Our last holiday to Norfolk/Suffolk was in 1995. In 1996 we went to Cornwall for the first time and I loved it! The scenery is so beautiful. Whilst it doesn't really retain the same nostalgic value as Norfolk, it is such a magical, ethereal place that it has a spark all of its own. On our first holiday there I wanted a set of wind chimes and a floating candle bowl from a shop near the Witchcraft museum in Boscastle (lovely place) but I had no money. I was really disappointed but on my birthday a few months later they turned up in my present pile - Mum had bought them for me! I was so pleased because it reminded me of the lovely holiday I'd had. We went back in 1997 and we found a beach in a cove where there was hardly anyone else. Well, it was very hard to get to! There were only about three other families on the whole beach. My brother and I went off exploring and, after clambering over some headland rocks, reached the adjacent cove - which was totally deserted. We were overwhelmed also by the huge, looming, greenish caves in front of us. They looked like they could have harboured dragons! We explored for a bit and then headed back. That was a wonderful holiday also, and our holiday home that year was a lovely converted farmhouse where the upstairs was downstairs and the downstairs upstairs (i.e. living room & kitchen upstairs, bedrooms downstairs) because it was built on a slope. There was land associated with it too which you could wander round, and the farmer (who lived next door to the holiday home) kept a small herd of Jacob's sheep in the fields and forest. The nearest town was Bodmin.
In 1998 we had a total change of tack and went to Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest. We liked it very much and the two following years ('99 and '00) we went to the Longleat Center Parcs as it was closer. In 2001 we moved again to the Elveden Center Parcs because Longleat is quite hilly and it was tough to get up and down the boardwalks every day. We wanted to go back in 2002 but Elveden had the fire, so we were transferred to Sherwood. 2003 was the first year we didn't have a family holiday - my brother spent a month in Peru with the World Challenge Team and couldn't afford any further time off his summer job, so Mum and Dad called off the family holiday. I was lucky, though, because it was a bit last minute and I hadn't had time (or money) to arrange anything else. Dad said that because he'd set aside holiday money for me anyway, he'd let me have that and he and Mum would go somewhere on their own. I think they went back to Norfolk. I went to Cyprus that year to meet my boyfriend's family who are part English and part Greek-Cypriot. I also went back to Cyprus again in summer 2004. |
