, grass and rocks, a space which seemed like nothing good would ever come to it. But thanks to the Regeneration Project, a new lease of life has been injected into this area of Cornwall.

This brand new, free attraction site has a wide play area, a cafe, studios with so much to do, gardens and spaces to explore, fantastic sculptures to observe and more importantly a chance to learn about Cornwall's heritage with tours around the mine and much more. You can even get married at Heartlands! If you click the image above you'll be taken to the site where there is so much more to discover.

Now, on to my day. We ventured up to Heartlands on Saturday to see what all the fuss was about. I hadn't read much about this project, I didn't know a great deal about it. I had seen lots of buildings coming together and hard work being undertaken but I thought this was just going to be a new park and maybe some extras. When we arrived we were quite taken aback by how lovely it all was.

Below are some photos of our day out. Hope you like them!

 These photos are of Robinson's Shaft and the engine room. Because this mining site closed in the 20th Century it has retained a lot of its historical architecture leaving even the engine room in apparently great condition. I'm looking forward to going on a tour here myself to learn even more.

 Outside there is a large area surrounded by studios and a large water pool. The water is crystal clear and I really hope it stays that way. It's very tempting to take your shoes off and go for a paddle in this water but, sadly and quite rightly that is not allowed. What a shame though!

There is a knitting studio at Heartlands and on the way around you could spot knitted objects either funky looking ones like this or scarf like creations hanging from the fences. 

These photos were taken in the garden area. Little Miss and Daddy did a bit of exploring while I took a few photos. We then sat down before heading off the park.

Because there were so many children I couldn't take any of the actual park. On the positive side this means we can visit plenty more times when it's less busy! Here is one photo I took though of Little Miss playing under these plant made tunnels. It's actually a sort of maze with a little climbing frame in the middle which I thought was pretty cool. I didn't bank on the tunnel shrinking in height as I went around it though!

Candyfloss anyone?

After all the excitement we went around the market. Because of the weather it wasn't too busy but I did get some good finds which I will write up in another post. We got home pretty tired and after a nice dinner vegged out in front of some good films. 

CupcakeMumma