An English staycation in Cornwall via Bath and the Cotswolds

It’s fair to say that 2020 certainly hasn’t gone to plan. After our trip to Zakynthos last summer, we had our hearts set on a two week trip to the Mediterranean this summer. Despite the announcement of air bridges between the UK and select countries, we decided to play it safe and stay in the UK to avoid the stress of having our trip cancelled or quarantine imposed last-minute. Cornwall had been on my list for a while but given how far it is from London, it was never quite at the top of my list ahead of European destinations, so 2020 was the year to visit.

I wasn’t too keen on driving the entire way to Cornwall non-stop so we decided to do more of a road trip. We spent two nights in Combe Hay (a village near Bath), seven nights on a farm in Zennor (West Cornwall) and three nights in Ampney Crucis (the Cotswolds). Getting out of London on the first day took slightly longer than expected due to delays with Europcar (I’ve never seen so many cars parked at our local Europcar before). As Asher hadn’t been to Stonehenge before, we booked a visit on our way to Combe Hay. I last visited Stonehenge in the winter of 2010/11 but the smaller crowds and sunshine this time around made it nice to visit again.

Combe Hay was an idyllic little village to stay in. Unfortunately, it was raining very heavily for our stay so we were unable to walk around the village but the view from our studio was gorgeous. We stayed in The Snug @ Combe Hay, an extension off the side of the owner’s home facing into the garden. It was very well appointed and incredibly quiet - a great little spot to stay for a few days.

Coronavirus has meant that many places need to be booked in advance so I decided to book tickets to visit the Roman Baths. I had visited Bath in the past but didn’t actually do a full tour of the baths so this was my main must-see and it was worth it. It’s still hard to believe how advanced the baths were thousands of years ago. After visiting the Baths, we wandered around the city and past the main sites, including Pulteney Bridge, The Circus and Royal Crescent. We hadn’t pre-booked dinner this evening but on a whim, managed to find Mantra, a great Indian restaurant with a spectacular view from a hill.

The next day, we set out on our drive down to Cornwall, via a relative’s house in Torquay for lunch. We weren’t in Torquay for long but I was amazed by the number of people in the city. I had pre-booked dinner on our first night at The Tinner’s Arms, a quaint little pub, built in 1271. This cosy, low-key pub is a great spot for a simple but tasty pub dinner - we both had burgers. Zennor is a small village with the locally known Moomaid ice cream shop, an old church and a few houses, but no grocery shops or other conveniences.

We stayed on a farm in a converted piggery. This has to be the most beautiful Airbnb I’ve stayed in to-date - the decor was more or less my Pinterest home board and the open-spacious design was so exciting, coming from our little London flat. The Piggeries had everything you could possibly want, from fresh Cornish butter to farm eggs and baking utensils. It was a great place to stay for a week, even two and I would definitely go back if I was visiting Cornwall again. We had six full days to explore Cornwall and despite the coldest and most stormy two weeks we had experienced all summer, we still managed to unwind and explore.

On our first full day, we went to Penzance for a wander and to explore the local shops. Penzance is a quaint seaside town that flows into Newlyn. We visited some lovely shops and walked along the shore towards Newlyn, where we visited the local Newlyn Art Gallery, a small but inviting contemporary art gallery.

Walking on the South West Coastal Path from Zennor to St Ives

Our second day was my highlight of the trip. We walked the South West Coastal Path from where we were staying into St Ives and it was absolutely stunning - by far the most beautiful coastline I have seen in England. A pretty array of pink, purple and yellow flowers were growing across the cliffs, looking out to the bright blue, crashing sea beyond the cliffs. I would definitely recommend this walk to anyone staying nearby. The walk took us four hours in total and afterwards, we stopped for some Moomaid ice cream in St Ives before taking the open-topped bus back to our cottage.

On the following day, we visited Land’s End, the most south-western point in England. The view from Land’s End was stunning but I was somewhat disappointed by how touristy it was. I had expected to find an area of natural beauty but arrived to find a games arcade and a number of tourist shops at the entrance. The parking was also quite expensive and while I’m sure this fee does in part maintain the paths and coastline, I think there are better ways to view this area. Land’s End is on the South West Coastal Path so next time, I would instead look into a coastal walk to take me to Land’s End. I had hoped to get a glimpse of the Minack Theatre that afternoon but after driving around the narrow roads, I discovered the only way to really see the Minack Theatre is to buy a ticket. I would love to visit this theatre next time I go down to Cornwall - it’s carved into the slide of the cliffs and looks stunning.

Prior to the trip, I researched restaurants in Cornwall and decided to book lunch at Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant in Padstow. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. Fresh seafood by the sea and an opportunity to explore Padstow. In reality, this was my least favourite day of the trip. The drive to Padstow was stressful - it took 30 minutes longer than expected, excluding the time it took us to find a parking spot. If we were staying nearer to Padstow, I’m sure I would have felt differently but in hindsight, I think we could have found somewhere nice for lunch nearer to Zennor. One place I regret not booking to eat was The Gurnard’s Head. This very popular gastropub sits in a very scenic, somewhat remote location with stunning views over the cliffs. It also happened to be a short drive or scenic walk from where we were staying, so it would have been a lovely place for lunch or dinner.

Our second-last day was spent at the Barbara Hepworth and Tate Museums in St Ives. Both museums were quite busy but thankfully, we booked well in advance. The Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Museum has a peaceful garden with many of Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures. The Tate St Ives is a reasonably large museum with a permanent modern art collection. Despite the queue of people to enter the museum, it did feel socially distanced and spaced out. St Ives was quite busy while we were there - potentially a little too busy. It would be nice to visit at a quieter time of year, outside of the school holiday season. The cute laneways are filled with pasty bakeries and cute shops to explore.

Our final full day started late, followed by a shorter walk along the South West Coastal Path to Gurnard’s head. Unfortunately, the ever-popular Gurnard’s Head was fully booked so we decided to drive to Penzance for a late lunch. After finding out that the cafe we had wanted to visit had finished serving food for the day, we had a lucky find - Mackerel Sky Seafood Bar. This small seafood cafe served delicious, creative tapas-style seafood dishes including crab nachos and fish katsu curry - my two favourites!

The next morning was sadly time to pack up and begin the long drive to the Cotswolds, but not before our visit to the Eden Project. I have had the Eden Project on my list for a while so I couldn’t resist squeezing it in while we were in Cornwall. Being a one hour drive from where we were staying (and on the way out of Cornwall), it made sense to visit on our way through. We spent about 3.5 hours at the Eden Project, mostly exploring the domes due to the extremely heavy downpour as we arrived. I discovered a touch of home in the Mediterranean dome with some West Australian plants.

We stayed in Ampney Crucis, near Cirencester for the final few days of our holiday. The only thing I had pre-booked was a visit to Sudeley Castle on the second day there, as it was somewhere I hadn’t been on previous visits to the Cotswolds. It was fortunate that we booked Sudeley for that day as the first full day was raining once again so not a great day for exploring the gardens. The grounds of Sudeley Castle are very beautiful but I was a bit disappointed that the interior section open to visitors is only a museum - there are no great halls to walk through, like at Hatfield House. Like most of the palatial old homes, Sudeley does have an interesting history, including the burial of Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s wives.

We spent one of our days driving through some of the iconic villages of the Cotswolds. I had visited some of these villages when I was there in 2018 but it was Asher’s first time to the Cotswolds. We started with Bibury, famous for Arlington Row. One bonus of the current downturn in travel is that the village was a lot quieter than the last time I was there. We decided to visit the trout farm to feed the fish, which was more entertaining than I expected. From Bibury, we drove to Bourton-on-the-Water and stopped for lunch at a local pub. We then did a quick drive through Upper and Lower Slaughter - Lower Slaughter has an especially cute old mill, before going on to Stow-on-the-Wold.

On our final day, we took a short detour back to London via Oxford. I have never visited before so thought this would be a good time to stop by and get a quick taster with a two-hour walking tour. We did the Footprints tour with an Oxford student as our guide. The guide was fantastic and gave us a really good insight into both the unusual past of Oxford and what it’s like to live and study there today. We didn’t stay for too long after the tour but now that I have an idea of the city, I might go back one day for an exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum.

This certainly wasn’t the summer holiday we had expected pre-COVID, but it was a nice relaxing break away from our life in London and a great year to explore Cornwall.