Coastal Autumn Getaways

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the silence on here the last few weeks, I had some stuff come up the beginning of September so had to put the blog on hold, but I’m back and just in time for pumpkin spice & all things hygge with a trip to Norway, two trips to Germany and an incredible trip to Iceland all crammed in before Father Christmas comes tumbling down my chimney! If you’re ever missing me on here, please head over to my Instagram and give me a quick follow, you can stay up to date with me on my stories!

Coastal Autumn Getaways

I love nothing more than a weekend away in England, escaping the day to day to explore the unexplored and those little weekend mini-breaks aren’t just for the summer!

Over the weekend, Jon and I packed up the car and headed off on our 5 hour drive down to the coast of Cornwall to explore St Ives, nearby heritage sites and spend Sunday indoors at the Eden Project. I won’t lie, I spent the entire trip with a bit of a flu, but true Lucy style, I powered on through pretending I was fine dosed up on lemsip, olbas oil and all sorts. I was super excited to head down to Cornwall, because I had make a special effort to find somewhere new and unique to stay and my gosh it did not disappoint!

The Hotel…

We ended up staying at the amazing and quite frankly, Grand Budapest meets Downton Abbey style hotel, with so much character, history and incredible touches that I could easily write an entire book on the place! The hotel hosted the cast from Poldark and even takes bookings for weddings, so you can have a real-life fairytale (maybe leave out the Poldark feels there though, it’s a little dark)! Intrigued? I was!

The hotel we stayed at is called Penventon Park Hotel and is just 25 minutes from St Ives, 30 minutes from St Michaels Mount and 40 minutes from the Eden Project, so smack bang in the middle of all the places you’d want to visit. Inside the hotel you’re met with trinkets, art, little corners of treasures and my favourite an incredible Gin & Hot Chocolate bar called the Copper Bar (it is technically a Gin bar, but they have an AMAZING hot chocolate menu that I’ll chat more about later).

The walk to the room was through either the lounge area, that is full of the most luxurious velvet arm chairs and sofas, with gold Georgian style interiors that lead over to a beautiful hand crafted copper staircase. This little staircase is set next to a spiral staircase that takes you down into the wine cellar, a cellar that is thought to be haunted with the ghosts of soldiers from the war where it was used as a hospital! Up the copper staircase you get to a dark picture-gallery style area that is a mix of silvers and paintings of fruits, an area that Giuseppe Arcimboldo would approve of and most likely wish to have afternoon tea in! Past here we reached a corridor that takes you off to the spa on the left and our room on the right…

The rooms are just as glitzy and unique and we stayed in a beautiful suite which was perfect for Her Country as the room was themed on nature. The walls were graced with pretty birds and the room opened out onto our own little garden patio. I absolutely loved our room and made the most of it with Jon by ordering room service, relaxing reading ‘Letters That Changed the World‘ with Jon! I even had a cheeky bubble bath when Jon went down to the spa for a swim and steam, most certainly high up on my favourite thing about the weekend!

We had the nicest dinner at the hotel that was based on traditional recipes and foods that have been part of the family for years. One of the ingredients on the menu is actually so secret that the chefs don’t even know the recipe, the family make it at home.

St Ives…

Exploring St Ives was one of my favourite things to have ever done in Cornwall and I’m not exaggerating! I absolutely loved it and to top it off, had my first true Cornish pasty by the sea…

I’ve had some incredible trips to the sea, one with my Mum in Polzeath & others with Jon driving all over. But St Ives was what I imagine a fancy London seaside town would look like (I mean it does have the Tate museum there)! We paddled around in the sea together that was so nice and a memory I will cherish forever, watching Jon run off shoes flying, trousers getting wet into the Mediterranean blue of the English sea was so fun and even I got involved in it and went for a paddle too!

It is unique, pretty, calm and full of the most incredible beaches that was all easily accessible. We saw some of the prettiest little shops and got a few nice unique things (books and stuff) and I spent ages looking in the prettiest ocean themed jewellery shop recommended to me by Jon’s brother’s partner also called Lucy!

We had a lot of fun exploring the different beaches, walking the coastal path a little and watching the surfers and SUP doing their thing! Next time we go I will insist on Jon taking his surfboard and me a body board (because let’s be real, I hate the idea of being under water with a surfboard, flopping into the waves on a board is much more me haha)!

Scroll down to see some pretty pictures!

After exploring the beautiful St Ives, we headed off to explore some of the surrounding area in the pouring rain we thought ‘meh, well we’re already wet so let’s go explore some historical sites anyway’. We found a fun ‘Outlander’ style quoit in the middle of a field and honestly were completely drenched (sunglasses because I’m a diva).

After this wet and windy adventure we headed back to the hotel and indulged in the yummiest hot chocolates from (no joke) a cocktail style menu of Hans Sloane chocolate (he basically invented hot chocolate), and tried some traditional hot cocoa’s that put Italian hot cocoa to shame (sorry Italy)!

The next day we headed off to the Eden project…

What an incredible place! Not only does it look super cool outside, like giant bubbles from another planet it’s awesomely amazing inside! I was SO excited…

It was wet, windy and dull outside but as soon as you enter those domes you’re transported to the jungles of South America and the other the rolling beautiful streets and nature reserves of Greece.

I can’t express how simply amazing it was, it felt like we were genuinely in another world or a spaceship as we could see outside to the rain waterfalling down the sides of the dome. Magical! If you’re thinking of heading down to Cornwall and want some inspiration please ping me a quick message! I’ve already had some lovely messages and questions via Instagram & honestly couldn’t recommend doing the above more!

It was a pleasure to show you guys our trip and I can’t wait to see yours.

Bye bye for now! Lucy x