Keep safe!

Keep safe!
You are responsible for your own safety and that of your dog. The walks listed in this blog are not detailed guides. Plan your route! Click the landrover image for safety advice from Bowland Pennine MRT.

Saturday, July 07, 2012

Another holiday with the dog in Cornwall

It's a week since we got back from our latest holiday in Cornwall. Holidays with dogs in Cornwall are great.

The weather since we got back has been so miserable that I've not felt like blogging. Lying in the sun in the garden this afternoon whilst the rest of the country seems drenched does though seem like the perfect time to do an update.

On this visit we stayed at Natural Retreats, just outside St Austell. It was a third trip to a Natural Retreats site. Our weekend trips to Yorkshire and Wales are in last years blog entries. Our expectations from past stays we're high, and we weren't disappointed.

The site itself comprises 30 or so timber clad houses. None more than a couple of years old. It has a very rural feel despite being only half a mile or so from St Austell. A number of houses are dog friendly, but still of a very high standard.

We spent a lot of time on the adjacent fields which were perfect for a short walk or just lazing around. The grass had though been recently cut, so it might have been a little different had we arrived a few weeks earlier.

We enjoyed a few nice local walks from the site. Footpaths, bridleways and the Pentewan cycle trail mean you can walk to Pentewan or Charlestown in an hour or so (brisk walking). A little further afield, the walk along the cliffs to Black Head is stunning!

Most days we drove down to Porthluney Beach at Caerhayes, stopping off at Lobbs Farm Shop en route to buy a picnic lunch of various salads, olives, Homity pie, quiche or some other great tasting food. The weather wasn't great for most of our visit so the beach was quiet. As always, the dog loved it.

We had a drink at the dog friendly Polgooth Inn nearby. Although we didn't eat there the menu looked good. Be warned that although the nearby Kingswood Restraunt serves food to die for it isn't a place to take your dog, although they did say they'd be happy for us to sit on the large decking with him had the weather been good enough.

A little further afield we discovered The Ship Inn at Fowey. As perfect a pub as I've ever been in. Dogs welcome in the bar and Sunday roasts are amazing. We also visited Par Sands for the first time. Very dog friendly but to be honest it needed a good clean up. I know from their website the friends of par beach are trying very hard to make it a great place to visit but it's not somewhere we'll revisit given the choice of other places to go.

All in all another good, albeit quieter than usual, holiday. Already looking forward to the next one!