By keef and annie hellinger, Oct 8 2016 08:23AM
Motorhome trip No29 : Sept 26th- Oct 6th 2016 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Dawlish (Devon) to Fraddon & Bude (Cornwall) & Stonehenge (Wiltshire) ->NOTTS 698 miles Amazingly good weather for this time of the year in the UK or maybe not, our Motorhome experience tells us that May & September are generally great months to go away weather wise! Anyhow travelled to the lovely Cofton Country Holiday Park (ACSI site) near Dawlish in Devon where we stayed for 4 nights. We called in on Dawlish before making camp and had a good look around. This is the coast where the railway was washed away by sweeping seas not that long ago and is a traditional seaside town , slightly run down but we liked it. At Cofton there is lots to do and lovely large grassy pitches, only a few hard standing. Met nice couple from Leicestershire of all places. One outdoor and one indoor pool, indeed on the last day we had it to ourselves for most of the time, plus games rooms, keep fit (you are joking?), bars ,cafes and restaurants . On our second day there we caught the Stagecoach bus just up the road to Starcross and took the ferry over to Exmouth landing at the fabulous marina. Great fun day out – well worth it. The next day we did the short country walk from Cofton to Cockwood passing very interesting wild flowers, nature gardens and loved seeing the wild pink orchids. It was a lovely sunny day and you come our at the boat moorings inlet of the river Exe. We did our own version of a pub crawl visiting both pubs in Cockwood. The Anchor (an old smugglers inn) did the better beer but the Ship had the best gardens and flowers. After our fab 4 day stay in Devon we set off to visit my sister Linda and her husband Ian in Fraddon Cornwall for 3 nights parking the van outside their lovely new house. On route we used our English Heritage concession membership to visit both Okehampton Castle (still Devon), originally owned by Baldwin de Brionne of 1066 fame and Launceston plus town. Launceston was the original capital of Cornwall (Kernow) and has lovely panoramic views from wherever you look and a load of history, namely St Cuthbert, the messenger who delivered details of Nelsons death at Trafalgar up to London and its place in the Civil war. We know the one in Tassie , Australia but not this one on home soil. They are quite unalike but we love them both. At Linda’s we went out for a lovely meal, visited Pendennis castle with lovely views of St Mawes, Fraggle lighthouse, Falmouth and the river Fal…. Views to die for! We also went to the very tropical gardens of St Marys and a café at Gyllyngavase beach , Tribute from a barrel, bliss and a nice drive around some great places they knew especially Chapel Porth. Only October but we also had a nice Xmas dinner including our nephew Adam. Saying our fond goodbyes we drove off to Wooda Farm (ACSI) site just past Bude (Cornwall) visiting the recommended Widemouth (pronounced wid-ee-muth) bay and the lovely Bude. Bude is fab, nice walk along the canal to the sea where it joins with the river tributary. Great craft shops as well and Annie got talking to the lady in the wool shop. We had 3 nights on pitch E50 at the site with a perfect view of Bude castle and coastline from our pitch, whilst very sunny it was mega windy on occasions forcing us to “come inside”. The site is great with many facilities – farm yard animals, woodland walk (with pixie dell see the pics if you don’t believe in them), lakes galore, 9 hole pitch and putt (big course probably golf really I’m no expert), restaurants bars and craft shops. We went walking 2 days in a row. Would highly recommend this site also its proximity to Bude.
images now on flickr