One of the lovely things about the timing of my trip to Cornwall was that it coincides with my grandson Rufus' 3rd birthday. My daughter is staying with her in-laws at their house in Padstow and thus my onward journey from Ashburton took me via Padstow, before moving on the Mevagissey where I had a hotel booked for five nights.

After lovely birthday celebrations and a delicious lunch cooked by my daughter I got back in the car and drove across from the north Cornwall coast to the south and was grateful to the satnav for getting me through narrow roads, little villages and finally to Trevalsa Court Hotel.

I found the hotel through Sawdays and chose a single room on the ground floor with a French door into the garden and sea views. Normally I don't like single rooms and beds but the temptation to step straight into the garden and have a view of the sea was too tempting to resist.

There's a comfortable lounge to sit in. Their restaurant - a 2 AA Rosette one - is unfortunately closed due to staffing problems. This is common in SW England at the moment and a real problem for the hospitality industry - a combination of covid and Brexit, I think. However, snacks are served in the bar and I was told I could have a complimentary cream tea in the afternoons to make up for not being able to eat in the restaurant.

Having had a good lunch with my daughter in Padstow, I was happy to order just a cheese platter for supper with a glass of red wine. It was an excellent and delicious selection of local cheeses with chutney, walnuts, celery and olives.

I woke early as I always do and looked out to see the sun coming up from my bedroom. A little later, once dressed I took a walk round the garden and looked out to sea.

There was about an hour to wait until breakfast was served at 8.30 so I decided to take a walk into the village of Mevagissey - about a 10-minute walk. By now early clouds in the sky had dispersed and it was a beautiful morning.

It's a steep road down to the village but as the sea came into sight from the road and then the village itself, it felt wonderful to be out early when all was quiet and enjoy such glorious views.

Some friendly people at the front of a house encouraged me to keep going when I hesitated at a path. I'd get the best views they told me. So I kept going and eventually the path joined other paths and I ended up down at the quayside of the fishing harbour. Mevagissey is one of the few fishing villages still working and lots of fishing boats were moored up while some were chugging into the harbour, hopefully with full nets!

The road back to the hotel was of course as steep as on the way down and I decided I was going to go home much fitter after walking this a few times. Breakfast was good and then I had time to relax before setting off to Penzance where I'd arranged to visit the Jack Doherty porcelain studio early afternoon.