Giffords Circus

I've been a proper gadabout of late - for which I make no apologies!  No sooner had we unpacked from our holidays, than we were packing our camping equipment up again and heading off for a fab weekend to a superb little campsite in Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire.  Tobacconist Farm is a superb newish little site which is very well run by a lovely lady called Lucy.  It would make a great place for a first camping session if you are new to camping, and I believe she will hire Bell Tents, all ready for you sleep in if you wish too.

 The town itself was very pretty.  It sits on a huge common which is run by the national trust, so cows, sheep and the occasional horse roam by freely.

 A lady we spoke to told us that there used to be 22 pubs in the town, and now there is only one.  The shops are diminished in numbers too, but a couple of new ones have opened, my favourite being the cafe run by the organic farmer - he made the most fabulous milk shakes.

 The purpose of our visit was to watch Giffords Circus.  Now I'm not a big Circus fan, but having read about Giffords in Country Living on many occasions, I thought that it might be something I would enjoy.

 The circus is a 1930's style circus with all the caravans etc being from that era, and I am reliably informed that the interiors are of the same vintage.

 I loved the dressing room caravan!

 And the box office.  I had bought our tickets on line some months ago though - they sell out very quickly.

 (apologies for the poor photos - hubby made us sit right at the back - he has a fear of "audience participation!)

 I must admit that the show was fantastic - a visual spectacular and incredibly funny.  I think it is a clever skill to make children and adults laugh at the same time.  The clown "Tweedy"  was totally brilliant.  I think someone had realised that lots of kids (and some grown ups) are afraid of the traditional clown figures, so he doesn't dress or paint up like a clown.  (he is 2nd left in this picture).

 All the acts were amazing and it was highly entertaining.  I wasn't sure if it was going to be hubby's thing at all, but he said that if we could have gone back the next night, we would have as he had laughed so much he had missed some of it.

 After the show, you can dine under the stars with the troupe.  We didn't on this occasion, but I think we would next time.  Nell Gifford who owns the circus is the sister of Emma Bridgewater and they use all Bridgewater crockery - the menu sounded delicious too.

 The Circus was situated on the common at Minchinhampton, and so a very easy walk back through the village to our campsite.

 And I couldn't resist taking a photo of hubby in the tent.  Slightly reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock!

Phase 4 - Padstow

So we flew back from the Scilly's and drove to Padstow.  We had wanted to camp in St Ives, but the campsite was full, and so we chose Padstow as we had been before for the day and thought it looked OK.  Our campsite was lovely, but as we walked into town, I though that we had made a big mistake.  After the peacefulness and cleanliness of the Scilly's, Padstow felt dirty and overcrowded, and we did fall out with it a bit at that stage.

 So we treated ourselves to Rick Steins fish and chips, but these were no where near as nice as Adam's on St Martins.

 However we soon settled in as the weather was great and the outlying area of this part of North Cornwall was breathtaking.

 We soon found some quieter spots and has some lovely beach days - loads of reading was done!

 We left our campsite mid morning and didn't return until after 9pm each day - we did lots of exploring.

 You can see our little campsite on the banks of the river Camel - it was a very pretty spot.

And so after 5 days camping in Padstow, it was finally time to go home.  2 weeks had flown by we had loved every minute.  Hubby said that he had really enjoyed staying in diffeent places so it's something I might repeat next year.

Phase 3 - The Scilly Isles

I've already shown you how beautiful phase 3 of our holiday was.  We did really love the Islands.  We visited all of the outlying islands over the course of the week and couldn't pick a favourite.  St Mary's is a great base. It is much smaller that I thought it would be and its not a place for shoppers! 

Hugh Town was a great spot to be in as there is not much transport around.  You can hire golf buggy's if you are further out of town, but having stayed here, the centre of Hugh Town would be my choice.   It does have some great places to eat and the end of each day and it is really handy for catching the ferry to out lying islands.

 We stayed in a one bedroomed apartment here.  I thought it was very reasonably priced compared with some of the other properties I had looked at.  It had everything (and more!) that you could possibly need for a comfortable stay - including deck chairs to take onto the beach, binoculars to take out each day and a flask!!

 We had mixed weather, but it was very lovely for more than 80% of the time.  When it was sunny, we had a lovely breeze so it never got over poweringly hot - I came home with a very decent tan!

 There isn't much on any island to look around as such - it really is all about the scenery, and nature.  The whole feeling of the place was so special.  I would have felt very safe holidaying here alone - they still don't lock their doors when they nip out shopping here.  The islanders treat you like a local whilst you are here too - it is so friendly.

 We realised half way through the week that we were in danger of not discovering St Mary's as we were busy island hopping, so we had a couple of days walking around the island.  We discovered a gorgeous little church that is still lit by candlelight...

 .. and Harold Wilson's old house - have you ever seen anything so austere?!!!

 I really would love to return to the Islands in future - I think a Spring holiday would be great to see the different flowers.

If it's on your "list", make sure you go xx

Phase 2 - Sennen Cove

For phase 2 of pur holiday, we needed to be within easy reach of Lands End Airport and we knew the perfect place.  We decided to spend a couple of nights in lovely Sennen Cove.

 We often visit Sennen when in Cornwall and it was nice to be here at the end of each day when everyone else had gone home.

 The coastal path across to Lands End is spectacular....

 .. the bay is really large and has great light.

 The wreck of the SS Mulheim, wrecked in 2003 is still very visible - we always call and take a peak.

 We stayed at the Old Success Inn - which is right on the sea front...

 ... and has spectacular views from the windows.

 The weather was brilliant whilst we were here and we mixed some good walking in with a fair amount of lolloping on the beach.

 The skies and sunsets are always spectacular down this way too.