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After two days driving across Europe we finally arrived in St Agnes. The drive had been rather trying as we had hit every traffic jam between Berlin and Cornwall. St Agnes is a reasonably large village and is right next to some of the most spectacular coastline. Gargoyle Cottage was a lovely house and it came fully equipped. It was better than our house. On the first Saturday we went for a walk along the coast in the sunshine, we started at Trevaunce Cove (left) and continued around the coast towards Wheel Coates (right) and then to Chapel Porth. The return took us over St Agnes Beacon.

Sunday dawned cloudy and dull. This seemed a good day for a ride on the Bodmin and Wenford Railway. We took the train to Bodmin Parkway and walked up to Lanhydrock House. On the way back to the train we walked through the bluebell woods. As you can see they were fantastic, it was one of the best bluebell displays that I have seen.

At this point the weather started going down hill, each day was a little wetter and a little colder. My parents arrived for a few days stay to take in some of the gardens of Cornwall. On the Wednesday they went to the Eden Project while we went to Trengwainton Gardens near Penzance. The garden was stunning but the rain was torrential, we were soaked right through. As we drove from the gardens to the Camel Valley vineyard we had the car heater on full just to try and dry out. The wine at the Camel Valley was very good, particularily the sparkling.

Thursday was dry although it looked like it would rain. We all went down to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. It is a while since we have been and a lot of progress has been made. The jungle and sub-tropical areas look really spectacular now, as you can see left. More of the garden has been restored and new attractions have been added, including a hide to watch wildlife from.

Some friends from Bristol came down with their children to stay in St Agnes for the weekend. Friday was wet and windy day on St Michael's Mount. The Mount is good anyway but with the wind and rough seas it becomes very atmospheric, perfect for a ghost story or an epsiode of Dr Who. Sunday brought a visit to St. Ives for a wander round and a bit of shopping.As usually happens, the weather brightened a bit. The harbour was very pictureseque with all the boats in the harbour. The seagulls were also on form, I was bombed and a t-shirt was ruined. They missed the pasty but I did have to go and buy a clean t-shirt.

We had visited Tresco Abbey Gardens 7 years ago but we thought that a day trip using the helicopter would be a little treat. This was our first flight in a helicopter and it is different to a plane. It is nosier and there is a lot more vibration. At take off the helicopter lifts vertically upwards, it then flies sideways down the airfield before rising again, tipping forward and then it is away. From the air the Scilly's are very small and you can see why they feel so isolated. After arriving we walked to the New Inn for lunch and to sample some of the products in their Beer Festival. After some rather nice tipples we staggered back to the gardens. These were better than I remembered, there were more plants and looked in better condition. Each of the garden 'rooms' was beautifully layed out and planted. As the garden is sub-tropical, some of these plants are very tender and I have only been able to grow them outside in summer. It was good to see them outside in permanent plantings.

The inlaws visited for a couple of days. We met them at Glen Durgan Garden and walked down through the garden and along the coast to a pub for lunch. The next day we all went for a walk along the coast. The weather was going downhill and a strong wind was blowing. This was wipping the waves up, causing a lot of white water. We got back to the house just in time as the weather turned wet and stormy. The next day the waves were clean and the day started bright. Time to get the new wetsuit out , hire a board and go surfing. I had a happy couple of hours in the water. It was tiring but nice to get into the sea after nearly a year.

That basically was it for the holiday, the next day we set off for Germany. Back on the continent we stopped in Delft for a wander round. This pretty town is my stereotypical view a Dutch town. Narrow streets, old houses and lots of canals. The final drive in to Berlin was in the rain, after two weeks of mixed weather in England it at least meant that Berlin hadn't had two weeks of sunshine.

Two weeks in Cornwall was fantastic. It was good to spend some time exploring the place a bit more. The beer, food and cider was all good. Looking forward to coming back soon.

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