Over Easter, we were lucky enough to have some time off together as a family and hopped on a flight to the UK headed for Cornwall. We stayed in the beautiful seaside town of Padstow, where Mr Postcard and I last stayed the summer before we were married. I wonder what our much younger, unmarried selves would make of us, a family of five turning up all these years later…. Mr P reckons he would probably have broken off the engagement – the cheek!

Here’s a little postcard from Cornwall!

Our first full day was a rather damp and grey affair, but that didn’t put us off exploring Padstow’s quaint alleyways and streets.

Our second day, however, was beautiful. The sun came out, and so did hoards of visitors…

So we headed up and out of town…

…past the beautiful war memorial…

… and along the coastal path along the Camel Estuary where the open space and fresh air was so welcome.

There were people there, but it wasn’t quite so densely populated. Some were having sailing lessons, and these three little sail boats being towed behind a rhib made me chuckle. I thought they looked like three little ducklings following their mum!

We clambered down onto the beach and skimmed stones. It was lovely.

We headed back towards town and realised we were running out of beach we had to get a wriggle on and clamber over some rocks before the tide came back in forcing us to walk the long way round. We made it!

Our walk had made us hungry, so we stopped off at Rick Stein’s chippy for a portion of chips and sat on the quayside to eat them under the watchful eyes of these two….

Padstow is home to a lobster hatchery and we popped in to see it.

This chap is known as ‘Captain Barnacles’ and is thought to be between 40 and 50 years old. These lobsters though, are a tad younger and were swimming around in the lobster nursery.

We took a drive out of Padstow and to the bay of Trevone. What a beautiful spot.

We weren’t the only people to have that idea, but it was gorgeous!

The next day, we took a trip north to Tintagel, the home of Merlin’s cave and Arthurian legend. We were blessed with another beautiful day…

There was a lot of maintenance work being carried out on the ruins of Tintagel Castle so it wasn’t open to the public unfortunately, but we could still view it from afar.

It’s a very pretty place on a sunny day, but it must have been a bit bleak to live there on stormy days… very Game of Thrones.

Our walk back up into town was rewarded with a lovely lunch and then an espresso ice cream – it was amazing!

Littlest Postcard was incredulous when he saw this…

“I didn’t think King Arthur had a car!” No son, neither did I.

The drive back to Padstow took us through beautiful countryside and quaint villages and hamlets. This church looked so lovely.

We headed to Padstow’s stately home, Prideaux Place..

Used as a filming location for a number of films, including Twelfth Night starring Helena Bonham Carter and Richard E Grant. It’s a family home still and sits in beautiful grounds.

We were very lucky to see it on such a beautifully sunny day and with many of the spring flowers at their best.

Living where we do and not having easy access to cycle trails etc, we aren’t much of a cycling family. But I have always wanted to go cycling as a family and we did it here in Cornwall. There are several bike hire places in Padstow and a fantastic cycle trail (The Camel Trail) along the Camel Estuary to Wadebridge (and on to Bodmin). So we hired bikes…

…and set off. It was hard work but lots of fun once we got into the swing of it. The views were fab too, when I was brave enough to look up from the road!!

We managed to cycle 11 miles in total – so that means we earned a reward don’t you think? 😉

Our last day in Padstow saw us hop onto the little ferry which takes passengers across the River Camel from Padstow to Rock.

We waited on the jetty by the harbour wall for it to arrive and for the passengers to disembark.

Once aboard, we headed across the River to the sand flats left by the low tide.

The Little Postcards loved the quick-sand and pools left by the low tide. They got a bit wet… so our trip to Rock itself was a little curtailed. It was fun though, nonetheless.

After a walk and a coffee, we headed back down the beach to wait for the ferry back home and some dry clothes for the Little Postcards!

Within moments we were approaching Padstow again, but to the beach this time as the tide was too low to reach the harbour.

We had such a lovely time in Padstow and the surrounding area. It’s s truly beautiful part of the world.

Full of quaint little streets and alleyways…

Thank you for having us to stay Padstow!