26 Aug 2021
Postcards From A Slow Week In Coverack, Cornwall
This was the most relaxed week we have had in a long time. Coverack is a small village in Cornwall; on the Lizard peninsula. It’s quite the trek from where we live so we broke up the journey on the way with a couple of nights in the Cotswolds, however, we still got caught in holiday traffic and it ended up being about a six-hour drive. Not the one. But it really was worth it. Coverack is the perfect place to retreat to if you want to do an awful lot of nothing and switch off.
A few little postcards from our week:
We arrived to quiet, the sea gently lapping and fish & chips. What better way to start a holiday?!
The sea was always a crisp, clear blue and we spent plenty of time meandering between cafes with the horizon as our view. There was plenty of people watching; our favourite pass time was watching people learning to paddle board and kids and their dogs jumping off the harbour wall. Not sure who was having the most fun!
17 Aug 2021
A Mini Getaway To The Cotswolds
Back at the beginning of this year, in the depths of a winter lockdown, we booked a cottage in Cornwall that had a good last-minute cancellation policy. In was a stab of hope in an otherwise pretty grim time and I spent quite a long time refusing to think about it. After three holidays cancelled because of Covid, I struggled to believe we’d be going further than our back garden this summer.
However, as the lockdown began to ease and other human beings were allowed back into our lives once again, we tentatively started to consider the idea that we might be going on holiday after all and, with a whole two weeks booked off work and Cornwall being very far away, decided we’d make a bit of a thing of it and bookend the trip - therefore also breaking up the journey - with mini breaks.
With our impending arrival around the corner, we decided to make one of these the opposite of child-friendly whilst we can and booked a luxury foodie break in the Cotswolds based on a recommendation from friends. And then, because of course, less than 48 hours before we were due to arrive, the hotel called and said they had to close due to staff self-isolating.
Remarkably undeterred (a sign of the last 18 months), I was online with minutes and based on little more than some pretty pictures, one room left and price range, we’d found and booked another hotel in a different part of the Cotswolds less than an hour after our original hotel calling. I’m normally one to check out a place online in detail before parting with cash so this could have potentially been a disaster but we got very, very lucky.
Based near Witney, an area we’d stayed in last year, Minster Mill sits alongside the River Windrush in a small, very pretty Cotswold village. It is everything you’d want from a hotel nestled in the Cotswolds; picturesque, peaceful and with plenty of good food on offer. Our room was part of a converted barn and had a gorgeous view from the windows running along the length of one of the walls, a huge bed, stylish bathroom complete with L’Occitane products and - always a way to judge a hotel room - top quality biscuits.
Because we’d booked so last-minute, we hadn’t been able to book ahead for anything else and we were warned on arrival that the spa facilities (yes it had a spa) and restaurant were very busy. Once we’d settled into our room, I thought it was worth chancing our arm so we popped down to the spa and asked if they had any availability to use the facilities during our stay. To which their response was; ‘you could go in now if you want?’ I’d shimmied my pregnant belly into a too-tight swimsuit and was back at the pool entrance within five minutes. They were only allowing up to 6 people to use the spa facilities (pool, sauna and steam room) at any one time and, not going to lie, I very much enjoyed the peacefulness of it. I couldn’t use the sauna or steam room (pregnancy problems) but spent a solid two hours drifting in the pool until I resembled a wrinkled prune.
Hey there!
