Our second week at Coombe Mill, with a fair bit of rain for good measure!

Our second week at Coombe Mill has been somewhat wet.  After a wonderful sunny feed run on Sunday morning, we didn't manage to join in again until Friday because it's just been too rainy.  We have been discovering some of the things this little bit of Cornwall has to offer in the wet.

After the Sunday morning feed run:

and a yummy carvery lunch at The Old Inn, we decided to head to Daymer beach.  It was sunny but a bit chilly so we thought it was worth a trip, as the weather forecast for the rest of the week was looking pretty mucky.  It's a lovely beach but it was incredibly windy that day - it was even full of wind surfers, never a good sign!  This is top of our list for next year's holiday, and hopefully we'll have the right weather for it.  Yes, it's supposed to be summer, but we were wearing jackets and the children (and I) were still shivering!

Monday was a rotten day for weather, but one of the great things about staying here is that there are plenty of things for the children to do on site, so if there is a break in the rain we can just nip out and do something (we also have a toy-filled playroom upstairs which is a bit good in this weather!)  It stopped raining in the afternoon for a bit so we went to visit the rabbits.

Then the children and their Daddy played in our little enclosed garden while I got the dinner ready.

They were soaked when they came in but had a lovely time.

On Tuesday we went to Springfields Pony Centre.  We saw some ponies, very briefly during a break in the rain, but they had a big indoor play barn which the children loved.  We'll be visiting again next year but we'll be taking our own picnic - Little Man prefers brown bread to white, thank you Mummy, and I was amazed that was all they had on offer.  

Wednesday was a better day and we decided to venture over to Newquay (with our fingers crossed that Little Miss wouldn't be sick) to go to the Aquarium.  This was a big hit!  It is fairly small (I think we've been a bit spoilt by The Blue Planet at Ellesmere Port) but they had some really good displays, including crocodiles and seahorses.  I think the children would say the shop was the best bit though (more interactive, unfortunately...), and we bought them some sea creatures which they enjoyed playing with while they waited for their lunch.

We woke up to rain again on Thursday and had already decided to go swimming at Hengar Manor, just up the road from Coombe Mill.  Swimming is not something we have done very much (it's not actually possible for me to take them swimming without The Daddy!) but they love it - two water babies who are desperate for us to let go and let them do it on their own!  By the afternoon it had brightened up and we went to see the animals back at the farm.  We had accumulated a bag full of scraps for the pigs which they received very gratefully (and noisily!).  

The donkeys wanted to join in, and eeyored so loudly that Little Man nearly fell over.  They had some carrots.  We were also reminded that lots of rain causes lots of mud, and the children discovered the joys of muddy puddles for the first time.  They wanted to put their hands in them as well as their wellied feet and were fascinated by the waves and bubbles they created.  Little Miss decided she needed to sit down to make the most of it.

Friday, luckily, was another dry day and we finally able to make it out in the feed run again.  

And then in the afternoon the children played out on the verandah while Mummy was glued to the tennis (well, I couldn't miss history in the making, could I?!)

We've had a brilliant holiday at Coombe Mill and we're a little bit sad to be going home.  The children have learnt so much, they have walked further than we ever thought possible, and it's been wonderful spending time together as a family (even with the rain!)  We'll be back again next year, and we have some sunshine on order...

I'm linking this up with Country Kids at Coombe Mill and Multiple Mummy's Family Frolics.