On the 3rd worst holiday ever - pity party

[BlowDryRat]

TLDR: we are in Cornwall, staying in a caravan with walls so thin I can hear the DC breathing at night. All the pre-planned, booked months ago activities have been cancelled because it won't stop F-ing raining. Everywhere else is rammed or fully booked and wonders why we didn't book months ago We resorted to taking the children to the cinema on Tuesday, then to an English Heritage place exactly the same as every other English Heritage place that doesn't take me 5 hours to drive to. Today we are at the Eden Project. DD keeps trying to steal leaves and flowers and whining for ice cream. DS just wants a rest or to go on the zip wire,which is fully booked and I didn't pre-book because we did zip wiring last week. I'm allergic to all the rare plants and keep sneezing. All the ice cream is made with weird stuff.

I've paid a grand to live in a caravan, doing things that I could do within an hour of home. I can't wait to go home. I know lots of people are 'going on holiday' by camping under their imaginary dining table this summer but

Lots of holiday disappointment threads at the mo! I think we’ve all looked forward to a hol sooo much this last year it’s got us through all the shit. Then when it finally arrives it doesn’t live up to the hype

I usually love Cornwall even with the virtually obligatory rain for a fair bit of the week/fortnight. After twenty years, last time we went in 2019 was the first time it was a total washout and grim as fuck. It has put me off a bit.

When do you get to go home @BlowDryRat ?

I'm really sorry OP that things are not working out.

I have really enjoyed the thread though & all the descriptions of holiday woes!

We found Goonhilly quite good with some hands-on stuff. Also Falmouth Maritime Museum. Rock-pooling in the rain can be fun if you have the right clothing. Try and enjoy it. With luck you will be able to go abroad next year leaving Cornwall a bit less crowded.

I cant believe you dont like Edens icecream! Whats not amazing about it? If you cant get your head around mango and baobab cant you just have the vanilla, the chocolate, the mint choc chip or strawberry? i think your being really unreasonable. I live here and am avoiding Eden while its busy and Id love to have one of their delicious icecreams. Saying that whats wrong with rain, Cornwall is at its best in the rain! And its not even raining today?

I ask you, who doesn't love the A30?

We went to Butlins Minehead after cutting the advert out of the Christmas Radio Times. We had the best time, as kids it was amazing to be allowed to roam about choosing what to do. I saw the Muppet Movie 5 times.

Buoyed by that success we went to Birches Modern Holiday flatlets in Blackpool a couple of years later. That was the holiday of the dreaded Steeplechase and riding a runaway donkey at warp speed down the bloody beach.

Ooh yes car picnics if we went out for the day!

Pretty sure we still wore shorts/tshirts/sandals when it rained-just added a kagoule!

Those were the days!

@BlowDryRat

I did book things, many things. The phone calls cancelling them all started on Monday. The weather's just too bad for water-based activities. We walked along the beach on Tuesday, got absolutely soaked and had to put up with DD wailing the whole way. Even DS asked to go back on the bus.

We could go home early but I'm pissed off as it is. We're just trying to make the best of it. I've never been to Cornwall before and wish I hadn't bothered.

i do feel your pain , many years ago i went camping with then partner and his 8 yr old son , the weather which had been brilliant , started to cloud the minute we got into cornwall and it proceded to piss down monsoon like episodes on a regular basis . i got soaked so many times , couldnt go to any of the beaches , just walking about looking at anything was a chore , it was so damn wet , even the tent got damp inside , we left early i couldnt wait to get home , id been to cormwall many times as a kid , but i was the same as you seriously wishing id given it a miss this time

I was debating booking Cornwall for next year but at £1000 minimum for a week in a caravan I didnt. I had visions of it being hot all summer. Thanks I will definitely miss it.

I mean this is why I never go on holiday in the UK. The weather is shit and is practically as expensive (if not more) as going to southern Italy for a week.

One year DM discovered the M&S cooked chicken. We had one every single day sun (lightly dusted with sand) or rain (huddled in our kagoules). Every day we would go out with DM clutching the bread knife to hack up another godforesaken chicken.

Shocking sunset at sennen last night.

Sorry your having a miserable time. Check out the weather warning, you might want to head home. Not trying to heap more misery on you, but hoping you keep safe.

Oh god, this is why I loathe UK holidays. Beautiful country.. highly unpredictable weather. And no I don’t just want to embrace a week permanently living in waterproofs.
I hope it improves

Honestly though the summer traffic in Cornwall is fucking horrible as are the roads if you're not used to them.
Hooe it doesn't put you off for life OP - Cornwall in good weather is the best place ever. Don't write us off completely 😁

Ever since I read this review I wanted to go to Bodmin jail, to see the best worst tourist attraction in the UK. However after looking at the website, I think they've renovated it now, so I've missed my chance

apiln.co.uk/why-bodmin-jail-has-taken-over-from-yarmouths-house-of-wax-as-the-best-worst-tourist-attraction-in-the-uk/

You don't have to book for any National Trust places in Cornwall anymore, could that be an option for you?
You don't have to book for The National Maritime Museum in Falmouth either that's always a nice day out. Plus lots of nice bars and restaurants right by it.
Cornwall weather is so changeable it could be cloudy and rainy in the south and literally baking in the north.

And these are all the reasons why I dont go to Cornwall with eleventy billion other tourists

I work in a touristy place in Cornwall. I absolutely love Cornwall but combination of overseas holidays not happening and hype have meant we are overrun. I don’t think it is great for anyone this year, workers or tourists. Just TOO busy. Parking is a nightmare, roads too busy, all restaurants booked out. Everything expensive. Many many stressed out families observed griping at each other.

So I hope posts like yours counterbalance all the Cornwall hype but also hope you find a way to enjoy the rest of your trip. If the rain lets up evenings are better at popular beach spots. And embrace the simple pleasures of a cream tea in the caravan or rock pooling in the rain.

@Karwomannghia

Shocking sunset at sennen last night.

Oh, I love Sennen. That makes me feel wistful.

We decided not to go on our normal Cornish holiday this year - we'd usually stay cheaply in a static, which we love (there's just me and DH so a static is ample) but prices had shot up. Completely understandable as places need to make their money back after the last 18 months, but we couldn't justify the expense, especially when Cornwall will likely be so very busy (we like a remote, peace and quiet type of holiday).

Here's hoping it will have calmed down next year.

If it rains, we hunker down in a pub and do crosswords, or go round the charity shops in St Austell (brilliant charity shops there) but probably not a great option with young DC.

Er, what do you all think the people who live in Devon and Cornwall do when it rains?!

It's so busy here at the minute that it's taking me 40 minutes to do what is normally a ten minute journey and I can't go anywhere without being stood in queue of people complaining that it's either too wet or too hot or the beach is the wrong colour or that a seagull deigned to look at them funny.

You haven't fallen off the edge of the world.

[quote TeardropImplodes]@newnortherner111 we're not the G7 area. We totally get that people have had a rotten year and that no one wants to cancel a longed for holiday or be reminded of Covid while they are here.
It's not all tourists but a significant number behave incredibly badly, which I'm sure they wouldn't do back in their local area. So while we were all still shopping one per family with masks, entire bored families were browsing the supermarket. DD is working in a cafe, every day someone tries to get a meal for free.
The determination to get huge campervans to tiny local beaches and then leave human shit behind rules out these places for us. The beach cleans get reported on local media - buried BBQs, broken glass. A significant number of visitors make us feel unsafe in our own towns. And it's made worse by local teachers moving out for summer and letting their houses for AirBnB in normal residential areas. I dont give a shiny shit it's your landmark birthday, I don't know you, you don't know me and I need to be up at 5:30 am to drive to work at our only under A&E with my empathetic face on.[/quote]
Devon Cornwall border here. Totally feel your post. Can't wait for winter when the hoards dissipate and we can actually make use of facilities again. All well and good encouraging the whole country here but not having the infrastructure to support it sucks.

And it's not even raining today?

I can assure you that it is. I took this photo just now.

Agreed it is far far too busy here its gone mad! And feeling its very unreasonable for people not to like Eden! Eden is amazing! Its icecreams are amazing, all its secret play areas are amazing, its food is amazing (to whoever didnt like burittos did you not try the many many other food options there? thats one restaurant!) And still annoyed to hear their icecream moaned about! Il be back at Eden in October when its nice and empty. Best time ever there was post first lockdown!

Oh it is raining down there? Weve been dry all day on the north coast, although i think that big old storm is starting to hit now!