It’s October half term and we’re in Cornwall.

Just let that sink in a minute.

October.

Cornwall.

Think heavy, grey skies and howling winds (courtesy of Storm Brian) and you’ll have a pretty good mental picture going on. But we are a bit mad and actually quite like being on a British holiday at this time of the year. I’m excluding the kids from the “we” here. They would prefer to be on a sun kissed Greek beach right about now. Truth be told so would we, but when deciding what to do for October half term we felt we couldn’t risk an abroad holiday so close to the end of radiotherapy. If appointments had slipped or I’d reacted badly to the treatment we would have been stuffed.

So Cornwall it is. And back to how much we like the UK in Autumn. We don’t bother to hope for good weather. We don’t pray for sunshine, warmth, or picnics on the beach – only to feel let down when the British Summer disappoints. We usually chill out quite a bit more – there’s no rush to get out to make the most of the 3 hours of predicted sunshine like there is in August. Instead our plan for the week is to lie in, take it easy, chill in the hot tub, enjoy wild and windy walks, eat cake and drink wine (or apple juice if you’re Josh!). Bliss.

Portreath was a favourite destination of ours when the kids were small. Stormy days were the best, we’d park up along the seafront and watch the storm play out in front of us. Portreath also has THE BEST fish and chips! We drove through Storm Brian to get to our lodge for the week. The winds intensified as the day wore on so we just had to drive down to the seafront to watch the sea. Huge waves crashed, we could barely stand upright, sand blasted our face. Ok so sipping cocktails in the Canaries it’s not, but it was mighty impressive nonetheless. And I can confirm that the fish and chips are still excellent!

Actually the rough weather lasted just a day or two, and then unexpectedly the sun came out.

It’s difficult to pick out a favourite part of Cornwall, it’s all so beautiful and we’ve visited many times over the years. However Godrevy is right up there for me. Set on the eastern side of St Ives Bay facing the Atlantic Ocean, gorgeous beach stretching for miles and a pretty good coffee hut on the beach!

St Ives is another of our favourite haunts. However, small Cornish streets heaving with tourists and a crazy dog don’t really mix so we had thought we’d give St Ives a miss this time. But on our final evening of the holiday, Ad had a calling to the sea, so thinking it would be quieter than during the day, we decided to risk a visit.

What a perfect way to end our holiday! St Ives – definitely one of my happy places ❤️