May Bank Holiday in Newquay, Cornwall
The May Bank Holiday is one of the best weekends in the year. What started off as attending the ‘Run to the Sun‘ Festival, has now turned in to an annual camping trip to Newquay with a bunch of friends. The past couple of years have been so much fun; check out the photos here & here.
The trips are always jam-packed with BBQs to beach days to food & drinks to shopping to cream teas & cakes to go-karting to adventures & explorations to ocean swimming to sight-seeing to more tasty treats – did I mention there was a lot of food & drinks involved?! This year was no different, despite fewer people being in our party.
Day 1.
We arrived to our usual campsite, Rosecliston Park, to find it had a facelift. It looked great! & the best thing of all? No more needing 20p’s for the shower & feeding the machine, whilst trying to keep your decency, just outside of your cubicle!
Our ‘Silver Pitches‘ allowed for a 5m tent plus one car & thus, gave us plenty of room to live comfortably for the weekend.
Once pitched up & tents secured, we popped over to the local Morrison’s to stock up on some essentials. Essentials being food & drinks, obviously! The rest of the afternoon was spent making the most of the sunshine, eating BBQ food & catching up.
Rosecliston is an adult only campsite which means it’s perfect for a group like ours, ie. non-parents. Therefore, we were up until the small hours, drinking, chatting & generally having a laugh.
Day 2.
Dave & I woke early the next morning, bleary-eyed from a thunderstorm disturbed sleep to find a lot of water had got in to our tent; not the greatest start to the day! But as the rain ceased & we enjoyed the breakfast of bacon sandwiches & coffee, we felt much brighter.
After a lazy morning, we went in to town & spent the afternoon wandering around, hoping that the weather would improve. We dipped in & out of shops before stopping at Martha’s Tearoom for refreshments.
Warm, fluffy scones, plentiful jam & cream all served in the sweetest little cafe with fantastic service, it’s safe to say that it’s the best cream tea in Newquay!
Once full on scones, we carried on our shop explorations & found ourselves leaving Newquay’s Trespass, with a swanky new tent in hand. As soon as we got back in the late afternoon, the tent went up & we were over the moon with it. It was so much bigger than it’s non-waterproof predecessor & had it’s own separate bedroom compartment. We can’t wait to take it out again!
In the evening, we got dressed up & went to The Bowgie Inn for dinner. This pub is in a beautiful setting & overlooks the bay. We would have definitely sat outside, had the weather been better. However, we did get in one group photo before retreating inside to get warm!
But not before having a bit of fun the big deck chair!
The food was absolutely delicious. I ordered mussels in a garlic sauce to start, followed by traditional scampi & chips – fish on fish but we were by the seaside! The prosecco us girls ordered also went down beautifully. We left feeling stuffed to the brim!
Day 3.
After another relaxed morning at the campsite, we made our way in to town again & headed straight for Kook. These have to be the best milkshakes! There is an assortment of flavours ranging from sweets to chocolate bars to fruit. All of which taste incredible!
I went for the Kinder Bueno – my favourite chocolate bar – & drank it within minutes, it was that good. Dave & the others also enjoyed theirs which ranged from Twirl to Strawberry to Malteser.
We then walked to Fistral Beach & found a spot overlooking the sea in the Beach Bar.
Unfortunately, the weather hadn’t improved by the time we were ready to move on & our hopes for a walk along the coastal path walk was quickly dashed when it started pouring down. Therefore, we headed back in to town & settled in The Chy Bar for a couple more drinks whilst the storm passed.
The rain started to ease, so we made the most of the break & took a stroll on Towan Beach.
It didn’t take long for Dave & Carl to decide to take a freezing dip in the sea.
But they were only in there for a few minutes before the cold got too much!
Once the men were warm & dry, we went back in to town to play in the arcades & enjoy a dinner of fish & chips. The rest of the evening was then spent sat around a fire back at the campsite, toasting marshmallows & telling ghost stories. It was the perfect camping evening!
Day 4.
As soon as we got up on Monday morning, we packed the tents up & wedged everything back in the cars. All the hard work then called for a reward, so we nipped back to Martha’s for another delicious cream tea!
The guys decided to not go-kart this year with the weather being poor; instead, we went to the Newquay’s Blue Reef Aquarium. To see photos & more details on our experience there, click here.
Once suitably fished out, we grabbed another milkshake from Kook. This time, I went for a Peanut Butter M&M & it was to die for. I’ve literally been craving it since we’ve been home! If you’re ever in Newquay, we’d definitely recommend this place! After we’d finished our drinks, we set off back home & to the comfort of our own beds.
Despite the bad weather, we still had a brilliant weekend in Newquay & I feel lucky to have wonderful friends to share these experiences with!
Roll on next year’s trip!
