Cornwall Mini-Trip: Padstow

Family W took an impromptu trip to Cornwall last Friday. We were supposed to be heading to London for the weekend, but the trip was cancelled. Hubby had Friday booked off work and a few hours were spent deciding whether he should cancel this holiday and work or still take the day off; further discussion was then required as to what to do if he didn't cancel the day off. I suggested we seize the moment and head off somewhere for the night; this put the cat amongst the pigeons somewhat as we came to the conclusion that since DC has been born, we've given up being spontaneous - what if we forget the babywipes, or the car seat or the bread sticks?!?

Anyhoo, a quick search of the old t'interweb and a possible overnight stop was discovered; a few more minutes of 'shall we, shalln't we?' and the button was pressed and money was paid. A night's accommodation  (in Tintagel) was booked; and with only three nights' notice, we were truly living on the edge.

We set off bright and early Friday morning, heading straight for Padstow. Just 2 hours and 20 minutes later, we were there.

We spent a while walking round the harbour and looking at the shops; first stop was for a lemon curd doughnut at one of Rick Stein's many eateries in town (it's not nicknamed Padstein for nothing); not a bad offering, but nothing special.

After lunch it was time for the highlight of the day - crabbing. DC had been asking for a crabbing net/line for quite a while and we finally succumbed. First we tried the far side of the harbour using a line; no luck.

Then we tried the slipway on the other side of the harbour, this time using a proper crabbing net.

Et voila - our first captive.

Two hours later, when my patience with crabbing had reached its limits, we had caught seven crabs, two shrimp and a fish. And we had a very happy little boy (I've discovered that this is what parenting is all about, apparently, and it's a big old shock to the system.) It was then time to release them all back into the wild (to be caught by some other small child, no doubt) so we could take another little walk around the town. I succumbed in Seasalt and bought a bag; it was only £5 and I was feeling the urge to buy a holiday souvenir of sorts. Why is it that going on 'holiday' makes me feel (even more) free and easy with the cash, even though I've just been made redundant and don't actually have that much to spare? 

By 4.30pm all that crabbing had left us with quite an appetite and we were ready for tea; of course, it had to be fish and chips. The plan was to go to Mr Stein's fish and chip restaurant (he really does have quite the range of eateries); unfortunately it didn't open until 5pm (we weren't having much luck with opening times, having missed out on lunch at his cafe because it didn't open early enough for our rumbling tummies) so we settled on his takeaway next door.

Cod, chips, ketchup and a pot of tartare sauce - £9.05. Say wha'??!!??

It was nice, but it wasn't the absolute best ever in the whole wide world, can't wait to go there again fish and chips, if you get my drift. 

But we did find ourselves eating them on possibly the most boy-friendly perch ever.

And the view was quite something.

All in all, a pleasant day and we were so very lucky with the weather (just a couple of drops of rain at one point); but we've decided we wouldn't rush back to Padstein.

Tune in next time for a visit to somewhere just a little way up the coast that really stole our hearts.