The Campbell Cousins Come to Cornwall, Part 1

The Campbell cousins came to Cornwall with their parents, Jenny and Alistair, for a few days. They arrived by car from London, and spent five days with us before leaving for Paris. The girls were very excited to see Lucy, 6, and Spencer, 4. Although they live in Portland, OR, the cousins are pretty close. They arrived at tea time, so we, of course, went for pizza at the Carpenter’s Arms.

The Campbells were glad to get a walk in after their long drive from London, and en route, we showed off all of the local sites. The girls showed off their school

and we also stopped by the village playground at the Village Hall. It’s always nice walking along the country lanes, especially on a nice, sunny evening.

Roland, who got to know Jenny and Alistair during our visits to Amsterdam, joined us, and the weather was nice enough to sit outside.

You have to like a pub that has an old well outside. It is much nicer than my monitoring wells - I've never placed flowers on those. Perhaps I should set up a research project here?

We walked home at dusk. The kids were having a great time. Alistair took this great picture of Gwendolyn and Lucy enjoying the walk.

The next day we headed down to the Cotehele Quay for Pirate Day! Again, we had great weather and the cousins were so happy to see each other.

We drove part of the way there and then did a walk on the public footpaths on the wooded trail along the River Morden, which goes by the mill. It is a lovely walk and Rebecca was enjoying herself.

Gwendolyn and Lucy grabbed some fern leaves to hide behind. I felt like I was in a Monty Python movie.

Pirate Day was great fun. The Shamrock was open once again and was flying a Pirate flag.

The girls and Spencer did a well-designed treasure hunt, which they successfully completed and were awarded with treasures from the treasure chest.

The weather was so great that we spent a good deal of time just hanging out on the quay. Gwendolyn loves to climb on her Uncle Alistair.

Christine was enjoying some sister time.

Rebecca and Lucy were enjoying some toffee with their ice cream cones from the quayside stand.

We also toured the house. Rebecca and Gwendolyn know their way around the house and gave their cousins the tour, showing all of the highlights such as the peephole looking over the Great Hall from an upstairs bedroom and the window overlooking the chapel. Here is the Campbell clan in the courtyard

and here is the Anderson clan in the garden.

No tour of Cotehele would be complete with a trip to Prospect Tower. The girls made up a game with a large branch to pass the time walking to the tower.

Alistair and Spencer made it to the top, as did the girls. Jenny and Christine, both having been here before, opted for some peace and quiet on the ground.

The kids were dragging at this point, so Alistair and I went to get the cars, which were about a mile away. We took some public footpaths and small lanes to get to the cars. Alistair really enjoyed the footpaths, especially the one going through a wheat field near the tower.

One of the Campbell requests for their trip to visit us was some time at the beach. We decided to take them to one of our favorites in Cornwall, Lantic Bay. Instead of walking all of the way from Fowey, we used the National Trust carpark about a mile away from the beach. Still, it’s a pretty tough walk to the beach. The initial views of the English Channel are stunning. Here is the pied piper, Aunt Jenny, with all of the girls in tow at the overlook.

The drop down to the beach is about 350 feet. The views are stunning, but you wonder how it will be going back up after a day on the beach.

The girls led the way down initially

before Spencer and I took over. Here is the hike leader himself.

We eventually had a nice view of the beach. At first we couldn’t see the beach and I feared that most of it would be covered by the tide. Fortunately, the tide was going out and we had plenty of beach.

The cousins all got buried in the sand, a new favorite pastime.

They also enjoyed playing in the tidal pools

and playing with seaweed. The height of the pool in the picture above will give you an idea of the tidal range.

The climb back up from the beach was surprisingly easy. Rebecca practically ran up the hill – she has runner’s legs! Here are a couple of parting shots of the cousins after the climb: Lucy

and Spencer.