Cornwall Holiday 2011

1, 2, 3, 4) Arrival day: 19th August 2011. After unpacking we went for a stroll along Par Beach which was only a stone's throw from the bed'n'breakfast where we were staying in mid-Cornwall (south coast).

5, 6, 7, 8) Milla loved Par beach because she had repeated the mantra over and over "are going on holiday to the beach?" before we got there. Yes Milla, this is the beach - but it was too cold/windswept for Mum. But it was sunny.

9, 10, 11, 12) Milla & Mummy on Par Beach on our first afternoon in Cornwall.

13, 14, 15, 16) Milla makes sandcastles - but, what's this? It is mummy bear in a cave - run away!

17, 18, 19, 20) A walk along Par beach....

21, 22, 23, 24) Par beach on our first day.

25, 26, 27, 28) Milla runs amok on her first day on Par beach.

29, 30) After a lot of running around like crazy it was back to the B'n'B for fish and chips.

31, 32) Next day we drove up the coast to Charlestown and the museum ("Shipwreck and Heritage Centre").

33, 34, 35, 36) A slightly wet start to the day on that Saturday morning the 20th August 2011. Milla and Mummy stroll around Charlestown - a small and ancient port and originally home to the local Chia Clay shipping industry. Now it is a permanent film-set - really!

37, 38, 39, 40) Whilst Mummy got herself comfortable in the Cafe, Milla and Daddy played pirates on the big sailing ship.

41, 42, 43, 44) At last the weather started to brighten up after a cream tea at the Cafe. So we went for a stroll around Charlestown habour.

45, 46, 47, 48) Charlestown Harbour on a Saturday morning. Quiet.

49, 50, 51, 52) Charlestown Habour.

53, 54, 55, 56) Charlestown Habour.

57) Charlestown Harbour - Mummy & Milla down on the beach.

58, 59, 60) On the same day - Saturday 20th August 2011 - we drove further down the coast to the Lost Gardens Of Heligan.

61, 62, 63, 64) The Gardens were originally created in the 1920's before being abandoned. Then, rediscovered in the late 1990's they were resurrected.

65, 66, 76, 68) Milla and Mummy walk around Heligan.

69, 70, 71, 72) Heligan. Milla admires the ducks.

73, 74, 75, 76) Mummy goes bird watching and then we went onto the "Jungle" where Liya took the eight of her feet.

77, 78, 79, 80) Down in the Jungle there were no Lions, Tigers or Bears. The warm climate in southern Cornwall allows unusual species to be maintained at Heligan.

81, 82, 83, 84) Wandering around Heligan's Jungle.

85, 86, 87, 88) Heligan's Jungle.

89, 90, 91,92) Heligan's Jungle. Liya starts eating the plants.

93, 94, 95, 96) Flowers in the Heligan Jungle.

97) Milla & Mummy takes a break in the Heligan Jungle.

98) Flowers in the Heligan Jungle.

99 & 100) Sleeping lady and giant's head in the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

101, 102, 103, 104) Sunday 21st August 2011 and we are in the Eden Project.

105, 106, 107, 108) The Eden Project is like a hi-tech version of Heligan, indeed they are run by the same people. The Eden Project was established in Dome constructed inside an old China Clay quarry in 1999. These pictures show us walking down the sides of the old quarry which is planted with every kind of plant imaginable.

109, 110, 111, 112) The Garden of Eden.

113, 114, 115, 116) A giant Bee, the restaurant and, finally, inside the rain forest biome.

117, 118, 119, 120) It as like a real rain forest: hot and humid.

121, 122, 123, 124) In the rainforest with Milla and Mummy.

125, 126, 127, 128) In the Eden Project raindforest 'biome' = biology-dome.

129, 130, 131, 132) Rainforest, sugar cane production explained, sugar cane lorry and, yes, those are bananas

133, 134, 135, 136) Bananas grow from a big flower like this one. Milla moved on to play chess with Mummy in a bam bam. The rainforest biome included human architecture from rainforest regions.

137, 138, 139, 140) Moving on from the rainforest biome we enter the Mediterranean biome for more temperate climates.

141, 142, 143, 144) This biome was more like souther Italy and north Africa. Mummy is holding a small wooden frog that she brought for Milla in the shop.

145, 146, 147, 148) Orange blossom.

149, 150, 151, 152) Warm and arid in the biome.

153, 154, 155, 156) More semi-desert environments in the biome.

157, 158, 159, 160) Arid.

161, 162, 163, 164) California and a Vineyard.

165, 166) The vineyard.

167, 168) Liya and tomotoes.

169, 170, 171, 172) Outside the biomes the vegetation was a bit more north-european but equally as lush with a few surprises for overseas. Much of the planting was not only unusual it was edible.

177, 178, 179, 180) The Eden Project with its "dinosaur" actually a man-sculpture made of the electronic goods we would use up and discard in a lifetime. Before long Milla had found a wood and rope climbing fram to play on.

181, 182, 183) Time for toys for the boys & Milla. A fleet of several different electric cars at the Eden Project. The electric Smart car isn't available yet. Not pictured was the all electric Tesla sports car which was too busy being "test driven" around the car parks!

184) The bizarre and somewhat pointless "seed" sculpture - two storeys high!

185) The seed thing.

186, 187) Far more useful - a whole set of educational gizmoes for Milla.

188) A wall of handprints at the Eden Project.

193, 194, 195, 196) More views from the cafe including a solar-powered bin and solar panels laid into the glass. This is our ecotechnic future written large.

197, 198, 199, 200) More views of the Eden Projects as we prepared to leave.

201, 202, 203, 204) More of the same.

205, 206, 207, 208) Monday 22nd August 2011 - only a very short journey from the B'n'B in Par was the Luxulyan Valley - an abandoned china clay mining complex that was used right up until the 1960's but now over-grown and used for walking pursuits.

209, 210, 211, 212) A railway bridge (it still carries trains) and abandoned tracks along the pathways around the Luxulyan Valley.

213, 214, 215, 216) The combined viaduct/aquaduct at the head of the valley.

217, 218, 219, 220) Luxulyan Valley - ascending the valley sides to the top of the viaduct.

221, 222, 223, 224) Milla and Mummy enjoy the view up and down the valley from the top of the viaduct - the water runs in a channel under our feet.

225, 226, 227, 228) The "aqua" bit of the viaduct/aquaduct brought water into the valley to run a large waterwheel (long since decayed to nothing). The wheel powered a pulley system that brought wagons up and down a steep incline. The water ran along the channel visible in these pictures alongside the path. In picture 228 Milla is standing at the top of where the old waterwheel was, you can see the water still cascading down into empty space.

229, 230, 231, 232) Milla and Mummy explore the area around the old "big wheel".

233, 234) Water falls into empty space where it once powered an enormoud water-wheel. The wheel powered trucks up and down the steep hill in the second picture.

235, 236) On the same Monday 22nd we drove up the coast a short way to the coastal town of Fowey (promounced "foy"). There we caught a boat that took us up the river and back down out of the bay and into the choppy waters of where the English Channel meets the Atlantic Ocean.

237, 238, 239, 240) Our boat trip up the river.

241, 242, 243, 244) Our boat trip up river.

245, 246, 247, 248) Milla enjoying her boat trip up the river.

249, 250, 251) Our voyage down the river and out to sea.

252) A view of the harbour from the cliffs above later on.

253, 254, 255, 256) Tuesday 23rd August 2011 and we move on to Truro Cathedral - a stop off on our journey down the coast towards Lands End. Milla loved the candles. Pyromaniac.

257, 258, 259, 260) Truro Cathedral.

261, 262, 263, 264) Heah it's Christmas! Truro Cathedral has a Christmas Shop all year round. And Milla just loved those candles.

265, 266) Truro Cathedral gift shop and Milla & Mummy outside after the visit.

267, 268) Lands End on the same Tuesday.

269, 270, 271, 272) Lands End.

273, 274, 275, 276) Lands End.

277, 278, 279, 280) Lands End - Milla plays I-spy.

281, 282, 283, 284) Lands End. The weather finally picked up towards the end of the day.

285, 286, 287, 288) Wednesday 24th August 2011 finds us in Mevagissey not far from the Lost Gardens of Heligan. We had beautiful blue skies backed by threatening black clouds making this the picturesque day of the holiday.

289, 290, 291, 292) Mevagissey with fishing boats, Milla and Mummy.

293, 294, 295, 296) Beautiful skies & beautiful girls at Mevagissey.

297, 298, 299, 300) Mevagissey - big sky country.

301, 302, 303, 304) Mevagissey.

305, 306, 307, 308) Mevagissey with Milla & Liya.

309, 310, 311, 312) Mevagissey - and more of those big skies - Cornwall-style.

313, 314, 315, 316) Mevagissey lighthouse & harbour.

317, 318, 319, 320) Mevagissey - on the breakwater with the fishermen.

321, 322, 323, 324) Mevagissey - back round through the town to the other side of the dock as the storm clouds gather.

325, 326, 327, 328) Mevagissey.

329, 330, 331, 332) Mevagissey. Blue sky out to sea and black clouds threatening inland.

333, 334, 335, 336) Chocolate box top views of Mevagissey. Certainly picture 335 should be made into a 400 piece puzzle! But then the sun started to disappear...

337, 338, 339, 340) Rain clouds gathering at Mevagissey.

341, 342, 343) Last few views of blue sky before the rain came down. We had shelter in the shape of the Mevagissey museum.

344) Later the rain stopped.

345, 346, 347) Mevagissey town after the sun came out again! We looked around for somewhere to eat before moving on to the Mevagissey "World of Model Railways".

358) The model railway display. Quite extensive model railways displays formed a panorama of extremely detailed 3D art. Even without the trains going through it you could spend hours just looking at all the tiny, tiny details which included a Time Team Dig and a Nudist Beach!

359, 360, 361) A miniature country fayre, a miniature version of Charlestown (complete with tiny movie set) and a tiny, tiny abandoned Cornish Tin Mine complete with owls...

362) Outside the "World of Model Railways" at Mevagissey.

363, 364, 365, 366) With time to kill after Mevagissey we ventured inland and back to the Eden Project for our second visit. This time we caught up with anything we missed first time around - especially all the things outside. The afternoon of Wednesday the 24th August 2011 was overcast.

367, 368, 369, 370) Back inside the Mediterranean biome for story time before moving back outside to frolic amongst the flowers.

371, 372, 373, 374) Flowers, flowers, flowers... all at The Eden Project.

375, 376, 377, 378) An undiscovered corner of the Eden Project with so much to explore for any five-year-old.

379, 380, 381, 382) Heh Dad look at me! Milla exploring the Eden Project's secret gardens.

383) The Eden Project architecture.

384, 385, 386) Thursday 25th August 2011 and Newquay Zoo. The sunny weather returned although it was wet and cloudy at times.

387, 388, 389, 390) Newquay Zoo with Milla and Penguins.

391) Newquay Zoo.

392, 393, 394) Newquay Beach on the same Thursday as we walked to the Aquarium.

395) A brief glimpse inside Newquay Aquarium (with Milla and Liya in the background).

396, 397, 398) Milla goes for a run around Newquay Beach before she ran into the water and promptly fell over getting soaked from head to foot - but she loved every second of it. Good thing we had a change of clothes.

This was our last day in Cornwall as we departed Par the next morning for a long, slow, journey home.

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