Late summer in Cornwall

Cornwall in late summer sounds great, so we went. The trip began on Sunday 8th September with a visit to old friends Mark and Jan, near Cheltenham. We covered a lot of ground in a 90 minute catch-up and it was great to see them. Then it was on to an overnight stop at Taunton, picked from park4night. This was a cider farm at Monkton Heathfield where caravans and motorhomes are dotted around an orchard inhabited by a multitude of peacocks.

Using the experience of the Corsica trip we modified the accommodation to handle a double burner cooker fed with gas from a 907 cylinder. This has improved cooking no-end and will certainly be the way forward in anything other than heatwave conditions

(Dawn is only bending down to be in the phtoto. There's plenty of headroom really).

 By the time we arrived at Bideford, the weather had turned wet. Lunch was taken inside the Landy, this time with little headroom. Then we headed to the coast at Hartland.

The lighthouse is in a stunning location, only accessible on a farm road (£2 toll) and a very short walk. To get to the farm road though, one has to navigate the Devon lanes and this is hard as they are narrow, deep and steep.

Plus all sorts of traffic came towards us,  all centred on construction activity at the lighthouse. Apparently the massive refurbishment going on there (£Millions) is due to the recent purchase by a member of the Sachi family. Who it is we don't know exactly but lots of money is being spent.

We camped at a site with the biggest fields and the most space you have ever seen, at Stoke Barton. There's a link here. The views are fantastic and the coastline is stupendous.

Dinners are getting more ambitious too...

Stoke Barton Farm is owned by Hartland Abbey (or at least they share a landlord) and filming of Mallory Towers was just starting at the abbey. The entire film crew were about to establish their forward base at our campsite and overnight, massive lorries negotiated the Devon lanes, into the campsite. There, all the equipment was decanted into smaller vehicles and taken to the abbey, whilst make-up and actor rest areas were created in some other big trucks.

Meanwhile the beautiful weather gave way to a heavy sea fret and everything turned drippy wet and the wind got up. This has taught us to park facing the wind, as to do otherwise means that the "bedroom" tent fabric flaps around and keeps you awake.