4 Reasons to Visit Royal Cornwall Show

Royal Cornwall Show is just around the corner and here are five great reasons you should visit…

1. Entertainment

If I even began to tell you how much goes on at Royal Cornwall Show I would be here all day, let alone the three days the show is on! With exciting performances and activities in the main ring all day to demonstrations at the lake, it’s a great place to sit back and relax with an ice cream or marvel at the death defying stunts of the motorcycle display team. There’s also plenty of places to enjoy live music and dance performances too!

Inter Hunt Relay

2. Animals

Animals big and small are at the show, from the biggest Shire horse to the smallest insect at the Newquay Zoo stand. From talking sheep in the Countryside Area (trust me, it’s hilarious) to the happy little rabbits and guinea pigs in the pets section.

Snoozing Pigs…

3. Shopping

My personal favourite, the shopping! There’s plenty of shopping to be done, from food to fashion, every taste (excuse the pun) is covered and you can shop safely in the knowledge that if it’s at the show it’s got to be good quality (and a lot of the time, Cornish!)

The Food & Farming Tent

4. Family

There’s something for the whole family at the show and tonnes of activities for the little ones to get stuck into. The fairground is always a hit, especially for when you’ve eaten too much cotton candy and still get on the carousel (guilty). Plenty of animals to pet, machinery to see and ice creams to eat.

From the Ferris Wheel

Are you going to the show this year? What’s your favourite part? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Ruth x

Our Bath Trip

A couple of weeks ago we packed our bags and headed off to Bath for a few days. I fell in love with Bath when we stayed in a tree house (!!) nearby just before Christmas 2014 (I’ll have to do a post on this one day). I thought I would just put together this post for anyone thinking of visiting the Bath area and to have a little collection of memories of our Bath trip.

Where we stayed:

We stayed at the Bath Arms, which is right next to Longleat. It’s a beautiful old building, with different quirky decor in every room. Keep an eye out for special offers and late availability, we managed to get a great deal on bed and breakfast for two nights.

What we did:

On the second day of our trip we spent the whole day in Bath. We hopped on the park and ride nearby, which is so easy I highly recommend it. I love Bath, it’s easily my favourite city, but I have to say it’s even better at Christmas. It’s such a beautiful city, not too busy and it has great shops.

I picked up a few presents from Anthropologie and Cath Kitson as well as a little present for myself from Joules. Jack treated himself to a few bits from Jack Wills. We also visited the Royal Cresent and marveled at the gorgeous architecture.

Although we were right next to Longleat, it was closed that week. Oops, oh well we’ll just have to visit again soon. On our last day we stopped by to visit some of my family that live in Somerset. We had planned to climb up nearby Glastonbury Tor, as it was such lovely weather. But instead we decided to have a chilled day and I went riding with my Aunty in the beautiful sunshine. After being an avid rider for many  years then taking several years off when exams got in the way, I’ve only just stopped aching.

Where we ate:

On the first night we ate at the Bath Arms, we had a really yummy meal and I would highly recommend anyone in the area to go along. There’s also I lovely atmosphere in the restaurant and the pub, when we heard The Wurzels blaring out of the jukebox we knew we were definitely in Somerset (you can’t make this stuff up).

Our breakfasts were also really good, plenty of pastries and cereals, as well as lots to order from the kitchen. I had a massive tea pot all to myself every morning.

In Bath we ate at a cute little coffee shop, in one of the side streets. Then dessert had to be a Ben’s Cookie. I had a chocolate orange one, fresh from the oven. I’m drooling thinking about it…

On the second night we ate at the Mendip Inn. I had a ‘sizzler’ which was a hot iron plate straight from the oven with veggies sizzling away on it with spicy chicken on the top. With a few wraps on the side, it was a bit like making fajitas.

I hope you enjoyed my little round up of our trip to Bath and it might have given you some inspiration if you’re thinking of visiting! Next time we really want to squeeze in a visit to Yeo Valley and climb the Tor.

Ruth x

Quick Healthy-ish Granola Recipe

Happy New Year everyone! Is it too late to say that? Oh well in the spirit of the new year I’m doing something I’ve never done before and putting a recipe on here! I enjoy baking so hopefully this will become a regular thing!

I’m a huge breakfast person and tend to go between porridge and granola. But since discovering how easy it is to whip up my own granola, I’m completely converted. It’s cheaper, lasts longer and I can control what goes in!

The original recipe is from Tanya Bakes, a fab book with tonnes of recipes from pancakes to pizza. This is my take on it, so I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

500g rolled porridge oats            250ml runny honey

5tbsp. coconut oil                          50g pumpkin seeds

25g flaked almonds                       30g brazil nuts

30g cashew nuts

You Will Need:

2 x large baking trays lined with grease proof paper and a large mixing bowl.

1. Preheat your oven to 180C and melt the coconut oil and honey in a saucepan and stir.
2. Chuck all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, you can add whatever nuts and seeds you like. I tend to put in whatever I have and judge the quantities by eye without really weighing it!
3. Pour over the coconut oil and honey mixture then give everything a good stir so it’s all well coated.
4. Spread a thin even layer over the baking trays and pop in the oven for around 10 to 15 minutes. Keep a close eye on it and take it out when it’s just golden brown.
5. Once cooled completely then it’s your chance to add in any dried fruit you’d like, I’m not a fan of dried fruit but you could add raisins, sultanas or apricots.
6. Transfer into an airtight container or jar. I’ve found it makes a lot so fits into my big Kilner jar plus two coffee jars. If you aren’t sure how much you want or just want to try it out the recipe is easily halved.

I have mine with natural yogurt and blueberries. The granola keeps for up to a month, but mine never hangs around that long!

Enjoy! Ruth x