Had a Great Holiday...

[Harko]

Just got back from a great holiday in the UK...

We (the better half and I (+ kids and mut)) decided that this year we would stay in the UK for our main hols this year and what a great time we had.  :good:

We had never been to the North East so for our base we stayed in an old fishermans cottage in Newbiggin on Sea (not the best place to stay - but a great place to use as a base). 


The cottage was on the northern end of the bay right on the promenade and could have cast a line out the bedroom window (if I fished )

Over the course of the week we covered the coast from the Tynemouth to Berwick-upon-Tweed and many of the areas Castles.  Unfortunately we ran out of time to do any more sightseeing in this area but have earmarked Berwick as our base next time we travel north.

For our second week we travelled overnight to Cornwall (my old stomping ground from 9 to 17yo) but this time, rather than bunk up with family in Bodmin (as we normally do :O) ), we decided to stay at Tregonhawke near Freathy, in beach side accommodation - and stay put for the week (barring a short visit to Bodmin to visit family)

Fantastic is all I can say :O).  The only thing you can hear is the crashing of the waves and the cry of seagulls - oh and the occasional boat that chugs along. If there were more than ten people on the beach then it was crowded (and its a long beach).  On our last day, there were at least seven lifeguards on duty with three members of the public on the beach (son, daughter and myself    )

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=50.340161,-4.241281&spn=0.009285,0.022724&t=h&z=16


Yep - it's a struggle getting your bags/luggage/food/drink down to the bottom (it's the little house on the beach in the google image above) but the owner will help by hoisting it down the cliff if you wish.

There is a small kitchen with oven etc. for you to cook for yourselves but if you don't mind the climb up the cliff each morning then the cafe at the top of the cliff do a mean full breakfast with local thick cut bacon - proper tasty (not the cheep supermarket stuff) with fresh eggs from the cafes chicken coop  

For evening meal if you don't fancy cooking there are several pubs in the area (you will need to drive) that do evening meals or you can take the ferry to Plymouth or failing this, the owner will provide one or two evening meals during the week for a small additional cost per person and I (we) can heartily recommend the fish pie

...We will be going back for sure.

Forgot to say.. as there were four of us + dog we travelled by car and you have to leave your transport on the coastal road at the top. However, no locals we spoke to said there was a problem with stolen/damaged cars being left overnight.  If you travel by bike, I am sure that you could arrange with the owner to park your bike halfway down the cliff at the bottom of his private road next to the hoist  - no one would know it was there.


Harko


The accommodation is at the bottom - on the beach.  You can just see the roof in this pic.


Great place to sit, drink and relax in the evening (photo taken from the lifeguard station) - as long as the sea isn't to rough - the sea comes all the way in to the base of the wall and last winter took out the larger window to the right (left??) of the Cafe doors   


View of the beach and accommodation.  Notice the crowds

PS>  The owner of the accommodation is a great guy to talk to (With me being an Ex Merchant Navy Officer I just wish I could have spent more time talking with him. Jim shekhdar  - Google him )

[Harv]

Harko
The locals call Freathy 'happy valley'....
I used to live in the Coast Guard cottage at the Eastern end of the beach just in front of the old fort.
Beware 'loose parking' however....whern I used to come home from my night shift and found a walker/fisherman/beach combers car parked on my private road i just parked the old series 2 landy up against it and walked home...I kept a Peugot 405 down there for 2 days once....