Tag: beach (page 2 of 2)

Shhh! There be Smugglers About, Matey!

We have been off on the smuggler’s trail over the last few days. Yesterday, we drove to Bodmin and visited Jamaica Inn, a complete tourist trap, but I got to see Daphne du Maurier’s writing desk and typewriter in their little museum and that made me smile. Driving along the moors we saw scraggy coated wild horses walking along the rocks and munching away on grass.

The weather changed by the time we got to the Inn, the temperature dropped and it began to rain. It painted quite a picture. You could envision the smugglers carrying their loads in from one of the Looe routes on a dark frosty night the air thick with mist, driving their horse led carriage hard through the moors to the Inn where they hoped to have a drink, do some business and catch a little respite.

We wandered down to the town on Sunday afternoon for lunch and ate at the Smugglers Cott, we had the most deliciously cozy traditional British Sunday roast. The atmosphere inside was charming.

The beams belonged to a ship from the Spanish Armada and the inside of the pub was filled with vintage bottles and ship related paraphernalia. After lunch we took a stroll around the harbour and watched the boats come in and out.

There was still some men in the fish market, finishing up cleaning their day’s catch. There existed in the air a heady smell of the salty sea and warm fish guts.

We walked down into town today along the coastal path and it was the very first day I got to wear my wellies. They were broken in along the sandy beach with the waves crashing against my feet as I hunted for sea glass.

We discovered the most adorable bakery and got the most heavenly cupcakes, Halloween of course! We devoured them like greedy little monsters as we continued to explore the twisty little streets of Looe.

Everything here is adorably decorated for Halloween with pumpkins and paper lanterns hung in windows, mixed with the leaves changing here, you feel truly Autumnal.


We ate fresh fish & chips, burning the roof of our mouths as we munched away on hot salty chips (no vinegar for me) and watched the crowds go by, it was a perfect day, just being.

We will be saddened to leave here at the end of the week. What a magical place Cornwall is.

A Pixie village we passed on our walk down the coast.

What Could be Better?

This was my view this morning. I watched the sun peek out behind the clouds as I sat on the deck, reading my book with a hot cup of tea in hand! No one else was up yet so it was just peaceful. A nice way to greet the day by just slowly coming in to it. What could be better than this? It took a little bit longer to get here yesterday than expected, with all the holiday traffic heading down to the coast, but, who is in a rush?

We drove through gorgeous countryside, passing little stone farmhouses happily perched on the edge of the road. In the surrounding fields, cows and sheep munched away on grass watching the cars pass by; in one farmyard the cutest pink pigs with black spots were snorting around in the dirt.

We even passed Stonehenge! That was something to marvel at! I had no idea you would be able to see it from the road. We quickly rolled down the window and snapped a picture with the phone. It was drizzling and misty yesterday and as we approached the hill the massive stones began to just slowly appear out of the mist, looming in front of us. It was very Halloween spooky, all we needed were candles and druids marching up the hill in a long procession in the mist to complete the mood.

Today we are off to go exploring, if I can tear myself away from the view at the bottom of our garden. The sunshine, mixed with the breeze and the sounds of waves crashing against the rocks below, is just magical!

Off to the Cornish Coast

Well, by tomorrow afternoon I will be sitting in sunny Cornwall. How sunny it will be remains to be seen, but that doesn’t matter to me, all I need is the few books I have set aside to read and that big chair at the bottom of the garden overlooking the ocean, add to that some walks along the coastal path with my sweetie pie and I will be as happy as a clam.

This is a true adventure for me. I have yet to go to Cornwall in all my time living here, so I can’t wait to see what the next week brings my way. I am hoping for quaint villages, old little antique stores and interesting places to wander and explore.

I have wanted to travel there, since my husband and I bought an old train advertising poster for Cornwall. A little girl stands on the edge of the bay overlooking all the fishing boats with a grandfatherly looking fisherman in his wellies leaning against a railing nearby; with sailboats and a lighthouse, all beautifully captured in 1930’s colors, it paints quite a picture. This poster alone has made me want to go to Cornwall since we hung it on our wall.

There is a ferry near where we are staying that will take you up the estuary and upon docking, you are met with a house named “Ferryside”, once the home of Daphne du Maurier. I have visions of her writing away at her desk, looking out the windows of “Ferryside” and writing “The House Upon the Strand”, what a book!

I am looking forward to this half term break and taking a real break, working on nothing for the fair (as much as I want too), I think it would be best to just come back refreshed, I have stayed ahead of schedule and only have a few pieces left to finish. So, I plan to just drink in each day in the sea air. I can’t wait for my first taste of fish & chips, scalding our mouths and fingers as we reach for hot salty chips out of the paper cone holder, walking arm and arm along the strand.

The Laughing Gull

Writing about “Christmas in July” this week made me think of all the summers I spent at Sunset Beach, NC with my grandparents. For a few summers in my childhood they would rent a house and take my mom, sister and myself along with my aunt and her two boys around our age to the beach. We stayed in “The Laughing Gull”.

It is a wonderfully weather worn rickety house, which seemed to sway with the tide. The house smelt of salt and sea breeze. Built on stilts with parking spaces underneath there was a hammock strung between the house supports by the back steps. We used to play in it after lunch, all piling in and rocking away, waiting for the adults to come out and say we were allowed to go back in the water. The house was a short walk from the beach and had its very own canal “swimming pool” in the back, where we used to wade in and go fishing.

The ride to get there felt like forever and a day. You knew you were getting closer as the Pine trees changed and the smell of the pluff mud wafted into your nostrils. We would usually have to wait in a long line of other vacationer filled cars, for boats to go through the swing bridge and then we were on our way, almost “home”. A group of Preservationists were fighting to keep that swing bridge, but sadly they lost out and a new span bridge is being built. A little memory of mine is being taken away.

We would unpack when we arrived my grandparents had usually beaten us there. My grandmother would make dinner. Sitting on the screened in porch we would eat, at a table just for us. We could see the adults through the windows eating at the big table in the kitchen and they would open up the windows to the porch and pass stuff through to us, we thought that was just the greatest thing! After dinner we would play cards or read before going to bed. There would usually be either one rainy day or one evening after dinner where we would pile into the car and drive into Calabash. We would go to Callahan’s Gift Store and use some of our “vacation pocket money” to buy something. I would always pick something from the giant Holiday store in the back of the building, “St. Nick Nacks”.

It would take me forever to decide which ornament I wanted; on occasion I had to come back because I just couldn’t decide that day. Stopping by the fudge counter on the way out for a treat was a must and after choosing our flavor, we hit the postcard stand to pick up a souvenir, usually one that had pictures of shark teeth on it, so we could identify what the teeth were we had found while scavenger hunting on the beach.

Other nights we would walk up to the beach shop and get ice-cream. One year my sister finally convinced my mom to let her buy hermit crabs. So, on a long trip home, Benny and June sat happily between us in their little traveling case. They lived for many summers, much to the surprise of my parents and the beach shop owner. They even survived an ice storm when the power went out and with all the commotion we forgot to take them with us to the hotel, but they made it!

On Sundays we would get up early and walk down to the beach where a local church would hold a morning service. Once we signed up for a turtle walk, hoping to encounter Caretta Caretta, the Loggerhead sea turtle in our path. We eagerly waited for it to begin with a real “turtle patrol” guide. However, our guide was a replacement and took us to nearby Bird Island to discuss her passion for birds. Not as exciting as the turtles we were all hopping to see. My grandfather thought this was hysterical. Only us!

There exists there today a “Kindred Spirit” mailbox, filled with notepads and pens. Visitors can anonymously write down their thoughts, prayers feelings and leave it for others to discover, I like that idea.

Our days were spent playing at the beach or in the canal behind the house with my Grandpa conducting fishing contests between the four of us. He would sit outside with his t-shirt and suspenders on, his little fishing cap with tickets stapled to it from paying to fish on the pier. He taught me to fish during those summers and he taught me so much more during the rest of the year.

My grandparents would usually have a night out by themselves, and we get to go and play putt-putt at a place in Myrtle Beach. Jungle, Pirates or Dinosaur themes were always favorites. At night after a full day in the sun and salty air we would all lie awake in our rooms listening to our grandparents behind their door. My Nana would laugh and laugh at something Grandpa had said and we would drift off to sleep in a gray swaying house filled with love and happiness.