Holidays in the UK | Why I love staycations, a competition and more afternoon tea!

Wanderlust, staycations and a bit of nostalgia

Dreams of an exotic holiday adventure had to go on the back burner this year due to unexpected car and house repairs. The joys of being a grown up! It’s okay though because whilst I might have a wanderlust list as long as my arm of places around the world that I’d love to travel to one day, my list of places to explore in Britain is just as big. In fact some of my best holiday memories are from staycations.

My parents were both in the RAF and got posted to all manner of locations over their years in service (at one point my dad used to live in Hawaii. HAWAII!!) By the time my sister and I came along they were content with a yearly holiday to Scotland so we would rent a quaint self catering cottage in the highlands. At the crack of dawn on holiday day we’d all pile into the car with our dog Bob the border collie and head north. My dad always got lost trying to navigate the highlands with an old AA map, but hearing his ‘colourful’ language was a highly entertaining (and educational) past time for my sister and I. 

Scotland may have unpredictable weather but it’s got breathtaking scenery with waterfalls, mountains and castles, plus very friendly locals. You can even go monster spotting at Loch Ness!

In more recent years N and I have headed to the coast for our summer nearcations. We play in the penny arcades and admire the colourful painted beachfront holiday homes as we stroll from Old Hunstanton to New Hunstanton. No trip to the seaside is complete without fish and chips as our legs dangle over the pier.

I love to watch dogs bounding into the sea to cool off, then running up to their owners with tongues lolling and tails wagging. It’s always at that moment that they decide to have a good old shake and completely drench everyone.

Something else I’ve learned is that just because you aren’t abroad, it doesn’t mean you can’t do activities and things that you’d normally associate with holidays. When the weather is good N and I love to find a local watersports centre and rent out a kayak for an hour to explore.

So usually my holidays have involved heading north or east. I’d love to venture further down south though, a part of the country I haven’t fully explored yet. My parents holidayed in Cornwall a few years ago and bought back stunning photos from Lands End. They said it can be quite expensive at the most popular tourist attractions, but I’d have to include a visit to the Eden Project. It’s a giant domed ‘bubble’ that houses the largest rainforest in captivity, so it’s like travelling half way around the world without ever leaving England.

Another delicious afternoon tea

Last Saturday was another gorgeous summers day and we decided to stay at home and make the most of it by eating in the garden. 

Parkdean had arranged for a gorgeous basket of Devonshire goodies to be delivered as a thank you for sharing details with you all of their current staycation competition. (See details below!)

Inside was everything needed for a traditional Devonshire Luxury Cream Tea: scones, clotted cream, champagne strawerry jam, shortbread cookies, devon fudge, tea and cider.

In Parkdean’s recent survey the number of respondents agreeing that jam first, clotted cream second on scones is the only way to go was double those who put the jam on last.

I decided to do my own highly scientific taste test, as I was still somewhat confused as to which I preferred. It turns out that I’m definitely in the ‘clotted cream on top’ camp and I can explain why after careful consideration (i.e. eating a lot of scones!). The clotted cream hits the roof of your mouth first and gives you that wonderfully dense creamy flavour, then as you bite through the scone you get the sweet taste of jam to complement it.

Heavenly!

Neil looked at me in some confusion as I spent 5 minute painstakingly constructing my scones. He has a third method: put a dollop of jam on one half, clotted cream on the other, then sandwich the two together and eat it like a burger – men!

This is not a sponsored post, but special thanks go to the lovely people at Parkdean for their delicious gift from Devon Hampers* 

Good luck to everyone entering the competition!

Have you been to Devon or Cornwall? Are there any must see locations I should know about?