Tom's parents have a cottage in Cornwall and, since we are very hard working PhD researchers, we went to stay there for a week. We ended up just working a lot so there isn't much to tell, but there are a lot of pictures!
First up, the drive. We took Tom's mom's dog, Moss, with us. She was a great help acting as navigator.
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| Moss, navigator. |
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| We would have missed quite a few exits without her. To be honest, on the drive back she slept and I was navigator...we got lost. |
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| She worked for belly rubs. |
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| The view from the end of the terrace of cottages. |
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| We took a walk on the coastal path about the village. |
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| Don't let the adorable look on her face fool you.....actually, no.....SHE IS PERFECT! |
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| The house is upside down. You enter onto the first floor (ground floor for you Brits), where there are two bedrooms and a bathroom. On the second floor (first floor in British) is the kitchen and... |
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| ...living room. |
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| We worked. She slept. She got the better deal. |
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| This is Moss' favourite spot, keeping an eye on the beach. |
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| She was keeping an eye on the swans. |
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| The house has no internet or 3G service, so Tom used his beach time efficiently. |
The village we stayed in is called Porthallow. Its tiny, maybe 30 houses and a pub (The Five Pilchards) at the end of a road in a cove on the Lizard peninsula (sadly, it is a pretty reptile-scarce place). The nearest village (or it may be a town) is St Keverne. It was a nice 20 minute walk away.
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| St Keverne's church. |
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| Sunrise in Porthallow. |
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| The village seen from the beach at sunrise. |
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| There are a lot of old roads that are now walking paths, like this one. |
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| The pub. |
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| This one is for you grandma. Hydrangeas grow wild down here. The climate of Cornwall is amazingly warm. |
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| This is an old bridge covered in moss. I wonder how old it is. |
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| Inside St Kevern's church. |
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| And again... |
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| And the south porch. |
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| Tom trying to talk Moss into helping him with his research. |
We took a drive to a tiny village called Gunwallow (I think I misspelled that). There is a nice little cove and an old church over-looking the beach.
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| The view from the churchyard. |
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| I am VERY glad I did not turn the corner of this church and find this statue at night! |
We also went to Helford, a town on the Helford river estuary. It was very pretty and a nice surprise.
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| Helford! |
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| Helford selfie! |
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| A pub, with a great view! |
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| Back to Porthallow. This is the view from the roof deck on the cottage. |
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| Another one for you grandma. I figured you'd appreciate the color scheme. |
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| St Keverne. There was a group of older people sitting in the square painting the church. |
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| Moss 'Why are we stopping, there is so much that needs smelling!' |
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| I actually went swimming. In the sea. In England. In late September. It was warm! |
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| 'Shut up and kiss me, you fool!' |
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| There is a village nearby that has a B&B where you can stay in weird little cabins, tree house or...GYPSY WAGONS! |
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| A view of the sea from that B&B. |
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| Guard Moss! |
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| Another example of our relationship. |
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| Moss looking at me disapprovingly after I got us slightly lost. 'We weren't lost on the way down here, I seem to remember.' she said. |