A Perfect February Half Term Holiday -Cornwall and Wales

 “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.” – Martin Buber

Deciding where to go for February half term was quite a mission. If you google “where to go for February half term” you find lots of people complaining about February weather and suggesting that you should probably just stay home. But we were having none of that thank you very much. In the end the decision came down to trying to fit in all the places we wanted to see and judging which was likeliest to be warmer and drier in February.

And so Cornwall was chosen and with some very gratefully received advice from the SlowTrav community regarding places to see and things to do, we narrowed in on the area around Bodmin. Bodmin is in northern Cornwall with a number of terrific places for day trips nearby in both Devon and Cornwall.

As our booking would end on a Thursday and weren't back at school until the following Tuesday we decided to add four days in southern and mid Wales to the itinerary, fearful that much of our six months has already been allocated and Wales may have been missed. In the end our we had a perfect eleven day adventure and covered 1140 miles of the most varied countryside imaginable.

We set off after school finished on Thursday as the prices for a week starting Thursday were significantly cheaper than the same cottage starting on the Friday due to the half term holidays. In general the price rise school holiday periods is nothing less than extortion and we agree with moves afoot for schools to choose their own holiday periods to spread them out and lower prices. We originally said we would make sure the kids didn’t miss any school during this first part of our trip but ended up agreeing that a day and a half extra holiday never hurt anyone.

We expected the drive through Dorset to Devon then Cornwall to be quite damp, with the floods effecting nearby Somerset so badly but today we were in luck. We had sunny skies for the first two hours of our three hour trip. It was only once we crossed into Devon and passed Exeter, commenting that it must me time for a Devon Cream Tea that the blue skies disappeared and the heavens opened upon us.

It started to hail as we left the A30 at Whiddon Down, which stopped as soon as it started but was heavy enough to please the kids and have them running about collecting handfuls of hail to toss at each other. It was too late for afternoon tea at the Post Inn in Whiddon Down but we were advised to visit Betty Cottles Inn the other side of Okehampton, as they would still be serving food and we were glad we did.

 

As we continued our drive it appeared that the heavy rain had turned to slushy ice, which we later found out was sleet, which we didn’t recognise having never seen it before. Betty Cottles was a lovely place to stop with a warm welcome from publican Derek and his lovely wife. We also had a yarn with a nice old local man who was hoping to take up the post of Okehampton Station Master if only they decided to reinstate the old train line in the light of the huge swells that caused much damage to the train line on the Devon coastal line.

Snow..this might be the closest we get!

While we chatted it looked like the sleet had turned to snow but it was melting as it touched the ground, however it was the closest we have come to seeing snow so it was exciting. Of course having rained, hailed and snowed the sun then came out and it remained sunny all the way to reaching our cottage.

Cutmadoc
People were surprised that we had chosen a cottage inland rather than on the seaside, with

Cornwall being so famous for its seaside towns. But with the battering the coast has receive over the past few weeks it ended up being a wise decision. In any case, I couldn’t see us spending too much time on the beach with temperatures around eight degrees during the daytime.
 

Our backyard

Cutmadoc cottage on the grounds of Lanhydrock Estate was our home for the week. This beautiful 1930’s bungalow absolutely reminded us of home and we all loved staying here. Sitting by a lovely country lane, which became a waterfall on rainy days, this National Trust managed cottage is the perfect base for Devon and Cornwall.  The location was ideal with so many different places being easily accessible on good roads and simple journeys. Also if we decided to just stay locally within a few miles is terrific walks on Bodmin Moor, good food in nearby Lostwithiel and the delightful Lanhydrock  was right in our backyard.

It had three lovely bedrooms, country kitchen, dining room and a cosy lounge with an open fire for cooler evenings. It had everything we needed including games for the kids, two ponies to visit next door and pheasants roaming the stunning yard looking out over Lanhydrock’s fabulous gardens. Winter time saw the garden was filled with Snow Drops but I can only imagine how amazing it would be in Spring.

­

We were very glad that we had chosen Cutmadoc as our base and when it was time to leave we agreed that we really loved Cornwall, and the little we saw of Devon, and could easily return for a much longer stay. We met people who believed we were locals despite our obviously Aussie accents as apparently there are many Australian's living in Cornwall. They come for the surf, especially around Newquay, and never want to leave. Life is slower and easier here, the Cornish people are unbelievably friendly and the landscapes vary from rough and rugged moors to fields of daffodils, stunning beaches, quintessential Cornish fishing villages and granite cliffs pounded by the Atlantic.

We arrived at Cutmadoc without a plan for what we wanted to see. We planned to stay home and relax mostly but as we loved the place so much we ended up seeing much more than we expected. Luckily Cornwall is fairly small so we never had to drive more than an hour at a time to get to where we wanted to go, with our longest day of driving adding to not much over three hours. Having seen and done so much I have decided to break it into bite sized instalments rather than one marathon effort. So I hope you stay tuned and enjoy our "best of Cornwall with kids" over the next week or so, followed by our four days in Wales that were equally fabulous.