My Sunday Photo ~ Captain America Comes to Cornwall!

Saturday 1st July was Geekfest here in Cornwall and I spotted my very own Captain America wandering around Heartlands! We had an ace family day out!

It was a bit of a mixed day yesterday. Weather wise the sun was shining and it felt quite warm which was a considerable contrast to cold and wet the day before. We had a pretty miserable night, well I did, Husband has a knack of sleeping through anything which I'm very jealous of! The children were up twice, I think the noise outside disturbed Little Man a bit but he soon settled off with a kiss and a cuddle.
I was kept up till 4am thanks to some drunken tiff or something like that, I really have no desire to spy on these people and find out. Once he left the youngsters came out to create a bit of their own noise for half an hour before scuttling off as well.

So as you can imagine I wasn't too pleased to be greeted by Midge waking me up at 7.30am no matter how reasonable that time may be. Husband left me to have a lay in but I quite fancied us all going out as a family. Unfortunately we ended up having a minor disagreement setting my mood right back. We also decided that perhaps swimming wasn't such a great idea and opted for Heartlands instead.

As luck would have it, Heartlands is right next door to Comet. Why is this luck I hear you ask? Well, thanks to a rather substantial milk spillage the previous day our microwave decided it had enough of our family and refused to work anymore. Not even a fuse change could tempt it. Another bit of luck was having received a £50 gift voucher for Comet from some family members which we're really grateful for! We let Midge pick out the microwave on the way home and I have to say she chose a nice small, stylish one.

We all walked to Heartlands which was a bit tiring being that all of us were a bit worse for wear. We had a good look around the outdoor and indoor market, found a nice hair band for Midge for 50p but not much else. We then went to Tesco for a spot of lunch. I was a bit fed up at this point. Midge was getting an earache, Little Man wasn't interested in eating his lunch which I had just spent £2.50 on and a lady in the que bitched about us taking too long in the children's section. We heard her well enough but never really bite back. What's the point? If you have nothing nice to say just don't bother saying anything surly? We sat in front of them as well which was annoying, I was in a much better mood when she left!

  We finally got to Heartlands where we had a quick walk through. The children played on the grass, the sun held out and Little Man had his first dip in the running river. I have to say that I am glad we did decide to go out and about. The fresh did us some good and the children had fun.

Midge's earache came out good and proper when we returned home so she went to bed all dosed up and warm while Husband and I caught up on our trashy television and I started making my sisters going away present which is proving difficult with limited funds!

Shattered after a long day. But still smiling.

CupcakeMumma

Heartlands Fun and Church Fates!

In Cornwall there is a new heritage site which is already attracting so many people it's brilliant. Little Miss and I decided to head off on Sunday to join in some of the fun! As it was Sunday I knew the buses were far and few between and besides, the main theme for this summer holiday is to be as cheap as possible as with most families, we just don't have the pennies to spare right now!

So, we headed off, the walk was probably a couple of miles but we arrived in good time. After a 5km walk for Race For Life it seems a little walk to Heartlands from home was nothing for Little Miss! It was bloody hot though!

We had a brilliant day paddling by the Red River Cafe, dipping our feet in pool, getting some face painting done and playing in the park (the highest priority) we even took part in a scavenger hunt and Little Miss did colouring for the RSPB and I learnt some interesting things from the lady running the stall.

The River by the cafe is great fun for children (and adults!)
to cool their toes!

In keeping with the 'Muddy Toes' event we jumped in the puddles

I love the cartoon butterfly- never had one like this!

What a snazzy bike!

Showing off some fab moves!

We stopped off at the fish shop on the way home to give
ourselves a break from the walk ahead!

 We also went to our local church fate at the weekend which was a lovely way to kick start the holidays. Little Miss won a couple of prizes, a small blue teddy (helped by the kind man on the 'stall') and a little pink pony (they let her swap! How kind!). Both of the children had fun on the bouncy castle which was all enclosed just in case the weather took a turn for the worst!

Thankfully it didn't rain at all. We toured the inside of the church which Little Miss loves doing. I explained for the hundredth time about how the wedding would take place and we allowed Little Man to walk about exploring everywhere! He loved hiding in the pews and quite enjoyed the large thrones!

It was a really lovely day, the sun shone the whole time and we had a brilliant family day out. Oh, and i even started the day with a rather scrummy cooked breakfast made just for me by The Man *big grin* 

Having fun in the bouncy castle! I didn't think he'd like it but
he loved it!

Very happy with her prize

This had me in stitches!

A very yummy breakfast indeed!

The New Life in Cornwall

Until recently there was a vast, empty space just screaming out for attention in Cornwall. One day I was walking up to Tesco's for some supplies when I noticed boards attached to newly erected fencing. The Wasteland was being transformed into a wonderful space for playing, relaxing and exploring.
And here it is:

Heartlands in Cornwall.

When the tin mines closed down in Cornwall it left this area a wide, empty space of nothingness. It's hard to believed this now beautiful area was nothing but mud, grass and rocks, a space which seemed like nothing good would ever come to it. But thanks to the Regeneration Project, a new lease of life has been injected into this area of Cornwall.

This brand new, free attraction site has a wide play area, a cafe, studios with so much to do, gardens and spaces to explore, fantastic sculptures to observe and more importantly a chance to learn about Cornwall's heritage with tours around the mine and much more. You can even get married at Heartlands! If you click the image above you'll be taken to the site where there is so much more to discover.

Now, on to my day. We ventured up to Heartlands on Saturday to see what all the fuss was about. I hadn't read much about this project, I didn't know a great deal about it. I had seen lots of buildings coming together and hard work being undertaken but I thought this was just going to be a new park and maybe some extras. When we arrived we were quite taken aback by how lovely it all was.

Below are some photos of our day out. Hope you like them!

 These photos are of Robinson's Shaft and the engine room. Because this mining site closed in the 20th Century it has retained a lot of its historical architecture leaving even the engine room in apparently great condition. I'm looking forward to going on a tour here myself to learn even more.

 Outside there is a large area surrounded by studios and a large water pool. The water is crystal clear and I really hope it stays that way. It's very tempting to take your shoes off and go for a paddle in this water but, sadly and quite rightly that is not allowed. What a shame though!

There is a knitting studio at Heartlands and on the way around you could spot knitted objects either funky looking ones like this or scarf like creations hanging from the fences. 

These photos were taken in the garden area. Little Miss and Daddy did a bit of exploring while I took a few photos. We then sat down before heading off the park.

Because there were so many children I couldn't take any of the actual park. On the positive side this means we can visit plenty more times when it's less busy! Here is one photo I took though of Little Miss playing under these plant made tunnels. It's actually a sort of maze with a little climbing frame in the middle which I thought was pretty cool. I didn't bank on the tunnel shrinking in height as I went around it though!

Candyfloss anyone?

After all the excitement we went around the market. Because of the weather it wasn't too busy but I did get some good finds which I will write up in another post. We got home pretty tired and after a nice dinner vegged out in front of some good films. 

CupcakeMumma