THE WEDNESDAY WALKERS ANNUAL HOLIDAY
Newquay 20th to 24th
March 2017
The group consisted of: Beatrice and
Tony, Sue, Trudy B, Trudy H, Fionnuala and David.
This year we elected to take our
group holiday in Cornwall. On Monday morning (20th March) we were
picked up from homes. The coach driver had the right idea - no service station
stops. Instead he made the first comfort break at the shopping outlet at
Wilton. It's in the converted mills where they once made Wilton carpets. The
second stop was at the Otter Nurseries at Ottery St Mary. Much nicer than
stopping at service stations.
The hotel was ideally situated
overlooking Fistral beach just beyond Newquay with magnificent views of the bay.
To add to that, the hotel laid on a real Cornish cream tea to make us feel
welcome. All the food we had at the hotel was excellent, even if it did amount
to three cooked meals a day. We coped with that very well. And the staff were
all very friendly and helpful. If we asked for something not quite as it was on
the menu, we were given it with a smile. Our group gathered in the bar at 6.30 in
the evening for the first of our free drinks, and we took our refills into
dinner. We expected the drinks to be cheap quality as they were free, but we
were wrong. We enjoyed them and went back for more. After dinner we had more
free drinks in the ballroom where the night's entertainer regaled us with
fifties and sixties songs for the older generation.
On Tuesday we went out on a morning
trip to St Agnes. There’s not much to see in St Agnes, but we went on to the
Cornish Cyder Farm and had a more interesting time there. They had some old
Austin Healey cars on display as the farm is linked to the Healey family. The
Healey of Austin Healey was a Cornishman. We went into the restaurant for a cup
of coffee and sat at a table numbered 30. Most of us realised that because
there was a glass jar on the table numbered 30. It was filled with sand to make
it sit steady. We watched with interest when one of our group thought it was
filled with brown sugar and poured it into his coffee mug. Enough said. We came
back to the hotel for a cooked buffet lunch. Yes, more food! After that most of
th group went off on a trip to the Cornish Gold outlet.
On Wednesday we went to Padstow, or
Padstein as they call it with so many Rick Stein restaurants in the town. After
Padstow, we went to the big Cornish Market at Holmbush. The evening went the same
as before, with free drinks, an excellent dinner, and more entertainment in the
ballroom.
On Thursday we were taken to St
Austell town. We don't know why because there's nothing much to see in St
Austell, but it was on the itinerary so the driver had to go there. He wisely
cut that stop short and, on his own initiative, took us down to Charlestown.
That was much better as most of the group had never been there, and there were
no other holiday-makers there at that time. Once again, we went back to the
hotel for a buffet lunch and then the day turned wet, the only real wet period
we had. Some of the group had a walk in the rain in Newquay. The evening
followed the same routine, drinks, good food and a singer in the ballroom.
And that was it. The next day we set
off home again. As before, the driver kept away from service stations and we
made our first stop at the Jamaica Inn at Bolventnor. It was once a remote inn on Bodmin Moor. Now
it’s been expanded and is a big tourist attraction. Overall, we were lucky with
the weather, apart from that one wet afternoon. All-in-all it was an excellent trip,
and a welcome break that everyone enjoyed. Our thanks must go to Beatrice for
organising the trip with her usual aplomb.
Did you know....?
When Cornish names begin with Tre- Pol- or Pen- the emphasis is on the second syllable. So it's PolDARK with the stress on the DARK, and not POLdark.
