The penultimate day of the holidays at Coombe Mill can only mean one thing - the last feed run! The children had come to love the feed run and were sad that it was their last one, but this also meant that time was running out for Little Miss C to actually drive Farmer Nick's tractor. Luckily though she finally plucked up the nerves to do so and she now talks about it as one of the highlights of her whole summer. As if driving the tractor wasn't exciting enough, this was also the day that she actually managed to find an egg herself too. A perfect end to a week of feed ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 13 – Discovering the Camel Trail, revisiting Tintagel and Port Isaac
After all yesterday's excitement we kept things a bit closer to Coombe Mill today. We started off with the feed run which once again the children loved. Master C found a new way to rock his baseball cap, Mr C got a ride in the tractor trailer and Little Miss C loved helping to find eggs in the chickens' field. After the feed run we decided to head towards the Camel Trail and in particular the Snail's Pace Cafe which we'd seen lots of signs for, and which sits at one end of the trail, just a mile or so down river from Coombe Mill itself. This lovely little cafe holds the title of ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 12 – Trelissick and Godolphin
Time to step back a couple of weeks to our wonderful holiday in Cornwall. Determined to make the most of our National Trust membership yet again we set off this morning to Trelissick Garden. Now Trelissick isn't like all the other National Trust gardens as there's something very special about its setting - on its own peninsular. The garden is high up with some spectacular views of the River Fal and some lovely twisting paths that lead you down to the water, and the ferry port at the bottom. When we were there the colours were absolutely amazing - with the hydrangeas providing a palate ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 11 – A first feed run, a train journey and hitting the beach
Our first full day at Coombe Mill started off pretty much perfectly. A reasonable night's sleep (never likely to be good whilst looking after Master C!) and a beautiful morning. So nice in fact that I was able to sit outside with my morning cuppa and listen to the birds and the River Camel running through the site. A much more relaxed start to the day than I'm used to. Once the kids had woken up though everyone was buzzing with excitement as this was our first morning on the famous Coombe Mill feed run. The way this works is that every morning, bar changeover day, Farmer Nick (or one of ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 10 – Travelling to Cornwall
Finally the day was here - holiday time! Now, this year was our first real holiday with both children and the first proper holiday we've been away for in years, so we were pretty determined to make it memorable. Not feeling brave enough to fly with the kids again yet we instead went for a UK holiday and after seeing so many rave reviews online we opted to stay at Coombe Mill in Cornwall. If you've not heard of Coombe Mill, let me set the scene. Imagine a small farm, run by a family, where children are at the centre of the holiday. The whole site is set up so that they have an absolute ball, ... read more
Port Isaac
The centre of our stay in Cornwall was the delightful fishing village of Port Isaac. Here we rented a little cottage from the National Trust for our stay. The Birdcage - centre of picture The Birdcage was really like no other cottage that I've been in before. It is split over three floors and the main body of the house is though to be over 200 years old. On the ground floor you open the door straight in to the kitchen. Off to the side is an extension containing the bathroom. A very steep set of stairs takes you from the kitchen up into the lounge and a further set of steep stairs goes from ... read more