Last weekend we took off on a mini adventure to a lovely holiday park between Looe and Polperro, on the south coast of Cornwall. Seaview Holiday Park has a laid back vibe, with stunning views over the coast and rolling countryside, along with a friendly atmosphere that makes you feel right at home. Our mission for the weekend? See if we could ditch the camera and capture our family holiday moments on our phones instead.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my DSLR and have become more than a little fond of my Canon PowerShot G7 X too. However, I’m no camera snob and I often find I get just as good snaps on my iPhone too. In fact, I’d say 90% of the photos that make it to my Instagram feed are taken on my phone. So it’s fair to say, I was game for the challenge.
Helpfully, there’s a handy downloadable smartphone photo tip sheet on Seaview’s website, written by photo and Instagram legend Elaine Taylor (@sunflower21). It’s full of ideas on how to make the most of your phone’s camera, including harnessing the natural light and getting creative with different perspectives. Armed with these tips I set to work capturing our own memories from the weekend.
Luckily for us our job was made easier by the fact the scenery around Seaview is stunning. Looe and Polperro are both immensely Instagrammable places, with cute fishing boats nestled in the harbour and bunting strung up between pretty old buildings bursting with Pinterest perfect character. And when the weather was as beautiful as last weekend, it felt very much like being abroad.
As a family, we love to explore new places and do our own thing on holiday. Seaview gave us the perfect base to explore the area, as well as plenty of things to do if we didn’t fancy straying too far afield. There’s a beautiful indoor swimming pool, a play area, a bar (my girls loved the kids’ entertainment in the early evening) and loads of outdoor space to run around and play. For a family with young kids it’s ideal, because it’s quiet, friendly and a perfect size.
We stayed in a Luxury Mobile Home which turned out to be an ideal size for us. The living area was spacious, there was a kitchen full of all the utensils and cooking equipment we needed and two bedrooms – the double even had an en-suite bathroom. Although there’s no outdoor seating area with this model of mobile home, there’s plenty of grassy space around the caravan where the girls enjoyed playing and we could lounge with a book.
The three night break was an ideal introduction to summer for us. The weather held out and we had glorious blue skies and scorching temperatures. It was warm enough to swim in the sea, eat icecream and generally relax enough to feel like we were on a proper all-out holiday.
My big tip if you’re heading down to Cornwall this summer is to download the App for Cornwall app to your phone before you go. It’s a really useful source of handheld information on everything Cornwall, from pubs and restaurants to destinations for days out. Unsurprisingly, there’s a huge array of attractions in the area so if you’re staying for longer than a weekend you won’t run out things to do and places to see.
Although the girls adored the beach at Looe and we all had fun meandering along the harbour looking at the boats, I think I lost my heart to the little fishing village of Polperro. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful spot, with higgledypiggledy roads and lanes leading down to a secluded harbour overlooked by inviting restaurants and pubs. It’s the kind of place I can imagine staying for a relaxing adult-only mini-break with the NLM when the girls are older.
The thing we loved the most about our weekend in Cornwall was the time it gave us to explore and just be together as a family, away from the chores and routines of daily life at home. The staff at Seaview were all so friendly that we instantly relaxed as soon as we arrived – this is a big deal for the NLM who usually takes a good couple of days to “ease in” to the holiday spirit.
It’s so easy to think staying home is the easy option when you have young kids – especially when they don’t travel lightly (like my girls). Packing up for a trip away – whether it’s one night or one week – is a big job and the washing at the other end can be a headache. But for those brief days while you’re there everything just melts away. It’s worth all the car journeys and loads of washing in the world, I reckon.
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To find out more about a holiday at Seaview in Cornwall check out the website. Thanks to Seaview for inviting us along.
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