At the end of August, we took a weeklong family holiday to Cornwall, which E had been excited for all year. I was a bit worried it wouldn’t live up to her expectations, since she’d been asking when we were going to Cornwall since before Easter. But as it turned out, it did; she had a fantastic week filled with kite-flying, sand castle-building, fish and chips, and ice cream cones.

Our cottage in the town of Marazion was a Saturday-to-Saturday rental. Because driving there takes at least 5 hours (with no traffic) and there’s always traffic in London, we left at 4:30 a.m. Which was the best decision we could have made. We were sitting in a café in Marazion, ordering breakfast, by 9:30.

We passed Stonehenge right at sunrise, and there wasn’t a tourist in sight!

We got lucky with a beautiful day for our first day there, since we couldn’t access our cottage until late afternoon. So we just spent time at the big playground in town and the beach, enjoying the sunshine.

Once we got into our cottage, we got to revel in this view we’d have all week, including St Michael’s Mount:

Then, of course, the very next day, it rained.

But never fear, children! We had a rainy day plan! We took the kids to Paradise Park, which is sort of part-zoo, part-indoor-play place. The girls had an absolute blast running around the softplay area, going down the super-steep drop slides, and jumping in the ball pit. And we managed to see a few of the animals, too.

The rain ended in time for fish and chips at the pub back in Marazion, and some stormy wave-watching.

On Monday, we did some serious rockpool exploration, or as little R calls it, “puddle walk!”

And it was £5 well spent buying a kite in town, which E really enjoyed flying with M.

And, of course, there was sand castle construction.

Complete with a trusty palace guard.

We headed to the town of Porthleven for dinner, ice cream, and more Cornish seaside village loveliness.

{Read Part 2 here}