Trevedra Farm – keeping it local.

Proving that you don’t have to drive miles to have a great time in your van, we spent the bank holiday weekend at our favourite local site.

ArchieVan updates.

The weekend was to be our last opportunity to test the (very nearly) finished van before we hit the road on a long term trip. The van should now all work, other than its grill, which despite being new won’t stay lit.

It has taken 12 months to get to this stage, but all the frustrations will soon be forgotten. ArchieVan is brilliant and we love him!

The van now has a working outside shower with enough pressure to exfoliate, an inside shower, more lights, swivel seats (which change its whole dynamic for the better) Duvalay mattresses, and probably more that I’ve forgotten.

Trevedra Farm – only a short walk from home.

Trevedra Farm, above the wonderful Gwenver Beach, is only a few miles from home, yet we have stayed there in both a tent and in ArchieVan.

Trevedra Farm is all about views, location and great facilities.

Walking from Trevedra Farm

From the main field the view out over Gwenver towards the Scillies beats even that from our old house Myn Tea at Tregiffian.

Taking in a familiar view from an unfamiliar angle is such a good thing to do. Climb a different hill, look out of a friend’s window instead of your own. Consider how your opinion changes. How interesting that expression of “a point of view” becomes, it’s a physical thing as well as a mental one.

The walking from Trevedra Farm is good in all directions. The obvious routes are along the coast.

To the west there’s Sennen, Lands End, and if you have the energy keep going to Nanjizal and its beautiful arch called Song of the Sea.

To the east it gets even better in my opinion. After Gwenver, a destination in itself, there are the small bays of Nanjulian and Penanven, and then the beauties of Priest’s Cove (Cape Cornwall) and its rarely visited neighbour Porthledden. If you get that far then head up the Nancherrow valley and around to St Just. You can charge up on pasties and beer in the town, then get the community bus back if you’re tired.

Less obvious is the path inland just the Sennen side of Escalls Chapel. It will take you past Trevorrian and down a network of lanes that few other than the farmers have seen. The path isn’t always easy, but some of the ancient farmsteads you’ll pass make it worth the effort.

For the ultimate view drive up to Chapel Carn Brea, and walk from the car park to the top.

Trevedra Farm has the best facilities of any UK site I’ve used, and is the equal of many of the very good ones abroad too. Great toilets, good showers, a laundrette, café and damn good coffee. The coffee is too expensive, but hey, where isn’t it?

Eating out.

We didn’t eat there, too much choice around, but we will at some stage.

We had a moderate but over priced meal at The Old Success. It has ever been thus, but at least the staff is friendly these days. The place is always busy so I guess there’s little reason to change the formula.

And we had a reasonable pizza at The First and Last. The F&L isn’t a St Austell pub which makes a welcome change in the far west. When the fires are lit and there are a few people in, the First and Last feels good, and the bar food looks great too.

The pizza then led to us staying in the F&L car park next night (yea! We live well) so that we could see the excellent band Sin Pusher, have a couple of drinks, and then just stagger out to our luxury bed parked in the garden.

So we didn’t do a lot of cooking.

Just a couple of good breakfasts that would have been even better with toast.

Cooking will come soon when we’re on the road for real.

It was Trevedra Farm’s first weekend of the season, snow and lots of recent rain made the fields very wet, but the team were on hand with muscles to help. When muscles failed there were Land Rovers.

What a cracking weekend.

Great weather.

Beautiful scenery.

Good walks.

Good pubs.

The best quote of the weekend.

A couple overheard walking up from their tent. Angry girl “No I ain’t alright. That f**king noise noise was going on all bleddy night!” Bemused partner “But honey, that’s the sea, it’s what it does”.

There are many good sites in the far west, but I reckon Trevedra Farm takes some beating.

Thank you Wendy and John.

 

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