Barbara's retirement year: St Austell, The Eden Project and Looe

We stayed in an absolutely fabulous B and B , Bankside, in St Austell which is pronounced 'stostel'. Our Chinese landlady, Li, was incredibly friendly and everything ran like clockwork. It was fascinating to hear how she 'managed' her 17 years older English husband!

Her recommendation of the White Hart for dinner proved excellent, so much so that we went there both nights. Absolutely perfect service, by friendly, attentive staff, plus delicious meals. If we had had to rate accommodation and meals they would have definitely got 10 out of 10!

I decided to spend the day at the Eden Project, one of the top local attractions and of interest to me because there are numerous articles about it in various English text books. I certainly did not regret the visit, which was extremely informative and the entire project incredible.

It is amazing that in less than 20 years they have transformed the old clay pits into this.

They are constantly adding new exhibits and are currently replanting some of the terraces. Luckily, the weather was pretty good, so whether inside or out, it was very pleasant.

The biome I particularly loved, apart from the extreme humidity, was the Rainforest. It was very well done and luckily not too busy. I cannot imagine how it must be in the holiday period. I do wonder about my thermostat as I came out of the rainforest absolutely dripping and spent the next hour trying to rehydrate! I would have loved to have jumped into this waterfall!

I loved these magnificently graceful pendulous flowers. How lovely to view such wonderful forests without the fear of snakes!

The Mediterranean biome was naturally far sparser, but still very interesting. This display of fabulous sunflowers was absolutely gorgeous.

As we travelled towards Looe the next day, I did wonder whether I should have spent the day before on buses and trains visiting other pretty little local coastal villages and towns, but Eden was definitely fascinating, and the area just offers too much for such a short visit.

Although we had several family holidays at Looe, only the name rang a bell. I don't think my memory goes back more than 55 years!

We arrived to a rather dreary, overcast sky, but by the time we had dropped off our luggage at the hotel up on a cliff above Looe, the skies had started to clear and the coastline had started to appear out of the low cloud and sea mist. Lucky us! The hotel had apparentlyappeared in a tv programme called Fawlty Towers. We couldn't find a lot of reasons for this but the information booklet was quite funny. It suggested that if the Internet didn't work, son't bother going to reception because they wouldn't be abe to help! Also, one swimming pool rule was to tell reception when going to and leaving the pool. Next to this in brackets someone had typed 'this no longer applies as the hotel takes no responsibility for accidents occurring at the pool'.

The pier in the foreground is called Banjo Pier. Very appropriate considering its shape.

Amazingly, I was told that two days ago it had not been possible to walk along the pier because of galeforce winds, huge waves and heavy rain. Only obe hour away in St Austell, we had only had lightish drizzle.

Poor Polperro, which we visited from Looe, only 30 minutes away by bus, had been completely flooded! Very hard to believe from what we saw there. They do have a lot of floods so must be very efficient at clearing up.

What a picturesque place it is, possibly one of the prettiest places I have been too. By the time we got there, the clouds had almost totally disappeared, so this too made the village even more colourful.

Just a short climb out of the village, I arrived at this fantastic viewpoint.

I would have loved to have had more time to explore the coastal path a bit more. I would love to come back and hire one of the tiny little seaside cottages, next time for a week!

I can imagine that I would eat at this pub, the Three Pilchards, very often.

We had the most delicious fish and chips I have ever had, I think. Service and ambiance was also exceptional and everyone in the pub, staff and customers, were all so chatty and cheerful. It was a wonderful experience!

The rafters were fantastic too! It seems the answer to the question re the rain was a definite yes! We certainly went on the right day!

Back to Looe and to the lovely lights reflecting in the estuary and an almost full moon to the right! It was almost orange.

It had been another lovely day. Time to sleep the final night in Cornwall before heading back to Wales! Great trip. I certainly hope I can come to Cornwall and Devon again.