An Unexpected Staycation...

James and I don’t really get much chance to ‘holiday’ together. A lot of the time we spend together is working, which is a huge privilege, but, exhausted, having just come through an intense 18 month film project, we really needed some down time. We had one week set aside this summer that we could get away somewhere together and decompress.

With less than a fortnight to go, I felt quite a bit of pressure to decide where to go. There are so many incredible places in the world to choose from, and this felt like such a precious and rare opportunity for quality time together that I wanted to make sure it was going to be somewhere we could both really relax. I realise how privileged James and I are to have so many options available to us, even the option to have a holiday at all. I also realised how challenging it is for both James and I to turn work off for a week, to have no real purpose except to relax and have fun - the idea of a chilled holiday felt like an exciting and alien concept!

We knew we wanted to be somewhere warm with good food. Any mixture of the following were an added bonus: Somewhere I could get in the sea, preferably with snorkelling and surfing and/or SUP opportunities, somewhere we could walk and run together, and the ability to explore new places.

We deliberated over Italy, Corsica, Sicily, The Azores, the Canary Islands, Greece… but I felt a huge reluctance to fly anywhere. A big part of this was the carbon footprint of flying somewhere for just a week, but also because of the disruption to flights at the moment, the hassle of getting to and from airports, packing and security and being stuffed onto a plane with a hundred strangers after 2 years of avoiding crowded places. I just didn’t want to fly anywhere, and was glad to make the decision to stop looking into what was becoming an increasingly complex combination of travel and car rental and timings.

I looked into getting the ferry to France and exploring Brittany. It seemed like a great option, ticking lots of boxes for us. But there was still a lot of travel and expense involved, and all the different options available for location and accommodation overwhelmed me with so little time to pull the plan together.

I realised my reluctance to go abroad was also entangled with a feeling that the UK in summer has the most amazing opportunity for adventure and fun. Could we tick all the boxes without even leaving the country?

We could, and we did - we decided to spend our precious week together in Cornwall. It was a brilliant decision, and I learned a lot about UK holidays that has made me appreciate our wee island even more.

I’ve spent a lot of time in Cornwall working as a vet, on film projects, in my campervan, surfing, sailing, staying with friends, and in 2016 I stand-up paddleboarded around the entire Cornish coastline. And there is still so much I haven’t explored!

I particularly wanted to explore the South West peninsula, between Penzance and Sennen, and so we began looking for somewhere to stay. Having spent most of last year living out of my small van when we paddled around Scotland, we decided that would not be conducive to recovery. I’ve had some poor experiences with Air Bnb recently, and the prices for where we wanted to stay were ridiculous. So I checked the website of a well renowned company called Classic Cottages, who manage properties all over the UK and who contacted me a few months ago to ask for help developing their Green Scheme.

After days of deliberating over where to go and where to stay, finding a cottage on their website felt like a welcome relief. I knew I could trust that wherever I stayed it would be clean and comfortable and lovely, and I would have the support of their team if I needed anything. I was really surprised by the range and prices of the cottages and glamping options, which were much more reasonably priced than a lot of the Air Bnb equivalents, and I knew I could trust that Classic Cottages had a vested interest in the communities they have homes in, particularly Cornwall where their business is based.

We decided on a little cottage called Coastguard Cottage in Mousehole, just South of Newlyn and Penzance, and it couldn’t have been more perfect. It was clean, calm, welcoming, cosy, with amazing views and a beautiful garden full to busting with colourful flowers. We had amazing weather for the whole week, found phenomenal places to eat and managed to have more adventures than we ever would in a week abroad! (Turns out that relaxing for us isn’t just sitting still!) Time outdoors is the ultimate tonic for both of us, and our holiday provided the most welcome and needed rejuvenation of our brains and bodies.

Staying in the UK meant I could bring my own vehicle, and all my kit. One morning I went stand up paddleboarding and the water was so clear and wonderful and inviting, I came back out with my snorkelling kit and explored the underwater world right off the coast. It was phenomenal - so much life to marvel at right at the coast! The flowers in Cornwall were absolutely stunning, creating a colourful and tropical backdrop and the impression of being somewhere far away. We went for coast path walks with breathtaking views, and dips in the crystal clear ocean. I sat in our garden overlooking the ocean for my morning brew, cuddled up on the sofa with a book in the evenings watching the sun setting over the sea, and when we didn’t go out for dinner, cooked fresh vegetables from the local farmer’s market. I surfed at Sennen and Gwynver; we went to the pub for dinner with friends, explored new beaches, went to the Minack Theatre and the new Jubilee Lido in Penzance. We had absolutely everything we needed, and more, including scones and cream and jam left for us in our cottage for when we arrived. Everything was so easy, except the decision of whether to go for cream or jam first. (It’s obviously cream, but that’s another blog for another day…)

I appreciate that for someone who has adventured in and explored the UK extensively, concluding that the UK is also a fabulous holiday destination might seem a little cliched or obvious. But I really had been brainwashed to think that with one precious week to spend together, a foreign country might provide more enjoyment and relaxation. As I mentioned - this holiday mentality is a little alien for me! But I’m really glad I stuck to my morals and to that voice inside telling me to stay in the UK, and really grateful for the chance to more deeply explore somewhere that’s already very special to me, with the luxury of a gorgeous cottage to come home to. With all the choice nowadays of places to go and stay, and the overwhelm that that can often bring, I would definitely choose this approach again - to see what is available at Classic Cottages, knowing it’ll be a high quality place to stay - whether that’s for some quality time with James, a family get together or a holiday with my friends. Don’t get me wrong, I think international exploration can be incredibly rewarding and bring its own excitement and cultural insight and experiences. But I think I’ll save that for longer trips. For our one week together, our Cornish retreat was just what we needed, with all of the fun, food and adventure of any holiday abroad, but none of the stress.

A huge thank you to Classic Cottages for helping us to organise our much needed time out, and for their determination to benefit communities and the environment. I’ve already been searching for the next place to stay!