Thursday, July 5, 2012

Shopping and Exploring at Newquay Farms


If you have chosen the holiday cottages as your Newquay accommodation and are thinking of cooking your own meals in their self-catering facilities, it would be a great idea to explore the different farms and farm shops where you can get the freshest produce in Newquay. You will also get to buy some things that are great to take back home with you.  This is in addition to the chance to visit a real farm and see how they operate. Here are two farms and farm shops that come highly recommended.

Trevilley Farm Shop
Lane, Newquay
(01637) 872-310
www.trevilleyfarm.com

Trevilley Farm Shop, opened in 2004 and owned by Keith and Gill Barrett is located in a working family farm.  It is easily accessible if you are staying at the holiday cottage, your best Newquay accommodation. The farm has been awarded Cornwall Life Food Producer for 2008 and 2010 as well as Cornwall Life Best Independent Food Shop 2010. The farm produces their own South Devonshire 14-day hung beef, lamb, free-range bronze turkeys, free-range geese and vegetables. They also produce multi bird roasts (or bird within a bird) for Christmas using turkey, goose, chicken, duck, partridge, pheasant and pigeon and may also come with chestnut, lemon & thyme, cranberry or sage & onion stuffing. There are duck eggs that come from the farm ducks. All these are sold at the farm shop. The farm makes its own jams, marmalades, chutneys and pickles.  Other produce such as bread, Cornish pasties, pies, quiches, sausage rolls, cakes and more are made fresh every day.  There are other products from 50 local suppliers sold at the shop.  They are very strict about origin and quality when sourcing out products to sell at the shop. They get directly from the farm whenever possible. The farm shop has an online shop where you can order from and have it delivered within the Newquay area. One good thing to buy if you are planning to cook in your Newquay accommodation is the produce box which gives you a choice of different fresh produce that you can use to cook your meal.

Healey’s Cornish Cyder Farm Shop
Penhallow, Truro
(01872) 573-356
www.thecornishcyderfarm.co.uk

Healey’s Cornish Cyder Farm is the largest Cornish cyder maker in Cornwall. It is easily accessible from your Newquay accommodation. This farm was the first one to have a distillery in Cornwall and remain to be the only one for 300 years. A guided tour of the farm will take you through the ancient cyder making process. You can see the press house and bottlery where the best traditional farm house ciders and fruit wines are made. It has a farm shop where you can get free tastings as well as an online shop. You can get bottled cyder like Cornish scrumpy, classic oak matured cyder, classic reserve cyder, Cornish rattler, pear rattler and berry rattler.  There are also draught cyder , country fruit wines, Cornish summer fruits wine, Cornish apple brandy,  Cornish eau de vie, Cornish  whiskey and Cornish fruit juices. Fresh from the kitchen are jams, preserves, preserves with liquers, pickles, chutneys and condiments like mustard, applesauce and more.  Visiting the farm will give you the chance to have fun tractor rides and see friendly farm animals as well. 

Monday, July 2, 2012

Stunning Houses that Keep History Alive in Cornwall


A visit to Cornwall is not complete without a visit to the different historical houses.  It will give you an inside look at how luxurious life was like for the rich in the past. Here are two places that are easily accessible from your Cornwall holiday cottages. You must include them in your itinerary.

Port Eliot
Estate Office, St Germans
Saltash, Cornwall
(01503) 230-211
www.porteliot.co.uk

Port Eliot is a magnificent attraction that is surrounded by magical grounds that sits right beside a secret estuary in Cornwall. It is a Grade 1 listed house and a Grade 1 listed park and garden. This award winning attraction can easily be reached if you are staying at the luxurious Cornwall holiday cottages. Sir John Soane has done such a beautiful work on the house while Humphrey Repton was the person responsible for the stunning park and garden.  You can see 11 staircases, 82 chimneys and 15 backdoors with a roof that covers half an acre. The Drawing Room was once the refectory when this place was still a monastery while the Big Dining room is decorated every year by Michael Howells, the famous production designer. The interesting house carpenter’s shop is where the house carpenter would repair furniture or do all the other jobs that kept the house well maintained. The popular Round Room has the masterpiece of Robert Lenckiewicz while the Morning Room has walls covered by 19th century French damask. The Port Eliot garden not only has an amazing collection of magnificent trees and shrubs but it also has summerhouses, a maze where children can play, ornamental ponds and fountains. You can visit the 18th century picturesque Boat House and the beautiful 18th century Orangery where citrus fruits were grown. The nine arch Romanesque viaduct was built in 1864 and is still used for the present line connecting London to Penzance. The 100 year old Rhododendron Garden has several sweetly scented species and hybrids and makes a great place to have a picnic. You can visit the house and garden from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. everyday starting 12th March to 7th June and 11th June to 8th July. Admission fee is £8.00 for adults, £4.00 for children under 16. Make sure you have explored thoroughly before going back to your comfortable Cornwall holiday cottages.

Cotehele
St Dominick
Saltash, Cornwall
(01579) 351-346
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cotehele/

Cotehele is a Tudor mansion that sits in one of the most breathtaking riverside estate in St Dominick which you must visit if you are staying at the elegant Cornwall holiday cottages. This historic house was believed to be built between 1485 and 1627 and uses local granite, sandstone and slate. It served as the home of the Edgcumbe family for several centuries. Until today, the interior remains unlit by electricity.  You will see a fine collection of original oak furniture with arms and armours prominently displayed in the great hall. The walls are covered with beautiful tapestries and you will see interesting textiles used in the rooms. The oldest domestic working clock in the country is still hung in the chapel. Surrounding this beautiful home is the well maintained Valley Garden with formally planted terraces, a domed dovecote, a medieval stewpond and two apple and cherry orchards which overlooks the verdant valley. You must board Shamrock, the 1899 sailing barge moored at Cotehele Quay before going back to your Cornwall holiday cottages