Oh I do Like to Be Beside the Seaside - part two!

The second week in St Ives we ventured out to Trevarno which is set in wonderful grounds including a field full of different variations of daffodils, as you can imagine the scent was fantastic. There is also a small toy museum and gardening museum there so after a yummy piece of cake and cup of tea we went to have a look. The highlights were a hand painted canvas wendy house from 1890, some wonderful old seed signs and displays of garden inspired bits and bobs. The toy museum contained some wonderful items ( some older than others.....some Mr D remembered!) including a toy miniature drapers shop complete with small rolls of fabric, ooh I was very tempted to take that home! Later in the week we went back to the Barbara Hepworth sculpture garden which, in the blazing sunshine was a joy. No trip of course is complete without sniffing out a vintage shop and this one was tucked away behind the main street opposite another shop which was to let.......well one can dream! Hope you all had a great Easter break whatever you got up to.

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside........Part One

The Easter holidays always come just at the right time for the Darling family. The lead up is always so busy with GCSE/A level marking and moderation and most nights working until the wee hours so we were all really looking forward to our trip to St Ives. We drove down there very early to avoid the traffic looking eagerly out for the wind turbines on the landscape which signal "we're nearly there". We stayed in a lovely cottage in the Downalong part of St Ives which is very easy walking distance from all the beaches and ice-cream shops and spent a blissfully sunny week playing on the beach soaking up the atmosphere. My mum, sister and baby nephew had another cottage a few steps away so on bank holiday Monday my mum and I escaped the children to visit the wonderful Homespun Fair in Portscatho....needless to say a few necessary purchases were made and we saw other blog and vintage friends there too...well done to Jane from Jane and the Happy Crow for organising it (theres another in the summer if you missed it this time!). We also popped into The Sea Garden shop which was full of the lovliest things. Well, the weather had been glorious and as we packed our things and made our way back to return our keys we had children in tears in the back of the car. Mr Darling suggested "we just ask" if there were any free cottages for the next week....and they did...at a reduced price...did we want to stay an extra week? So after half an hour umming and arring we said yes and returned to the same cottage we had left two hours previously! Sometimes you just have to be a bit spontaneous and the idea of more sunshine, cream teas and happy children was too good to pass up!