Ah. The Great Cornish Pasty Adventure.
‘What?’ I hear you ask. ‘Is this an actual thing?’
You betcha it is! In Arizona they have an awesome, mildly hipster Cornish pasty restaurant. Mildly hilarious given that pasties are kind of considered equal to hot dogs – cheap, filling, and generally a takeaway food eaten from a paper bag. But they are good. And they can be amazing.
So, I decided way back in March when I got to the UK I would hire a car and drive to Cornwall.
Why:
a) Because Cornwall is beautiful.
b) Pasties.
c) Because we had to drive through Devonshire… and those who know me may remember my unhealthy love affair with the humble scone. Devonshire cream teas anyone?
d) Because… Pasties.
We started at Occombe Farm with scones and a steak and stilton pasty as soon as we got into Cornwall. They sell all sorts of local produce – Cornish Cider, clotted cream, scones, pasties… and you can walk around the working farm.
Back in the car, we head down the tiny, hedge-lined, one-lane road to Cockington.
I hadn’t really researched where we would be visiting, but when I had seen Cockington on the map I set the GPS to head there. My Nan used to take me to a model English village in Australia when I was a kid, and it was called Cockington Green. I hadn’t looked it up, but just had a feeling it might in fact be the village that the model village was named after…. I was right! While the model village has grown substantially and now includes miniature buildings and sights from other parts of the United Kingdom, Cockington Green was in fact named after this gorgeous, quaint little town in Devon.
It was tucked away, off the main roads in a little pocket of untouched greenery. Even Dylan, who had decided I had taken him on an old peoples holiday, couldn’t help but smile when we came across the manor green and said ‘Ok, this is pretty amazing.’
We head back into the main village from Cockington Court and wandered around – into the blacksmith, the school gardens, and I was locked up in possible the most scenic stocks ever.
We sat down for afternoon tea at one of the little tea rooms. I’ve been complaining about the scones in the UK being no good – but finally! Devon and Cornwall are full of some of the best.
I’ll have both thanks.
After a big sunday roast in the grounds of the big old pub, we jumped back in the car and head to Dartmoor National Park. We drove down a country lane past all of the farms until we were out on the moors. We set up our tent and recharged for another full day of adventuring.
