Hendrifton Farm

27/10/2024

We’ve had a good week and we hope you have too.

Our week has been fairly foody! We had dinner and a night away at The Rising Sun, Altarnun, just 40 minutes drive from us. The food was delicious, service was attentive and friendly, and the pub had a really welcoming feel. Bob was welcomed too. We were really pleased that April Cottage guests took our recommendation and ate there - it was top of their list for their week here!

Monday night saw us back at The Smugglers Cott in Looe for our second visit this month! This time it was to celebrate Suzanne’s mum and dad’s 57th Wedding Anniversary. The food was delicious again and we had a lovely evening.

Not content with that, we saw that Olive and Co cafe at the lake had launched their new lunch menu so we went to try it out. Wow! It was fabulous! The ramen noodles were delicious and have knocked the breakfast burrito off Suzanne’s top spot. David had the potato cakes and thought they were delicious too.

Finally, this morning with visiting family we had breakfast back at the lake. It was a beautiful morning, the lake looked great and Olive and Co breakfast was as good as ever. Regular and vegan hot chocolate was ordered, with marshmallows and cream, and they looked fabulous. We definitely recommend a visit to the cafe when you’re staying with us (did I mention that we bought cake to enjoy with tea this afternoon too!!).

We’re full in the cottages for half term and have guests in the caravan field too and we’re really pleased for them that the weather forecast is looking great.

We hope all is well with you.

Suzanne, David, Bob and Reka

13/10/2024

We’ve had a good week and we hope you have too.

Yesterday we wished Reka a very happy 15th birthday and although she doesn’t venture outside of the garden very often, and has pretty much retired from her Border Patrol and Border Security roles, she is still a fabulous dog who leads a very comfortable life!

We started (and almost finished) work to clear the grass on the pond - it’s amazing to see how the grass forms a mat - and hopefully we’ll finish the rest of it before the weather turns too cold. We were delighted to see at least 4 generations of frogs but also concerned as it feels like there’s never a good time to clear a pond!

In aid of the local Palmate Newts, we’ve taken the ridge tiles that were removed from April and Granary Cottages and we’ve laid them in our bin area. Hopefully this will mean that the newts have a safe hiding space that isn’t on or in our domestic recycling bags

Chris has worked hard to replace the handrails on the steps at the front of Granary Cottage and he’s also put the hand rails up outside Granary and April Cottage, we’ve received good reviews about this already.

October on the caravan field has been almost as busy as August and there’s still a couple of weeks left, the cottages have been steady too. There’s plenty more to keep us busy over the coming weeks and we’ll keep you informed of what we’re doing!

Hope to see you soon!

Suzanne, David, Bob and Reka

07/10/2024

Hello!

We’ve had a busy weekend! We went to Smugglers Cott restaurant in Looe on Friday night and having never eaten there before, we’re pleased to say we’ll be going back again soon. The food was delicious and they catered well for a coeliac diet too.

Saturday saw us back in Looe for a wander and some shopping before we had fish and chips lunch at Catch (of course!). Back to Liskeard and Suzanne, Sara and Mary went to the 3 Bags Full Wool Market. It’s an annual event and if you love wool then it’s definitely worth a visit, our non-knitter Suzanne took sanctuary with Vanessa and her hand made ceramics at the Magpie and Butterfly stall!

Sunday we stayed home but did dodge the raindrops to walk from Hendrifton to Common Moor village and back. It’s a lovely, reasonably level, circular walk and takes just 20 - 30 minutes. Today’s walk was along the footpath towards Golitha Falls, again about 30 minutes return but a bit muddy and welly boots were essential!

This week we’ll be clearing the overgrown grass from the pond. We both have a set of waders so we can get in to the pond and Bob will be with us to keep us company - photos to follow later in the week!

Hope all is well with you and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Suzanne, David, Bob and Reka

03/10/2024

It’s a beautiful day today so I took the scenic route when I drove to and from Callington. I couldn’t resist stopping to take in the view near Pensilva, it was so clear and even though it was breezy, it wasn’t cold.

One of the reasons we love living in Cornwall.

29/09/2024

Hello!

We’ve had 2 great evenings out at Sterts Theatre this month. The first was Last Night of the Proms earlier in the month and yesterday evening we saw The Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines, Plymouth. It was their first time at Sterts and hopefully it won’t be their last!

The re-opened theatre still has the same character inside but the tented canopy has been replaced by a solid roof and slatted wooden sides. We took our seat cushions, blankets and hot chocolate for the interval, we wrapped up warm (Suzanne took a hot water bottle too!) but it seemed warmer inside than it used to be.

We highly recommend a visit if there’s a show on when you’re staying with us - we can even lend you cushions and blankets!

We’re going to hunker down and avoid the wind today, and for the first time we won’t be worried about the roof!

Hope all is well with you.

Suzanne, David, Bob and Reka

08/08/2024

Wow! We’ve been shortlisted!

Thank you again to everyone who voted for us, it really does mean so much that you love Hendrifton Farm as much as we do.

Best wishes,

David and Suzanne
😁😁

07/08/2024

Thank you to everyone who voted for us, we’re really pleased you think our CL is worthy of winning.

😁🥰🤞

31/07/2024

Wow! We’re having some fabulous, warm (some might say hot) and sunny weather, Bob is loving his dips in the stream to cool down and Reka is delighted she’s allowed to stay on the sofa in the cool of the house all day!

We’re surprised that the caravan field is empty at the moment and we have availability through until 21st August! There’s still plenty of availability in the cottages too. We’ve never had such a quiet August!

We hope all is well with you and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Best wishes,

Suzanne, David, Bob and Reka

28/07/2024

We got to the beach! We had a lovely relaxing day in the motorhome at Hannafore beach.

We had a surprise meeting with some CL guests (we really enjoyed seeing you!) and later on David’s family and friends joined us for the rock pool ramble followed by fish and chips for dinner. It was a beautiful day, even warm into the evening so we didn’t leave Hannafore until almost 8pm.

A great time was had by all!

Back to mowing and garden work today.

Happy Sunday everyone.

Suzanne, David, Bob and Reka

25/07/2024

We’d love it if you vote for us!

LAST CHANCE to nominate your favourite CL in the Certificated Location of the Year Awards 2024 🏆

Nominate for your favourite Certificated Location in one of this year's FIVE awards and you could win a 5-night stay at the CL of your choice!

Nominations close on 31 July 2024. 👉 https://brnw.ch/21wLts3

23/07/2024

We love a rockpool ramble so I’m pretty sure we’ll be heading to Hannafore for one of them!

We have space in the cottages and caravan field if you fancy a holiday this summer.

Hope to see you soon.

Suzanne 😎

21/07/2024

We didn’t get to the beach this week but Suzanne made more marmalade, David played golf (and cut grass!), we had an evening out on Thursday and we almost had a day off together on Friday!

We were recommended by some CL guests to try out a restaurant called Foreign Muck in Saltash, so we headed there on Thursday and had a delicious meal with friends. We don’t visit Saltash very often but with Mexican and American food all made from scratch, plenty of veggie and vegan options too, it certainly won’t be our only visit and we’re already planning who to go with next!!

On Friday, after delivering bread and saying farewell to cottage guests we left the dogs at home and went to The Story of Emily at St Ive. First stop for us was The War Rooms, we donned shoes and a head set and followed the one and a half hour guided walk through the history of the Boer War. We had lunch at the cafe and then walked around The Rectory, where Emily Hobhouse lived until she was 35. The house is very interesting and the gardens are pretty - we had garden envy at their vegetables and espalier fruit trees! There’s also a viewing point next to the carpark and this has great panoramic views. We’d recommend the museum for adults but we’re not sure it would be suitable for younger guests.

This week is quiet in the cottages and on the caravan field so we’ll be out mowing, strimming, painting and tidying! We hope you had a good weekend and the sun has been shining!

Best wishes

Suzanne, David, Bob and Reka

17/07/2024

We love how natural the land is at Hendrifton Farm but we were shocked and saddened to find a dead grass snake at the edge of the meadow yesterday evening. Bob walked past it as if it wasn’t there but I jumped and swore! It had been (very neatly) part eaten by something, we think maybe a buzzard or an owl, or maybe a hedgehog or a badger (but we’ve never seen a badger here). We left it on the path in the hope that it would be eaten overnight but it wasn’t. We found a bird poop-pellet nearby today too but it doesn’t look like an owl pellet so we’re not sure that helps! ** Don’t look at all the photos if you don’t want to see the snake!

I’ve asked on the Amphibian and Reptile FB group and suggestions there are that maybe the snake was ill, or perhaps struggling to lay eggs and therefore easier prey.

We’ve only twice seen a live grass snake here, once on the pond and once by the front door! It’s great to know they’re around but I’m glad we don’t see them often! I’ve recorded this sighting on the Record Pool, they collect data on the location of reptiles and amphibians.

The natural experiences continued this afternoon as Bob and I walked past a bee swarm in the meadow close to the bee hives (and next to where we found the snake). We’ve lost count of how many swarms we’ve seen here and thankfully Dave from King’s Orchard came out to remove it from the hedge. It’s always fascinating to watch but we kept a safe distance!

We’ve not made it to the beach yet but it’s great to have good weather again!

Hope to see you soon,

Suzanne

14/07/2024

Happy Sunday!

Hope you are all well.

We had a rare Saturday without cottage changeovers yesterday so we took advantage of our free time to go to the Liskeard Show. We had a great time and there seemed to be many more stalls and animal classes than when we last went. We found some delicious pickles and some flavoured cashew nuts to buy, stocked up on local Kings Orchard honey (sadly we’ve sold out of Hendrifton honey for this year but we’ve got some delicious Tamar Valley late season honey instead), and David had his fix of looking at tractors and machinery!

This week also saw us with a blocked drain problem - caused by wet wipes stuck around the plastic sliding trap from the top of a toilette cassette that had fallen into the drain when it was emptied. If any of our CL guests are missing the plastic trap, we have it here for you to collect! 🤢😂 And please don’t believe the manufacturers when they tell you that wet wipes are “fine to flush”!

This coming week the cottages are quiet so David will be playing some golf, we’ve got a trip planned to the beach and also to the newly opened museum, The Story of Emily - it’s only 15 minutes drive from Hendrifton Farm and we’ll tell you about it after we’ve been - and I’m sure we’ll fit in a bit of work sometime too!

Hope you have a great Sunday and enjoy the tennis and football if you plan to watch!

Best wishes,

Suzanne and David, Bob and Reka

11/07/2024

We’ve recently started advertising on the Welcome To Looe & Polperro website.

It’s a great site covering SE Cornwall too.

30/06/2024

Ooh, we’re very excited that Siblyback Lake has a we**am, and as they’re only just over the hill, you can take a look to see what kind of weather we’re having!!

We’ve considered putting a we**am that would take in the view over Bob’s field at Hendrifton Farm but now we don’t need to!

Thank you to Olive & Co. Cafe at the lake for sharing the link.

https://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/siblyback-we**am

Artisan coffee, homemade food, cakes & ice creams next to beautiful Siblyback Lake

28/06/2024

It’s National Cream Tea Day today so all guests have been treated to a cream tea with a difference! This year Suzanne has made lemon flavoured scones and they’re served with homemade lemon curd and Trewithen Dairy clotted cream.

We had a small taste test this morning and we’re really pleased with the result so we’ll be having ours later on today with a cup of original blend tea from Cornish Tea & Cornish Coffee.

We hope you’re having a good day!

Suzanne, David, Bob and Reka