Cornish dream

Back in the office, too much work to do and everything seems unorganised but there you go…

We had a magical weekend. Despite the bronchitis we did go to Cornwall. Our new tent is totally awesome! It’s absolutely massive, not that difficult to put up and really comfortable. When there was a little rain we sat inside with the porch open still able to watch the world go by and I can walk about in it without having to crouch and hurt my knees! I’m still on a mission to find a comfortable way to sleep whilst camping (2nd airbed with a slow puncture!) but we’ll get there, everything else was great anyway.

The Dulwich Ukulele Club (DUC) were tremendous... My soon to be brother-in-law is in the band and had got us two free tickets for the festival, so we were DUC groupies for the weekend and a lot of fun it was too... Their second gig especially, really got everyone going and people were dancing and having a whale of a time. In my opinion they are simply one of the best bands to see live; funny, musically very good, and incredibly original.

The festival was lovely, really gentle. I didn’t actually do much other than whoop and holler for the band at their gigs – I was trying to rest as much as possible. But there felt no need to rush, or see everything or even do anything. We had nice food, some beer, sat round the fire at night, laughed a lot and just enjoyed the atmosphere and the people. It was nice to see lots of kids running around, having a great time; perfectly safe and a just a little wild… like children should be! If you fancy a really eclectic festival Port Eliot is a fantastic choice. Not sure it’s happening next year, but we would definitely go again.

It had taken us 9 hours to get to Cornwall because the M4 had come to a virtual standstill. Newbury had suffered devastating flooding, roads had been washed out - basically it was pretty awful. Coming out of London the visibility had been down to one or two metres at times. I was genuinely scared and considered stopping the car and pulling over. I didn’t know how we were going to get to Cornwall that’s for sure. But we did, eventually. It did rain, but it was light rain that lasted only a short time. It seemed unreal that the rest of the country was suffering so much.

On the Sunday we had already decided to go a visit a wedding venue in Tintagel. It had been three years since I’d visited ‘Tagel and it was great to see it again in the hot Cornish sun. We checked out the venue, but decided for a variety of reasons that it wasn’t for us. We grabbed some fresh pasties and scones and hit the road, deciding to head down to St Ives where there was a hotel we were really quite interested in. We had originally thought we wouldn’t be able to go and visit this one; it was too far south and we had to head back to London. We were also mindful that flooding and rain may still be a problem and so we didn’t want to leave it too late before we headed home. But St Ives is only about an hour and half from Tintagel and to go home and then have to make another trip back to Cornwall so soon just seemed overwhelming.

St Ives is beautiful and I just had a funny feeling that this hotel was going to be the one for us. The wedding co-ordinator was off-duty but was happy to show us around. Her attitude (and that of her colleague whom we had spoken to on the phone) was fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble and the view of the golden sands and turquoise sea from the ceremony and reception rooms was stunning. The hotel has its own sub-tropical gardens, a private pool and direct access to the beach. We waited until we got back to the car before agreeing that we had found our venue! We’ve since booked the registrar (also super lovely) and the hotel and are having our invitations designed…

It’s such a relief to have the venue sorted. It felt that nothing could progress – and I suppose nothing could progress – before that was done. So on the 30 August next year I will be marrying my beloved surrounded by all the people I love. What a lovely thought!

The journey home did take forever, but we got home just after 11pm, safe and sound and to a very happy hound who had been staying with a friend all weekend.

Monday we did some wedding stuff but otherwise I stayed in bed reading the new Harry Potter. Bliss…