Monday 8. December 2025
Saint Austell, Cornwall
Last Monday was my birthday and I enjoyed spending the day with my parents during our weekend away in Devon. A lovely cooked breakfast was served in our cottage. Dad then went fishing for the day, while Mum and I got in the car and drove in to Cornwall for a day trip.
Our destination – a good hour and a half drive from Holsworthy, was the Lost Gardens of Heligan, not far from Saint Austell. It is a large site with plenty of walking to do in their 200 acre woodland, also a wildlife haven and farm park.
At this time of year they also have their winter lights trail open in the evenings – Although we were going in daytime, we could still see some of it (but not all of it) and parts of it, even in full daylight, were so effective.
I took loads of photos so the ones above really are just the highlights. We spent a good couple of hours there and enjoyed the walk, despite the weather – wet in places with one or two short rain showers – but really it was the calm before the storm (with Storm Bram on its way in, fast).
In the evening, back at the cottage, I opened presents (thank you Mum, Dad, the cats, Corrie and to our neighbours for lovely gifts), and then after I’d enjoyed a hot chocolate in the hot tub followed by a nice hot bath, we had a lovely meal – a chateaubriand served with potatoes. Then a sticky ginger sponge pudding with custard.
This was very tasty! We made use of the big Sky TV and I chose to put on the 2014 Sky adaptation drama of The Enfield Haunting, which was so interesting – I watched a documentary about it on the BBC iPlayer earlier in the year, so seeing the drama was cool. I’ve got the Now TV Entertainment package on the TV in my bedroom so I can continue watching the series at home.
During our evening in, through the window which had been opened to serve drinks to the hot tub, we were soon joined by a feline friends. How do cats always seem to find us!? It was a lovely little tabby cat – curious, cheeky, but very friendly. I assume it came from one of the neighbouring farm houses from the farm estate we were staying on.
Monday night was our last night in the cottage, I slept so well despite the weather – and woke up on Tuesday to find the cat curled up asleep next to me on the bed!
On my next blog I’ll post more about Tuesday – Crediton, a National Trust property, and returning home.
FH.
