Winter Fun in Cornwall...

After being blessed with a lovely bright and sunny weekend this weekend (which wasn’t forecast I might add) my husband and I decided to explore closer to home.

After being told by some of his golfing buddies that the squirrels at Tehidy Country Park are so tame they’ll feed from your hand, this was first on our list, so armed with a rather large bag of nuts and some bread for the ducks we hit the road.

Tehidy is the largest area of woodland in West Cornwall and has over 9 miles of paths and 250 acres of woods and lakes to explore. We parked up at East Drive and took a walk along the bridal way that runs alongside the golf course.

Once inside the park it wasn’t long before we came across some squirrels and after some practice we eventually got the squirrels taking nuts from our hands. The trick is so be as still as you can with your hand flat on the floor and they will eventually take the nuts.    

As well as feeding the squirrels there’s also lots of lovely woodland walks to enjoy, the lakes are a great place to feed ducks and swans and there is also a little café that is open every day which is a great place to warm up over a sinful hot chocolate.

Tehidy Country Park is about a 20 minute drive from St Ives and offers plenty of free parking.

Just down the road from Tehidy is Heartlands, a new free visitor attraction (you do have to pay for parking though) that has opened in Pool, near Redruth.

With this being our first visit we weren’t quite sure what to expect but our well-seasoned nephews were more than happy to show us the highlights, which included the giant adventure playground, the climb-on sculptures and the vast areas where they could refine their bike riding skills.

There’s also a quirky café, lovely gardens and a handful of art and craft studios at the site.

I have to say that Heartlands really took me by surprise. It’s a great space for kids of all ages and it has been developed with Cornwall’s mining heritage at its core which is really lovely to see.

If you’re visiting St Ives and you have little ones to entertain I would highly recommend a visit to both Tehidy and Heartlands. If it’s an adult only affair Heartlands may not be for you, but a stroll through Tehidy on a sunny day really is a great way to spend an afternoon.

Best get planning our next adventure…

Kelly x

Screen Printing Fun at The Sail Lofts…

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The creative juices were really flowing at The Sail Lofts during October Half Term when we hosted our first ever screen-printing workshop with local artist Dena O’Brien.

These two hands-on workshops proved a real hit with our guests and both sessions were fully booked, offering children and adults a really fun way to learn about screen printing and create some lovely Christmas cards from Dena’s designs.

All the materials were provided and Dena took each group through the basics of screen printing before they began experimenting with the screens. Once they’d honed their skills the group were then given the chance to print twelve lovely Christmas cards that they could take away with them.

Dena, who has a number of prints exhibited in the apartments and The Sail Lofts Studio, is becoming well known for her printmaking and textile design's. She also teaches at her own studio, and at various colleges in Cornwall.

Due to the success of these workshops we’re hopping to run similar classes in our on-site studio in the future so if you have any ideas as to what you’d like to see please do get in touch via email info@thesaillofts.co.uk

Kelly x