My Great Grandfather originated from Cornwall - Truro apparently, but it wasn't a pilgrimage or anything to see where he ventured from, before arriving in Australia.
Instead, Cornwall has a reputation for being an interesting part of Britain - possibly different to the general views seen, eg green rolling hills and towns and villages featuring the ubiquitous stone cottages and churches.
Not that these towns and villages are uninteresting mind, but Cornwall is indeed somewhat different to many areas of Britain. With craggy, rock strewn coastlines, the brilliantly described smugglers coves detailed in novels and stories of days gone by, narrow and winding roads as well as the towns and villages by the sea and inland - Cornwall is indeed somewhat different to many areas of Britain.
We really enjoyed Cornwall and would like to return for a longer time as on this occasion we only had time for a two night stay prior to flying off to Istanbul from Luton Airport.
So, we stayed at Bude at a cozy and stylish B & B, run by a couple around our age and featuring Gary, the rather large and very friendly dog!
Bude is a coastal town in northern Cornwall and we ate at a very nice restaurant called Samphire.
From there, we drove south towards St Ives - which was a pleasant seaside town. We wandered around St Ives for a wee while - with cobbled streets, tidal harbour (the tide was out when we were there) and white sandy beach.Afterwards, as Samantha had wanted to visit Rick Stein's town of Padstow, we drove up there and had a look-see.
Padstow is a small town, but a very pleasant town. Probably a very expensive town in terms of property but all the same, it wouldn't be a bad place to live - after all, plenty of good places to eat!
We hadn't booked any restaurants so we simply went to Rick Stein's Fish and Chip shop. It was actually pretty good as I am not a big fan of Fish and Chips, but in all honesty, the chips were nice and the fish was tasty and plentiful.
The following day we again drove through some small villages and made our way to Padstow again - this time for a look in the daytime.
On leaving, Samantha went to buy some cooking things at Rick Stein's Deli and lo and behold, apparently, Rick Stein was there. So he does exist! Anyway, I was waiting in the car but Samantha organised for Rick Stein to sign the cook book she was purchasing and that's pretty much about it really.
All in all, Cornwall was a very pleasant place and we intend to journey back there in the future.
