June (2013) in the UK and Paris: 2013-06-07 Hanging out in Cornwall

June 7, 2013 - Friday

Here we are, in the Water Mill cottage at East Trenean Farm, in Widegates, which is not far from Looe, on the south coast of Cornwall. There used to be a mill at the farm and Tanji and Steve spent quite a few years renovating the buildings before openiing their B&B. It is in a lovely location and is quite beautiful. Tanji had wanted a nice luxurious B&B and I would say that she has succeeded in creating it. We could have had a spa day if we had had more time.

The back of the cottages. Our cottage was the one right at the end, with the window.

East Trenean Farm House, where our breakfast was served.

Tanji cooked us a lovely full English breakfast with eggs from her 10 hens which run around her garden, bacon from a local butcher, beans, tomatoes and mushroom. There was also a selection of cereals, orange juice and mixed fruit salad with or without honey. We met two other guests at breakfast. They were long-time friends who have been meeting up and travelling together on vacation over the years. They had some suggestions on places to visit.

Kat, Petros and Irene at breakfast

Not sure what Petros and Irene were looking at, but whatever it was, it must have been good. Maybe it was Tanji bringing our breakfasts.

Mixed fruit, orange juice and tea

Farm fresh eggs, mushrooms, bacon and beans for our breakfast

We decided to visit Polperro, Fowey and Mevagissey. Tanji lent us an ordnance survey map of Cornwall to help us get around the area. We wandered around Tanji's garden and admired the views and the chickens and ducks for a while.

Looking around the farm::

The back of the farm house

The garden

We parked our car behind this structure

The Corn Barn, on the way to our cottage

View from the garden

The animals at the farm:

Ducks swimming in the pond in the garden

Hens in the chicken coop. Tanji let them out after breakfast and they wandered all around the backyard.

Sheep in the pasture

Some of the sheep had white faces and others had black faces

The ducks

A hen and a cat

After the fauna, the flora:

After we had our fill of wandering around the farm, we set out for Polperro. We drove through Widegates (blink and you will miss it) and made our first stop in Looe.

On our way to Looe - 4 miles to go! (Yes, it's miles and not kilometers.)

Looe is divided in two, East Looe and West Looe, by the River Looe. The two sides are connected by a bridge. The town is situated around a small harbour and along the steep-sided valley of the river, which flows to the sea beside a sandy beach. It was a bit windy but pleasant enough for walking. Irene and I went into a local store to buy a couple of lemons and the lady in the store was taking an order to deliver 10 carrots and half a cabbage. The store also runs a taxi service and a school drop off and pick up service for the village.

First look at Looe

Looe, with a pretty dry River Looe

Florine, on the bridge that joins the 2 sides of Looe, East Looe and West Looe.

Kat, in Looe

Bridge spaning the River Looe

Not much water under this bridge

Sign for Riverside Walk, which we took for a short distance

Boat watch sign

Boats tied up in Looe

View of the river with the boats on the water on one side, and high and dry on the other.

Swans on the river in Looe - synchronized swimming

From Looe, we made our way to Polperro. We parked at the main car park at Crumplehorn and walked the half mile into the village. Petros bought a chicken and leek pasty and we had Treleaven clotted cream ice-cream while walking around the pretty village.

Polperro car park in Crumplehorn, a small hamlet forming the northern part of the village of Polperro - we paid for 3 hours.

Not sure where we picked up that dirt on the tyre walls - maybe too many close encounters with the sides of country roads?

Crumplehorn, a hamlet on the northern part of Polperro

Tourist map of Polperro. We followed the orange line and walked all the way down to the beach.

This stream starts at the parking lot and runs right through the village to the harbour.

Crumplehorn Inn and Mill

Crumplehorn

Polperro Town Hall, with art exhibition

Bridge over stream in Polperro

House with vibrant flowers in Polperro

Houses on hillside in Polperro

More houses in Polperro

Model village in Polperro

Petros with the chicken and leek pasty that we all got to sample.

Clock shop in Polperro

Irene, outside the Treleavens ice cream store. Apparently, this is Jamie Oliver's ice cream of choice.

Stream running down the backyard of Polperro homes

Old Market House

Old Market House plaque

Lansallos Parish memorial

Bird walking (too bad it was not a Jay)

The never endng stream flowing through Polperro

Irene and Florine getting their doggie fix

Stream running under a bridge.

Polperro inner harbour

Inner harbour at low tide

Inner harbour

Amusing sign in store window

Polperro Heritage Museum of Smuggling and Fishing

Panorama from the beach

Barnacles?

Petros making his way down the hillside after climbing up for a better view.

Petros and Florine

Kat, outside Willy Wilcox Cave

Kat in Polperro

Not sure what his problem is.

Irene's second dose of doggie fix

More amusing signs

Petros beside a "tram", which we could have taken to the car park.

From Polperro, we drove to Bodinnick to take the car ferry across to Fowey. We would have had to drive inland quite a distance to get across the river if we did not take the ferry. It was just a short little ferry ride and kind of fun. Our GPS actually knew there was a ferry - Garmie was definitely on her game.

Road to Bodinnick ferry

View from road while queuing up for the ferry to Fowey

Looking across to Fowey

On the ferry

View from the ferry

Fowey Harbour - lovely sign.

At Fowey, Florine went shopping and bought a couple of pretty dresses from a cool store named Seasalt. Irene got herself a hat. Petros got socks and I got nothing!

Florine trying on a linen dress in Seasalt

We walked around the town and after working up a decent appetite, went to the Dwelling House for tea. The lady at the tourist information office had recommended the Dwelling House when I asked her for a place to have a really nice cream tea. The Dwelling House had excellent scones, clotted cream and jams. We also had an awesome fresh crab sandwich.

The Dwelling House

Antique cash register at the Dwelling House

Scones, jam and clotted cream. Yummy!

The tea menu at The Dwelling House

The fabulous crab sandwich

We thought it would be nice to have dinner at our cottage, which had a nicely equipped kitchen and a dining table and a bottle of wine in the fridge. So, we dashed to the various stores in Fowey, which were about to close for the day, and bought a walnut and rosemary loaf of bread, Scotch eggs, pork pie, pasties and 3 locally made cheeses. We also bought a bag of ice to keep everything cool and once at the car, wrapped them all up in one of the Air Transat blankets that we had in the trunk of the car.

Some of what we saw in Fowey:

Sign - Florine shot this - she's keen on signs. I am not sure what it is for but it looks like it could be for a restaurant or pub.

Church in Fowey

Fowey Museum

A peak at the water

We drove over to Mevagissey and parked the car in a lot that had a machine that ripped us off. Instead of giving us a ticket that was good from 5:00 pm till midnight for the money that we inserted into it, it only gave us 2 hours, contrary to the posted sign. Hey, you win some and you lose some, but the 2 hours were sufficient for us to explore Mevagissey and we enjoyed our visit.

Left lane for Mevagissey and McDonalds.

View of the coast. on the way to Mevagissey.

The cattle get the best view.

Tourist map of Mevagissey

Mevagissey street

Mevagissey harbour

Boats in Mevagissey harbour

Mevagissey-Fowey ferry

Mevagissey lighthouse

View of Mevagissey and harbour from the hill

Birds - they get great views too.

Petros, Irene and Kat up on the hill, overlooking Mevagissey harbour.

Boats and lighthouse in Mevagissey harbour

Bird on a rock

Mevagissey harbour

Bird on traps - king of the hill.

Bird on traps

Boats in Mevagissey harbour

One last look at the harbour before heading back to our car.

We walked around the town and harbour before climbing up the hill that overlooked the town. It had a nice harbour and a little lighthouse. After that, it was time to head back to the farm. We had a wonderful dinner and a relaxing time for the rest of the evening.