Still in St. Tudy and Liking It!

We went to Hengar Manor for WiFi. Perfect timing! Our Irish passports are ready to be printed early in the New Year and sent! Hoorah! And they had only posted the update today. Sometimes things just work out (and sometimes not). Anyway finished with the net and found St,. Mayban. Pouring rain, lots of puddles but warm enough. Lovely lunch there and great service. Decorations for Christmas were branches woven across the ceiling and Christmas bulbs hanging along with tiny lights, looked great! They do Christmas lunch up to the 23^rd of December so I do think we’ll be on our own for that day since most pubs seem to close for their staff to enjoy the day. Good for the staff, not so good for a couple of strays like us. Maybe I’ll put a garland on Lexi and call it done.

About Hengar Manor: they rent individual small cottages, some with whirlpool baths. They have an extensive activities menu including lessons on things like archery, cross-bow, fishing, golf, and lots of things for kids to do. There are several old stone buildings on site which could have been part of a manor but the “activity” building with reception is in a newer building and has a large indoor swimming pool. They have a general store, I am amazed at what these small shops carry. There is a restaurant on site and a café and another one in one of the old buildings doing Italian food, looked interesting but closed for the winter. Friday afternoon before Christmas I was told they were expecting about 200 people to arrive!

Roads are terribly muddy now, I wondered why the cars were all dirty, well ours has now joined the bunch. We spoke to a gent in the Shop who said a friend from out of town described the small roads as driving through a tarmac ditch – pretty much true. As mentioned, they are very narrow and are lined with high hedge rows which do not give room to pass. So you suck your tummy in, like that’s going to help the situation!

Starting to get a feel for where the towns are after a few days of driving fairly short distances. I’ve been reading the history of Cornwall and each town and look forward to more exploring. We’ll go further afield soon for day trips. We are fairly close to the Atlantic so I definitely want to get to a port. Probably get blown off my feet, so as suggested, must bring an anchor. ‘

Back to the Community Shop to – shop of course. I had thought so, but confirmed, it is run entirely by volunteers. Everything I’ve read about this little community shows that they band together like Madeira Park does. They have accounts for people so they have no need to bring money. The Post Office doubles as a bank machine, although it wouldn’t take my cards. There is a bank in Camelford so we’re not entirely stuck.

Weather has been of the “wait five minutes “ variety with hail included but not cold. It’s hailing again now as I write this. Glad I’m in a toasty place at the moment!

The tap water here is wonderful to drink! I haven’t drank tap water for a very long time.

Fountain outside the St. Tudy Inn with benches, would be lovely in the summer, you will probably hear that a lot. See the flat stones, that’s slate which this area is known for and many buildings and fences are made from.

Note: I will try to put the pictures into the email notification... humph... 

The Inn has four separate smallish rooms each with a fireplace which makes it cozy. Service is good but I find the food average, guess I’m ordering the wrong thing again.  It has a borrowing library, now I just have to identify the books we have taken out for return, aside from the library in the cottage.

Back to Hengar again for a pedicure for me and a massage for Bruce. Both done very well but not as good as what we got in Madeira. Ruth came in and cleaned the cottage so we boxed up Lexi and took her with us. She was NOT happy! I had to pluck her off the window ledge where she was Purrfectly happy thank you very much, talking to the birds. She does love it here because the birds are at eye level for her. Ruth kindly left us an arrangement of flowers for Christmas.

We stopped in at the “glass houses”, we call them greenhouses. It had a “show garden” and a lovely little tea house. They serve clotted cream there, will have to try that, have done years ago so I’m allowed once more.

So my friends Bruce, Lexi and I wish you Merry Christmas and all the Best for the New Year!

No worries, I’ll keep writing and posting when I can. Cheers!