Family In:site into Treamble Valley

Where's Treamble Valley? Well, for those of you who haven't been and don't know (like us), well, its tucked away in the Cornish village of Rose, about 5 miles from the more well-known and much busier Newquay. We have timed our visit to the south west of the country perfectly as the country is soaked in sunshine and even suffering from a heatwave! 

On our way south, chatting in the van, we missed the right turn that the lovely Sat lady told us to take and ended up driving through the narrow streets of Rose - not advised! Luckily we didn't end up meeting any traffic coming the other way but be warned it's not an advisable route to take when towing a caravan.

The Treamble site is large site with pockets of pitches at different levels. The girls quickly chose our pitch as soon as they noticed the Play Area on the map and we headed to the bottom of the sloped site to pitch 37, nearest the playground. It has to be said that this playground is one of the best that we've seen on a Caravan Club site. Although it is slightly sloped (making football games quite interesting!) it offers a range of equipment and has recently installed a zip wire and climbing area with impressive slide. The girls were immediately won over!

The wardens at the site were very friendly and welcoming. They not only offer advice on places to go in the vicinity but even offer walks to the nearby bay of Holywell.

 

Things to do and places to see:

Treamble is ideally located to see much of Cornwall and Devon. The wardens joked that most places are within an hours drive allowing you to explore a large area.

 

This is the nearest bay to the site and a 3 mile walk away. If you aren't able to walk with the warden and fellow caravanners / motorhomers, you can head out of the site and easily follow the tracks through the countryside to Holywell Bay. After walking through sand dunes you arrive at the sandy beach of Holywell Bay where there is safe swimming zone, equipment hire and refreshment shack. This beach does have rip tides and unsafe swimming areas therefore it is important to stick to the designated flagged areas. Visitors to the beach swim in the sea, body-board, surf but also sand sledge. Boards and sledges can be bought and hired from the local shops.

This short walk from the site added some more miles to our ever growing total for our "500 Fresh Air Miles" project. We are getting there little by little 

 

Treamble Valley boasts eleven beaches nearby. Perranporth is a short drive to the south and a larger resort than Holywell but equally impressive. We popped along one evening for a spot of sandcastle building before tea and there were still hoards of people there. 

Crantock is further north towards Newquay; it is a National trust property and a vast, sandy beach with sand dunes and an estuary that trickles into the sea. 

Heading north, there is Fistral Beach, renowned for surfing. It is a large beach and accommodates many visitors. The car park (£7 for the day) is within easy walking distance and sits alongside, a bar, restaurant and beach shops. 

More beaches include Newquay beach and Watergate, most of which offer equipment hire and refreshements so there's plenty of places to choose from if you want to spend a day (or two, or three) at the beach.

 

The Treamble Valley Caravan Club site boasts that it is the closest site to the Eden Project and since most attractions are less than an hour away this seems quite accurate. After about 45 minutes you arrive at the impressive Eden project, nestled in a huge crater that used to be a chalk pit. The most noticeable features are the unusual biomes that sit amongst all the greenery. One is dedicated to the rainforest and houses a wonderful selection of rainforest plants. The temperature in this biome is hot and humid and can get particularly uncomfortable for those daring to walk the highest platform that overlooks the whole biome. Another biome is the Mediterranean world which is much cooler and displays a colourful selection of Mediterranean plant life. In this biome, there is a storyteller that entertains children twice a day with fables. Venturing outside of the biomes, takes you into the world of more familiar plants, growing outdoors: plants that relive history and plants used for medicinal purposes.

One day is not enough to fully appreciate all that the Eden project has to offer, so we made the most of the automatic annual membership and returned for a second day to spend a couple more hours in the Core building, learning about how important plants are, the climate and water.

We all learnt a lot from our visits to the Eden Project; they were two valuable days of learning opportunities.