The holiday went really well – no major meltdowns or arguments and everyone seemed to enjoy the week. We managed to do a variety of things each day – and mostly outdoors. Towards the end of the week, CS3 admitted that “this has been a fun holiday”.

We stopped overnight in Devon on our way down and went to The Riverford Farm restaurant. We hadn’t told the girls about this; they were so excited when they found out (CS2 came down by train a couple of days later so missed out).
“OMG – are we really going to Riverford? Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
“Because it would have been like a toddler waiting for Christmas and you’d have driven us crazy”.

Just look at this menu.

Starters

• Freshly Baked sourdough
• Corn on the Con with chimichurri dressing
• kohl rabi, fennel, sugar snaps, orange &mustard
• Charred courgettes, padron peppers, tomatoes with basil & pumpkin seed dressing

• Devilled mackerel with tzatziki
• spiced lentil aubergines , garlic yoghurt, soft egg & dukka
• Cauliflower cous cous
• Beetroot, wholegrain mustard & cavolo nero
• Summer greens, caraway & pickled nectarines

Two things (at least) stand out. Firstly, the starter has more variety of vegetables than most people eat in a month. Secondly, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a menu with so many items I don’t recognise.

The puddings were amazing too. CS3 is trying a dairy free diet, and we had told the restaurant when we booked. When we went to choose our dessert, without any fuss the chef went to the fridge to fetch something he'd prepared especially for her - and it looked every bit as good as the milk-laden food we were eating

There are lots of narrow and steep roads on the way down to Cornish coastal villages. The females collectively panicked when we met a car coming the other way - and none of them was driving! Me? I didn’t panic; just put the car in reverse and headed back to the passing point.
“What’s that funny smell”
“It’s just the clutch burning – stop panicking”
We went down the same hill later in the week. I put the car in first gear and let the engine do the braking. “Look no pedals” I announced as I waved my feet in the air.

The campsite was quiet and peaceful, and a comfortable caravan. Sunday morning when I looked out of the bedroom window I saw a green woodpecker pecking about on the grass.

One evening we went to the clubhouse with a card game. Wow, that very nearly turned into World War Three – I didn’t know Uno could have so many variations on the rules.
“Ok, we’ll have one more game – but this time can we just stick to the rules printed with the game?”
“we’ve lost them – that’s why we’re making them up as we go along”

Another evening, the club had a “family quiz”. I suggested that we went along as our family group was older than the average campsite family, so would have a distinct (and probably legitimate) advantage. My perception proved to be correct – we won! CS2’s analysis was “we couldn’t really lose when you saw the idiots who made up the other teams.”

We were staying about a mile from the beach, and there was a pleasant walk / cycle path alongside a small stream and through some woods. The river had a man-made feel too it – straight and constant depth, but was too narrow for navigation. Hmm ... what and why?Half-way along was a small ford. The Kool Kidz (me and CS3) jumped the ford – the uncool kidz used the bridge.

The village where the beach was had once been a small port, and there were still lots of exciting industrial archaeological relics about.

Remember that small stream? It was a conduit to provide water to flush out the silt from the channel.

Only CS2 and I were brave enough to swim in the sea – the others merely paddled and said how cold the water was. The water was lovely and clear, and not too cold (for the first five minutes). The beach didn’t slope much so you could go a long way out without getting out of your depth. In fact, sandbanks meant that sometimes the water got shallower as you went out further.

Another activity was cycling. The campsite was on a national cycle route and there was a cycle hire place about half a mile away, so we hired bikes and cycled to M-village. I call it M village because I can never remember which way round the middle letters go – it’s either Megavissey or Mevagissey.

It was a good route – off road but well-made paths. It included a long and gentle hill – not too bad to cycle up, and awesome to cycle down. It also included a shorter and steeper hill – CS1 and I managed to cycle all the way up, but The Future Mrs Barefoot and CS3 walked (even if walking didn’t take much longer than cycling).

There were several puddles and muddy patches – I cycled through as many as I could. No mudguards meant that my legs, bum and back were liberally splattered with mud.