And now for Cornwall

Cornwall has as many quaint villages as Devon and the climate is slightly milder. This does, however, mean more rain, or as a local called it "mizzle" - a mix of drizzly rain and mist. We certainly encountered our fair share of drizzly rain but that is partly to do with the fact that the house we were in is on the edge of Dartmoor and moors always conjure up images of mist, fog,etc. You only have to read novels by Daphne du Maurier or Winston Graham's Poldark series to encounter this.

The Dartmoor ponies are also famous and wander at will over the moors. There is the worry that these ponies may be injured or killed by being hit by cars so some enterprising farmers have decided to trial painting the ponies with iridescent paint!

Seaside villages abound in Cornwall because it has such a large coastline compared to its land area.

Quaint street in Mevagissey

Mevagissey would have to be one of our favourites as it has the quaint winding streets with charming pubs and shops and a picturesque harbour.

Mevagissey from the headland

We also visited Port Isaac, the site where the series "Doc Martin" is filmed and Padstow, home of Rick Stein, the TV chef. His series about barging through the south of France has inspired many people to take up barging as he depicted such an idyllic lifestyle. On the day we visited Padstow there was a gourmet food festival, so there were people everywhere and the queue for the food tent was horrendously long, so we opted for a traditional Cornish pasty instead.

Padstow Harbour

One of Rick Steins restaurants. It seems he owns half the town.

The small grey house on the hill is Doc Martin's surgery

This confectionary shop in St Issac becomes Mrs Tishell's pharmacy 

Looe and Fowey are also lovely Cornish fishing villages

Fowey

We had some of the best chips here.  We bought them and decided to sit in the car while eating them. The seagulls were so used to the smell that they were actually perching on the car roof waiting for us to throw them some morsels. No chance!!

A very hungry seagull

The tide is in at Looe