Top 5 things to do this October Half Term in Cornwall for Families 2015

Here are our top picks for family fun activities in Cornwall this October Half Term

 

 

HallowEden

Ice Skating and magical Halloween activities at The Eden Project, home to the worlds largest indoor rainforest. 24 Oct - 1 Nov. There is a Little Monsters Halloween Ball on 31 Oct. Click here for more details

 

 

Rogue Theatre at Tehidy Woods

Watch The Rogue Theatre's 'Dead of Night Dance', a wicked and wonderful Halloween celebration full of adventure, thrills, frights and delights in the heart of the woods. Not to be missed! Shows at 2pm, 5pm & 8pm 27 Oct - 1 Nov.  Click here for more information and to purchase tickets

 

 

Pendennis Castle, Falmouth
The fearsome pirate leader Captain Bones has taken Pendennis. Meet this most salty of seadogs, discover scary stories of Pendennis’ piratical past, and embark on our spooky smugglers quest to find the buccaneers ill-gotten gains. Tales of dastardly deeds, discover the pirate skills of ropes and rigging, and discover some of the most infamous weapons from the Golden Age of Piracy. Frightfully good fun this Halloween half term! 26-30 October. More info at:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/whats-on/captain-bones-takes-pendennis-Pend-26-10-2015/

 

Crealy Adventure Park, Wadebridge 

 Crealy's Witch will be residing in her grotto throughout the week, casting spells and giving a free gift to each child, plus a pumpkin carving competition (every child receives a free pumpkin), close up encounters with some of the residents of Crocodile Corner Reptile House, magic shows and face painting. There will also be the opportunity to feast on hot pumpkin soup, toffee apples and gingerbread biscuits available throughout the day. 24 - 31 October http://www.crealy.co.uk/Cornwall/What's-On
 

The Great Outdoors
Wrap up warm and go on a woodland walk or a cycle ride

 

October Half Term Breaks in Cornwall

 

Best family bike rides in Cornwall

 

Cornwall boasts some of the most picturesque and varied bike trails in the UK. Pedal your way along rivers and coastline and through woodland and mining heritage sites. There are enough trails to do a different one day of the week (weather permitting of course!). I have recommended some bike rides below, in particular 'traffic free' which are ideal if you have children. And as I am always thinking about my next meal have included great places to eat along the way.

 

 

The Camel trail: Wadebridge to Padstow - 5.5 miles

Probably the most popular cycle trail in Cornwall. A nice flat trail following the picturesque Camel Estuary. There are some lovely spots to stop and enjoy a picnic, alternatively grab an award winning Cornish pasty at The Chough bakery or visit Greens Café in Padstow. There are some lovely cafes and coffee shops in Wadebridge too. If you don't have bikes you can hire them at either end of the trail.

 

 

 

The Camel Trail: Bodmin to Wenfordbridge - 6.25 miles

Relatively quieter than the more popular and better known Camel trail between Padstow and Wadebridge, this disused branch line between Bodmin and Wenfordbridge follows the river through tranquil woodland. It is flat all the way and you can park free at Scarletts Well Road in Bodmin. It took us a steady hour (with a tired & wingey 11yr old moaning most of the way due to previous late night) to get to the end of the trail at Wenfordbridge where we stopped for lunch at the delightful Snails Pace cafe.  We were pleased to see that this café is taking a similar approach to ourselves by running a sustainable 'eco' business, complete with compost toilet, solar panels and a bicycle powered smoothie maker! The food did not disappoint either, all freshly homemade and a lovely cream tea. Such a delightful little cafe that I almost want to keep it a secret. 

 

Pentewan Valley Trail - 3.4 miles

A lovely flat trail from St Austell to Pentewan. Take a bucket & spade, lock your bikes up at Pentewan village and walk to the Hub Box on the Beach for refreshments (they serve fabulous burgers too) and spend some time on the golden sands before heading back or there is the option to leave the traffic free section of the trail at Pentewan and continue on to Mevagissey totalling 8 miles. After leaving St Austell going towards Mevagissey, you can park for free in the laybys and small car parks along the left hand side of the road before London Apprentice.

 

Mineral Tramways

You can cycle 11 miles coast to coast from Devoran to Portreath but if you have younger ones you may wish to turn around about half way. We got to about the 7 mile mark before turning back. This disused tramway through Cornwall's historic mining sites was one of the earliest railways in Britain. The trail is a mixture of flat and a steady incline (not really noticed by my 11 yr old who was obviously having a good day!) but this decline was a welcome treat on the homeward journey. There is a nice little café, The Bike Chain at Bissoe serving homemade cakes and refreshments. Set off from Devoran where you will find free car parking.

 

 Lanhydrock Trails

This fantastic new bike trail in the grounds of The National Trust's Lanhydrock House offers a variety of trails for all abilities. Ranging from a gentle 1.5 mile trail to a series of 1-2 mile moderate trails taking you deep into little explored woodland on the estate. If the kids have any energy left after their bike ride they can blow off even more steam in the adventure playground which is located near the Park Café and the car park.  The beautiful Lanhydrock House is the grandest house in Cornwall and is well worth a visit if you have the time.

 

October Half Term Breaks in Cornwall

 

 

 

 

 

DINOSAURS UNLEASHED AT EDEN 2015

Eden have excelled this year in providing the perfect family day out for my dinomad son and his friends.  What more could they want - finding dinosaurs in the worlds largest indoor rainforest!

On arrival collect your free Adventure Journal where you will find all of the information you need to become a Certified Dino Expert and collect the stamps as you complete all the dino activities at Eden.

Walk through a magical underwater scene to marvel at ancient sea life, then step into a landscape from 67 million years ago to explore a world of prehistoric beasts. Cower in the shadow of a life size T.rex and peep into a nest of Dromaeosaurus babies. 

 

At the Palaeo Camp you can hone your palaeontology skills in the Dig Pit, sharpen your dinosaur knowledge and complete your Dino Expert training. There are also Jigsaurus puzzles to test your palaeontology skills and piece together creatures from the past.

 

As you wander around the site look out as you may come face to face with a ferocious Australoventor! 

 

We spent 5 hours at Eden, which included stopping for a delicious lunch in the Eden Kitchen (before you enter to the Mediterranean Biome). It was a dry and sunny day so we wondered around quite relaxed as the children explored. Eden is a great rainy day venue too but expect it to be a lot busier! 

The dinosaurs are at Eden this Summer until 2nd September 2015.

 

For more details visit http://www.edenproject.com/visit/whats-on/dinosaur-uproar

 

 

 

Late Summer Escape

WHY NOT STAY AT MERLIN FARM

Click here to make a booking

 

We can also recommend the fabulous Rogue Theatre for a captivating afternoon or evening in Tehidy Woods, choose from the 2pm performance of 'Blackbeard's heart or the 7.30pm performance of 'King Arthur'. Shows everyday until 31st August. Tickets £7.50, under 3's free.
"

Another award for Merlin Farm

We are delighted that our Eco Cottage has won 'Best Green Holiday Home' in the European Holiday Home Association Awards 2015...

 

 

 

The European Holiday Home Award 2015 

Announcement May 12

 

As a way to generate more public awareness about the benefits of holiday home renting in Europe, the European Holiday Home Association launched a search for the best representatives of our industry to compete for the first European Holiday Home Award.

 

www.holidayhomeaward.eu

 

The EHHA was thrilled to announce this initiative and received more than 200 excellent entries from all across Europe covering all categories of a modern holiday home.

 

The purpose of the awards was to showcase the fantastic examples of the holiday home rental products. The members of the European trade associations, representing the short-term rental industry, nominated the holiday homes. Both member trade associations, direct pan European members and private house owners made their entries. 

 

The European Holiday Home award reflects 7 categories of excellence, which are, Green, Health & Wellness, Beach House, Family Friendly, European Capital, Pet, and Unique Spot.

 

A special jury of experts and professionals compiled the short-list by selecting 8 finalists in each category. This selection was made from an objective set of criteria including presentation, indoors and outdoors, bookability, amenities and special parameters specific to each category. The EHHA owes great thanks to our expert panel Niki Christian Nutsch, Miguel Ferrer and Jacob R. Kirkegaard Larsen for their great contribution. We also thank SuperControl for managing the Award Webpage with great professionalism.

 

The final vote was given by email to the EHHA administration by the member trade associations of the EHHA in France, Germany, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

 

We congratulate the winners who represent the very best of the holiday home industry! 

 

And the winners are:

 

Best Green Holiday Home: Harlyn Eco Cottage, United Kingdom

Best Health and Wellness Holiday Home: Whitefalls Spa Lodges, Scotland

Best Holiday Home Beach House: Holiday House Dra�nice, Croatia

Best Holiday Home family friendly: Holiday Home Orizzonte Monteriggioni, Italy

Best Holiday Home in European Capital: Mitte Penthouse 1 Berlin, Germany

Best Pet Holiday Home: Pet friendly Holiday Home with pool and garden Catalonia, Spain 

Best Unique Spot Holiday Home: Northern Fiord Area, Norway 

Carlos Villaro Lassen

Secretary General



Best places to view the solar eclipse in Cornwall

We have fond memories of the 1999 eclipse, on the morning of 11th August sat on blankets sipping Champagne and eating strawberries on Pentire Headland. It was grey and cloudy and just minutes before, the clouds parted enough for us to see the total eclipse, then the clouds moved back over, it felt like a miracle. So as we brace ourselves for another eclipse, the biggest since 1999, here are a few suggestions of where to view this rare phenomenon, there's no guarantee you'll see it, but where better to be than at one of the highest landmarks in Cornwall.

The partial eclipse is expected to begin shortly after 8am and lasting up to 90 minutes on Friday 20th March. Sadly we won't be able to get to any of these focal points in time following the school run, but hope to get a glimpse from the top of our field.

 

Brown Willy - Cornwall's highest point, Bolventor

 

Photo: The Guardian

 

Carn Brea, near Redruth.

 

Photo: Anthony Hedger

 

The Cheesering, Minions

 

Photo: The Guardian

 

Helman Tor, Lanlivery.

 

Photo: Visit Cornwall

 

Kit Hill, near Callington

 

Photo: Visit Cornwall

 

Rough Tor, St Breward

 

Photo: Historic Cornwall

 

Looking for somewhere to stay? Visit Merlin Farm Holiday Cottages

Go green this Christmas

Making Christmas decorations out of recycled materials...

We've been getting crafty today and making tree decorations for our Eco Cottages out of recycled materials. Blown and redundant (we only use low energy in our cottages) light bulbs have been decorated with glitter and transformed into hanging glass baubles.

 

Empty loo rolls usually get used in the woodburner but today they have been transformed into decorative stars!

 

A great weekend project for the children in the run up to Christmas.

 

More will be added soon...

Merlin Farm wins Goldstar - Awards for the Greenest Businesses in the UK

 We did it!

Merlin Farm Eco Cottages has won the top accolade - the 'Goldstar' for Best Self-Catering business in The Green Tourism Business Scheme Awards. We were among 60 finalists from across the UK and Canada who made it on to the short-list from more than 2,400 contenders in a total of 15 award categories.

 

Merlin Farm is one of four Cornish businesses who have been praised by judges in an international competition to find the most environmentally friendly businesses. Now in it's fourth year, the annual Goldstar Awards honour businesses and organisations that have done the most to promote sustainability within the industry by implementing cost-saving practices that help the environment, improve customer services and benefit the bottom line.

Andrea Nicholas, Director of Green Tourism, said: "The Goldstar Awards are a recognition of the best of the best in Britain when it comes to creating and maintaining a thriving sustainable tourism industry.

“Just being nominated is a major achievement in itself as there were so many high quality entrants for the Awards this year The finalists represent the top 3 per cent of Green Tourism businesses in the UK.”


Green Tourism was launched 17 years ago and is now the biggest of its kind in the world having helped nearly 10,000 businesses improve their commitment to sustainability. It is considered one of the most rigorous of its kind and is the only certification programme independently validated by the International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT) on behalf of VisitEngland, VisitWales and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, and endorsed by VisitScotland and Failte Ireland.

The programme criteria has now been adopted across the UK and as far afield as Canada, Eire, Sweden and New Zealand as the benchmark for sustainable tourism practices. Members are evaluated on a range of best practice measures, including use of energy efficient heating and lighting, nature conservation and community involvement, to achieve a bronze, silver or gold award.

Since joining Green Tourism in 2011 we are proud to have maintained a Gold Award. At our last bi-annual inspection we scored in the top 2% of greenest businesses and  went on to win a 'Highly Commended' award at the ceremony in Edinburgh on 25th May 2012. Since then we have become greener and have installed 216 Solar PV panels and generate/export our own electricity. 

 

The winners of all the awards were announced at the annual Green Tourism Conference held at the Palace Hotel in Manchester. Unfortunately we were unable to make the conference and award ceremony, but were very grateful to friend Tania from Bedruthan Hotel for accepting the award on our behalf. We congratulate Tania on her success at winning the 'Highly Commended' award for Bedruthan in the Hotel category.

Satish Kumar presenting the Goldstar award to Tania Clark on behalf of Merlin Eco Cottages

Green Tourism kept us up to date with events via livestream so we were able to listen to the inspirational guest speakers and still feel part of everything that was going on at the conference.

We would like to congratulate those who made the shortlist, and ALL the Green Tourism Business members who work very hard in ensuring that their businesses make as little impact on the environment as possible. I hope that many more businesses join this scheme, and we are always happy to offer advice to anyone wishing to adopt a greener approach to their business (contact us at green@merlinfarm.co.uk)

We are very proud of our 'Green Business' and are delighted to have been recognised for our efforts in not only running a sustainable business but providing guests with an environmentally friendly holiday in Cornwall. Guests leave feeling inspired, and with a positive outlook on leading a greener life when they return home.

We hope the success doesn't end there, we are delighted to have made the shortlist for The Cornwall Sustainability Awards! We look forward to the awards ceremony at The Headland Hotel on the 4th December 2014, wish us luck!

Read more about...
Our Story
Merlin Farm's Environmental Policy
Luxury Eco Cottages in Cornwall