Father Christmas Fun Run, Padstow.

No not Juan's on a Friday, but Padstow on a Saturday.

The Start

The Warm Up

Radio Cornwall.

Autumn in Cornwall.

Cotehele Weir.

The Tamar river, border between Devon and Cornwall.

Maybe old, but still as strong as an Ox !

The pond.

Cotehele House, Saltash, Cornwall.


Christmas garland.

This was made today.

Last Blog

We have decided the blog has gone as far as it can. So there will be no more, thanks for the interest. Mel

April's ramblings.

Lots of news and views to catch up on, so here goes............. Seems like a long time ago now that I was in Spain and we said our goodbyes to Gerry.




Early April sees the start of the silly season in Cornwall and at the begining of the month we went to Falmouth for Aberfest-a celtic gathering of the cornish, welsh and breton people. The weekend begins with a street parade with everyone following a giant mackeral around Falmouth to the beat of drums and other traditional instruments. Celebrations continue all weekend with various dance, music (and drinking!) sessions in and around the town. The breton people wear national costume but the cornish just appear to wear any silly costume -as you can see!

It was a wet day but no-one seemed to mind and good fun was had by all.

With spring in full swing now we decided to have an afternoon at the Eden Project.

This giant bee seemed to be very busy in the thousands of daffodils which were in full bloom at Eden.

The gardens were looking great in the spring sunshine.

Cornwall is quite well known for its daffodils and on the way home we stopped to photograph these commercial daffodil fields. The picking is finished now but the business employs many people for a few weeks each year. There were many fields like this around the county, a lovely sight when everything else was still looking a bit bare.

Daffodils greeted us again when we went to Trerice - a beautiful Elizabethen house which belongs to the National Trust and about 7 miles from home.

Another trip to Falmouth and a good pint of 'Rattler' - a cider from a local brewery. The purpose of this visit was not just the 'Rattler' but to see Mercury, a Queen tribute band.

The band were brilliant- we had a great evening.

The venue was the Pavillions at Falmouth, an old and very traditional seaside concert hall complete with it's original bandstand and beautful gardens.

We have had some lovely weather over the past few weeks so we have been out and about visiting some of our favourite places before the tourists start to arrive and it get too busy.

Padstow is Anne's favourite - you can see why.

My daughter Steff came down to Cornwall for a few days with hubby Sabey and of course my grandaughter Gia. We had a lovely day with them and even ventured into the sea..............briefly!!

After that very quick dip in the sea with Gia - and really it was only a toe-dippinng, I decided a wet suit was essential so last weekend I bought this very fetching little number!! Haven't tried it out in the sea yet but Bondi watch out there might be a new surfer dude in town!

We usually do our food shopping on Friday when we are both at home and of course try and tie it in with a bit of a walk somewhere. Well last Friday Anne suggested a trip to Perranporth after shopping and a drink at the pub on the beach there. Great idea I thought, not realising it meant an assault course to reach the pub!

Are you sure the tide is going out!

It is a pretty amazing beach with high cliffs and towering rock formations.

Saturday was May 1st- an important date in the Padstow year - Obby Oss.

The town is packed with people celebrating the start of summer. As you may remember from last year's blog ( yes, I have been back in the UK and here in Cornwall for a whole year now ) the celebration of summer's arrival begins at midnight and continues right through the day. The town is decorated with sycamore branches, bluebells and cowslips and the two Oss's, one red and the other blue, dance around the streets followed by their supporters.

Two red Oss supporters making their way down into the town for the start of the celebrations.

Accordians and drums accompany the Oss's and dancers as they parade through the narrow streets. These three drummers were trying to get into the pub.

The celebrations are thought to be of pagan origin and the story goes that if a young women is caught beneath the skirt of the oss as it dances she will be pregnant within the year!!

Just a couple of photo's of our recent ramble along the river.

Paddy is growing up fast and full of mischief and trouble. The garden will never be the same again - he seems to think craters are an attractive feature and that flowers require instant pruning!!