Cathy's fun-filled week!

Peter and I have had a bit of a fun-packed week.  It all started last Wednesday when we went to the Eden Project to see Elton John perform.  The whole evening was a sensation enhanced by the awesome setting of the biomes and foliage bedecked terraces in the dappled evening sunlight.  Elton came on stage at about 8.10 p.m. and sang non-stop for nigh on two and a half hours!  And what a performance! All those wonderful familiar songs are just taken to a whole new level when you hear them performed live with an amazing production and awesome lightshow.  We were bowled over.

Of course, it was Father’s Day on Sunday so we went with the girls to The Lost Gardens of Heligan.  The sun shone, the gardens are so beautiful and Heligan had laid on a barbecue specially.  The Steward’s House lawn was festooned with bunting and they even provided picnic rugs for people to sit on.  We love Heligan and have visited four times already this year, making our annual membership very good value!  Each area of the garden is a joy, so well tended, and every time you visit there is something new to see.  We find the whole place really uplifting.

Tuesday we went to see Mr Holmes at the cinema in Truro and had a meal at Ask Italian which is a few yards down the road (go on to their website for offers!).  I enjoyed Mr Holmes, possibly slightly more than Peter did; there was no murder mystery to unravel but it was charming with subtle humour.

Then Thursday we went to visit Trevibban Mill Vineyard which is just outside Padstow.  We had known that our neighbours Liz and Engin had bought some land a few years back and had planted a vineyard, but recently they opened to the public and this was the first time we had been to visit.  Liz and Engin made us very welcome and, before you knew it we were sitting at the bar having a full-blown wine tasting session!  They have organic and non-organic wines and have only recently started to sell them.  There were 7 to chose from although we also got a sneak pre-taste of their 2014 Pinot Noir.  They were all delicious and full of flavour.  Afterwards Engin showed us around the estate; dessert apple and cider apple trees, chestnut trees and a small flock of sheep complement the vines, I was glad I had brought my flip flops as we wended our way down to the small lake at the bottom of the estate.  Engin was telling us that they have see otters, kingfishers, heron and dragon flies down here when they just sit quietly on the picnic bench and wait.  It was a truly idyllic setting.

But then we had to rush away as we had booked at table at Rafferty’s in St Merryn.  Ed Rafferty was his usual genial self and we had a perfect meal of steak and chips followed by lemon posset.  Beautifully cooked; the chips were perfect (it’s funny how so many restaurants can’t get chips right, isn’t it?), button mushrooms really tasty, tender flavoursome steaks, zingy lemon posset.So that’s the end of our week.  No, wait!  Off to a birthday party tonight.  What a couple of old gadabouts we are!