11th May 2016. Mithian and Falmouth, Cornwall.

Once again we slept really well until we were woken at 7.30 a.m by the much louder sound of sheep baa’ing and we peeped out of the window to see a tractor and trailer unloading a flock of sheep into a lorry, being a vegetarian I’d like to imagine they were being transported to another field but that probably wasn’t the case!

Not long after the departure of the sheep we moved on too.

Our journey to Mithian, St Agnes, Cornwall to visit our friends Claire and Paul and their daughters Fran and Sophie at their hotel, The Rose in Vale Country House Hotel, was beautiful.  However when we arrived at Mithian, we discovered that their hotel was at the end of a long driveway which wasn’t a problem in itself and although there was plenty of room for a car to pass through the gate posts Darren wasn’t confident enough so early on in his adventure with the left hand drive motorhome to try to manoeuvre it between the gate posts at the entrance, so we decided to walk down!

Luckily there was just enough room to fit the van in the driveway in front of the hotel sign because there was certainly nowhere in the lane with enough room to park the van.

I’m glad we decided to walk down the driveway, it was a cool misty day and all we could hear as we strolled along were birds chirping and a stream bubbling along beside us.

The Rose in Vale Country House Hotel is a beautiful Georgian Manor House in a peaceful countryside setting, a short walk away from the little village of Mithian.

I’m amazed that Claire and Paul don’t get lost in the many corridors, I’m glad they were showing us around because I completely lost my bearings and was quite surprised when Claire showed us through a door that popped us back at Reception, as we all made our way out for lunch.

The grounds were so pretty covered with pale yellow primroses and sprinkled with native bluebells throughout the grass, it was a sight to behold.

We left Claire and Paul and Darren gingerly backed our van out into the lane with me standing in the road giving him directions (it was not only very narrow but also on a junction and on a bend, perfect practise for an amateur reversing a 7 metre long motor home).

Our next stop was Falmouth to visit our friend Stu. We drove there without any mishaps and this time ignored the SAT NAV and went to Menehay Farm OUR way NOT through the town.

We parked on our pitch at Menehay Farm and met up with our friend Stu.

Stu took us out for a lovely walk along the coastal path from Swanpool with views over two bays, it was beautiful and so lovely to see the profusion of wild flowers in the woodland beside the footpath.

I didn’t sleep very well on the first evening we stayed at the campsite mainly because I could hear something in the van bleeping but I couldn’t find out what was causing the noise, I found out the next day however when Stu arrived after breakfast and asked us whether we’d heard the Lighthouse on Fraggle Rock and its high pitched fog horn!

In the afternoon Stu walked us to Penmorvah Manor for afternoon tea, which was gorgeous, very special.  I dressed up for the occasion but wore my walking boots until we got to the gates then I wobbled around on one leg as I changed into my smart shoes, repeating the performance in reverse at the gates when we left.  Stu very kindly pointed out that I looked like a bag lady as I wandered down the lanes in my dress and walking boots carrying a rucksack!  Thanks, that was the look I was going for.

We had a lovely time with Stu, he walked us off our feet, by the end of the weekend we’d walked 10 miles and most of it seemed to be up very steep but pretty hills covered with wild flowers.