Cornwall Shopping Haul

So now that we have returned from our trip to Cornwall, we wanted to share with you a few of the items we purchased and hopefully provide you with some links if you are interested in any of these products. As you saw in most of our blog posts, we were hitting the shops practically every day so we thought we better justify this by giving you an insight into what we were buying.

First up....homewares.

Placemats

This was one of the last things I bought at the end of the week when we popped into Ula Clothing & Lifestyle in St Ives. They had quite a big selection of these place mats with a range of nautical/ seaside designs on them. I decided to choose 2 of each design you see above as our dining room table at home seats up to 6 people. I love the neutral colour of the cork with the splash of white from the printed design and since my living room/dining room area has a beach theme, I think these will fit in perfectly. Ula Clothing & Lifetsyle only offer a limited range of designs on their website but if you want to see more, check out Liga's website here to see the full range of designs - you can even get Christmas placemats too! Prices start at £2.75 for coasters and £5.25 for placemats. 

Shell Bowl

I'm always on the look out for nautical inspired homewares and this little gem was found in a Cornwall Hospice Care charity shop in Wadebridge. At only £1.50 I couldn't resist and I think it will look great as a decorative bowl in the living room or perhaps to pop some snacks or food in when using the dining table.

St Ives Mug

Mum picked up this mug in The St Ives Co. shop. We are not usually drawn to many mugs that have place names written on them but this mug has a very modern and sophisticated design. Featuring a nautical blue stripe band around the mug and a white simplistic text of St Ives, we thought it would make the perfect mug for a morning brew. At £12 it's definitely not a cheap mug but it is made of fine china and is a classic look for those nautical fans.

Christmas Jute Bags

As you already know, one of our favourite shops in Cornwall is Whistlefish and before we had even arrived we were eying up these lovely Christmas jute bags. We found these when we were in Padstow as both St Ives shops didn't have these in stock. They are also currently sold out on the website but we recommend to keep checking back just in case they come back into stock. These are a decent sized jute bag and are great for carrying groceries and also transporting Christmas presents.

Moving on from homewares, our next collection of items will be under the Christmas decoration category - and you know we can't resist a decoration or two...

First up is this beautiful Seahorse decoration that I bought in the Tidings Christmas shop in Padstow. I love finding seaside decorations for the Christmas tree and the colours on this one are just stunning!

The next decoration I bought was from a gallery in St Ives called Gallery 38, which is situated on The Wharf. They have a lovely collection of artwork, from canvases and prints, to glass work and ceramic. We recommend checking out all the galleries whilst in St Ives as you never know what you might find and I always like to find something that has been made locally.

This next decoration was also bought in the Tidings Christmas shop in Padstow and is a beautiful ceramic house decoration with an LED light inside. It is a Gisela Graham decoration so if you fancy getting yourself one you may be able to pick one up in one of their stockists.

These next few bauble decorations are all from Whistlefish and feature a variety of wonderful designs. You can find all the different designs on their website by clicking here. They all say Limited Edition so we are not sure how long they will hang around for so you might want to be quick if there is a particular one you like. The St Ives design already says Sold Out online but if you are lucky enough to be be visiting St Ives in the next few weeks you may be able to still get one.

I'm sure it will be no surprise to hear that I picked up the Under the Sea themed bauble, featuring adorable seals and other sea life creatures. 

The St Ives bauble features a beautiful illustration of the harbour with tropical palm trees either side to represent it's often sub-tropical climate.

The Hare and the Robin design is a beautiful illustration for Christmas and will be a firm favourite for any animal lover.

The last one we got was The Coming Home for Christmas design, featuring a beautiful pink tone with tree illustrations around the bauble. A beautiful sentiment for the festive time of year.

The final Christmas decoration item we bought was this seaside Christmas advent calendar. It seems we can't get enough of advent calendars this year and we absolutely love anything that has a nautical/seaside design. We picked this one up in a stationer's shop in Wadebridge but if you fancy buying yourself one you can try searching for your nearest stockist here.

So that's our round up of everything we bought whilst we were away in St Ives. To be honest we probably could have bought a lot more but we had to restrain ourselves at some point. As I've been writing these posts and featuring the different shops we went in, it's nice to see that most of them have an online presence and therefore if we fancy buying from them again whilst at home we can still make our purchases from afar.

 

Day 4: Exploring St Ives

For our last full day in St Ives we wanted to take in the scenery and enjoy strolling around the streets and exploring the landscape.

After our breakfast at Porthmeor Beach Cafe on Tuesday, we couldn't help but book ourselves in for another breakfast this morning to take in the beautiful views on a another day of blue skies.

This time we both went for a lighter option of just a croissant with jam and sat back enjoying the food and the view.

Fuelled for the morning we went for a brief walk around the back streets of the town (if you do this prepare yourself for some steep slopes and steps).

After our walk it was time for another mooch around the shops, especially those that we hadn't explored on Tuesday. If you are a crafter and have a particular interest in knitting, crochet or haberdashery then you will want to check out The Craft Tree - they have lots of lovely kits to choose from - so if you fancy a small project while you are away then you will be able to pick one up here.

A couple of other shops that we enjoyed were Brocante, which sells beautiful homeware, gifts and fashion; Ula Clothing & Lifestyle - where I picked up some lovely beach themed placemats - I'll share these with you in our Cornwall shopping haul blog post and we also went in The St. Ives Co. which offers a chic selection of St. Ives homewares and gifts. It's lovely to browse these kind of shops as you never know what you might find!

After returning to the cottage with a few bags we decided to condense down and take some bits up to the car (to save on multiple trips when we set off tomorrow morning). On our return we picked up some delicious Beef and Vegetable Stews from the St Ives Bakery.

This place is the best bakery in town and we absolutely love their shop window which is always kept well stocked with wonderful cakes and breads.

After lunch we decided to go to one of our favourite spots to sit down and watch the world past by. 

This spot is on the back of Smeaton's Pier and we can often find ourselves a spot to sit on the wall, however today was a little more crowded than usual so we made do with a bench in the sunshine just above. Always keep your eye out for marine sea life such as seals as mum definitely thinks she saw one bobbing its head above the water briefly.

Feeling a bit more energetic we decided to walk around the headland just beyond Porthmeor Beach to take in a few more stunning views across St Ives. If you fancy going for a longer walk you will find a coastal footpath that will lead you round to Zennor.

We couldn't have asked for better weather this week (maybe a tad bit warmer!) as the sunshine really helps bring out the beautiful colour of the sea.

For our last evening in St Ives we decided to have dinner at the Lifeboat Inn on the Wharf and enjoyed a lovely Scampi and Chips meal looking out over the harbour. Taking in the last of the sea views at night we grabbed a hot drink and sat on a bench by the harbour and looked out on to what can be described as a smugglers cove, with tiny specks of light coming out from restaurants and houses outlining the shape of the cove. Almost takes you back in time and you feel like you could be in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie!

Feeling a bit cold, we decided to retreat back to the cottage to enjoy the last of our evening. 

This little break away to St Ives has been wonderful and I'm sure we will be back again in the near future.

Day 3: Padstow to Marazion

Day 3 of our St Ives getaway and we were woken by a beautiful sunrise with clear blue skies to start our day!

We had to make a change of plans to our day late last night as we discovered that we wouldn't be able to walk over to St. Michael's Mount in Marazion without having paid entry to the castle on the mount. Since we were more interested in doing a bit of shopping and having a lovely tea and cake on the Mount, we didn't think it was worth paying extra for that luxury. Therefore we decided to visit Padstow in the morning instead.

*NB: If you are planning a visit to St. Michael's Mount in Covid-19 times please be aware you will need to book a ticket for the castle or gardens(only open certain times of the year) to be allowed access to St. Michael's Mount. For further details, please read their FAQ's on their website.

Fortunately for us we do enjoy walking around Padstow and they have a lovely range of shops to peruse at your leisure. We were also pleasantly surprised by a wonderful tearoom on the harbour called Cherry Trees. If you love cake then you MUST make a stop here! They do eat-in and takeaway so you can enjoy your cake anyway you choose! We did both!!!

They have an abundance of cake to choose from and also offer a fantastic selection for breakfast and lunch.

We got a massive slab of Coffee and Walnut cake (to share) and of course a pot of tea - absolutely love the colourful teapots! We returned after a bit of shopping and also got a cookie and shortbread biscuit to takeaway - which we saved and enjoyed a bit later on when we reached Marazion.

We enjoyed a very relaxed mooch around the shops, including a Christmas shop called Tidings, Padstow Bookseller, The Bank (seaside gifts and homewares) and another Whistlefish shop of course! We bought a few things which I will share with you in a later post. 

We decided to move on at lunch time as the streets were getting very busy and we didn't feel comfortable walking around. So we headed back up to the car pack and had a picnic lunch before venturing over to Wadebridge for a look around. Unfortunately a lot of gift shops that we have previously visited had closed so we didn't end up staying too long. Although I did find a beautiful shell shaped bowl in a charity shop and also mum couldn't resist a nautical Christmas advent calendar.

I also did discover a shop location in Wadebridge for the designer who makes the lighting for many Seasalt Cornwall shops - Tom Raffield. 

Before we headed back to St Ives, we thought we would drive over to Marazion to sit in the car and look out over to St Michael's Mount. We enjoyed our sweet treats that we had bought earlier in the day from Cherry Trees and took in the marvellous view.

Day 2: Breakfast with a View

It's not every morning that you can enjoy a cup of tea and breakfast with a view over Porthmeor Beach! We enjoyed a very relaxing first morning in St Ives by enjoying a cooked breakfast at the Porthmeor Beach Cafe. This was a first for me after mum recommended we went there for breakfast as their menu offering is varied enough and to be honest you can't beat this amazing view. We highly recommend making a reservation though as tables are very limited, especially if you want to sit inside - which at this time of year is a must do unless you enjoy a bracing wind whilst enjoying your morning coffee.

If you do prefer to sit outside they do have outside pods which are tucked into the wall to give you a bit of shelter from the elements.

After breakfast we had a little meander around some of the streets behind where our cottage is before hitting the shops again for some retail therapy.

One of our first points of call for shopping in Cornwall is Whistlefish. You will find one of these shops in almost every Cornish town, selling mainly artwork, greetings cards and gifts! Visiting Cornwall at this time of year is a bonus because many shops are offering Christmas items - which is something we can't resist. This year Whistlefish are selling beautiful Christmas bauble decorations which me and mum just had to have, especially since most of them have a nautical theme.

I picked up a selection of greetings cards as well as a sea life Christmas bauble.

I definitely feel like this won't be our last visit to the Whistlefish shop on this trip, especially since I asked them when their Christmas wrapping paper was arriving and fingers crossed it's this week!

Plans for mine and Conor's wedding are never too far from my thoughts and being surrounded by seaside theme decorations and gifts, I couldn't help but find something that might come in use for the wedding.

These starfish decoration pieces will be an excellent feature for the tables at the wedding breakfast and are just about the right size for what I was looking for.

If you are a chocolate lover we highly recommend visiting a shop called "I Should Coco". Originally this shop was based in Fore Street in St Ives and we were initially disappointed when we couldn't find them this morning. However when we walked along Tregenna Place road we found that they had moved and were thrilled to be able to pick up some bits. Their chocolate is delicious and they do different slab pieces that include a variety of toppings including fudge, salted caramel, brownie pieces and more! They also have chocolate buttons, lollipops and other fun chocolate shapes that are great for children!

We picked up a couple of gift items whilst in the shop - which will explain the vagueness of the picture - we don't want to reveal too much detail to friends and family reading this!

Our evening ended up being a very chilled out night, eating some dinner in our cosy cottage and relaxing whilst dabbling in a bit of Crystal Art - very addictive!

Travel Day: St Ives Getaway

Our travel day to St Ives started very early as we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get down to Cornwall and also beat local rush hour traffic. The drive down was excellent with no traffic hold ups, however the weather was very changeable. Two hours in and we were facing thick clouds, mist and rain for the remainder of the journey. Even when we got to our final rest point in Truro, the rain still didn't recede much, although that didn't dampen our spirits too much whilst we indulged in a bit of retail therapy.

Due to new Covid-19 restrictions, we were not able to get into our property until 5pm, so we took a slow drive into St Ives and started our search for a car parking space. Anyone who has stayed in St Ives before will know what a headache that can be, especially if you don't want to park your car miles away from your property. Luck was in for us at the station car park as we found what we could see to be the last remaining space! For our trip we had bought a Rover parking ticket for multiple car parks around Cornwall, more details about these type of parking tickets can be found on Cornwall council's website.

Once we arrived in St Ives, the clouds parted for a while and gave us some lovely blue skies and a dry evening.

After a brief walk around the town we went to investigate our property called Mermaid Cottage. Tucked away in a small street behind the main high street, our cosy cottage is ample space for what we need for the next few days.

After making a final trip back to the car to get the rest of our bags, we took an hour or so to settle in before heading out to get some fish and chips - a must do for the first night!

We decided to get some from the The Beach Restaurant takeaway on the Wharf, which in our opinion has the best fish and chips in town. 

Some much needed R&R was needed after dinner so we called it a night fairly early to get ready for Day 2 of our travels :)

Catch Up and Cornwall Getaway

So it's been over a month since our last post and that's mainly been due to the amount of Advent Calendar kits that were ordered (a MASSIVE Thank You). We were so overwhelmed by how many of you wanted this Christmas kit and therefore kept us busy for the majority of September. 

Along with the Advent Calendar Christmas kit I have also been very busy making home improvements, mainly the gardens. I forgot to share with you a couple of months ago the transformation of my front garden so I thought I would take the chance to feature the front garden transformation in this post as well. The back garden is still an ongoing project but last week we finally put down some new turf and it is finally starting to look more like a garden!

Front Garden Transformation

BEFORE

As you can see from the picture above, the front garden was mostly a weed patch when we moved in and at the start of lockdown I made the decision to finally tackle this beast!

AFTER

Since me and Conor are not the keenest of gardeners we decided to make the front garden easy on ourselves and got some artificial grass and slate chippings to go round the edge. We would still like to add some plant pots under the windowsill to add some colour to the front but other than that we have completed the front garden transformation!

Back Garden Transformation (still a work in progress)

BEFORE

So the back garden was also as bad as the front garden when it came to weeds and unfortunately there was hardly any grass growing - just weeds! So we also took on the back garden during lockdown to try and get  to grips with it. I started off by just giving the wall a fresh coat of paint to help brighten the garden and this really did help at the beginning and gave us that extra boost to keep going!

After that the hard work really began as we started digging up the weeds....

we then decided to lift up the patio slabs as the previous owner had not laid them very well...

With a blank canvas to work with we could finally start planning what we wanted to do with this space. After deciding where we wanted to put some new turf we marked out the garden and got to laying some top soil before finally laying the turf...

So this is the transformation so far and we can't wait to finish it off over the next few months.

Last week, me and Conor took the chance to have a fun day out to celebrate my birthday. After months of lockdown and then going back to work, we hadn't had time to fit in a day away from the house to have some fun. And what better way to do that then by visiting the Harry Potter Studios tour in Watford. 

This was our third visit and each time we discover something new. This experience was probably the most enjoyable since crowds were very low and therefore we were able to take our time and soak it all in. If you are a Harry Potter fan and have never visited I would highly recommend going!

So to end this post on a high note, I am thrilled to say that me and mum will be on our way to Cornwall tomorrow for our St Ives getaway. We plan to hopefully blog everyday and keep you posted on what we are up to and also any goodies we might buy! So if you want to stay updated, make sure you subscribe to our blog or follow us on Facebook.