During the last week of September, Poppy, my OH & I went on our first holiday together to Cadgwith Cove in Cornwall. Cadgwith is an adorable little fishing village on the Lizard & has become somewhere I want to go back to again and again. One of the reasons is because it was really dog friendly, which made Poppy very happy!
As soon as we arrived at our holiday rental, Little Sandcastle, Poppy made herself at home.
The bed was the same height as the window, which meant perfect viewing for Poppy! She barked at the seagulls, other dogs & passers by. Pretty normal really! But as it’s best to access Cadgwith on foot, it was pretty quiet. This made a nice change for all of us, as at home, we get quite a bit of traffic on our street & Poppy has quite a job of letting us know that there are people about!
One of the best things about the holiday for Poppy was spending time with us, especially morning cuddles, which she enjoyed immensely (as did I!). We wore her out quite a bit with the amount of walking we did, but she loved it.
On our first full day, we headed out of Cadgwith along the coast path towards the Devil’s Frying Pan. It was slightly steeper than we’re used to in Oxfordshire & gave us all a workout, Poppy included!
We walked much further than we intended to & all of us were covered in mud when we returned. Poppy really enjoyed walking along the coastal path, and wasn’t phased by kissing gates or anything! She did get frustrated by our slow & cautious pace, but she took it all in her stride. That being said, Poppy does love a good beach walk, even if she’s not a fan of the sea! There’s still lots to smell and space to run around on – it can be quite tiring!
For a brief moment, she was the most southerly dog as we walked along the Lizard Point. She was really patient, posing for photos, which she hates! She hates being still & has started to let us know when she gets fed up by barking her frustrated bark at us! She did get lots & lots of love from locals & tourists alike, however, and we had to explain her weird breeding a lot.
One of the major downsides of going during September was that a lot of the beaches still had dog restrictions in place. This was really frustrating as most beaches were empty (The weather wasn’t really suitable!) and sadly, most of the ‘dog friendly’ beaches aren’t as nice as the others. But that didn’t stop us and because the holiday season was drawing to a close, it meant that most of the time, even the dog friendly beaches were quiet. Therefore, we let Poppy off the lead on one or two of the beaches. Needless to say she loved it! She didn’t venture far. We noticed that after she ran for a bit, she would stop & turn to see where we were.
As we couldn’t leave Poppy in the cottage on her own, she came with us everywhere & became really well trained in waiting while we ate our dinner or cream tea. As Poppy doesn’t play with toys, we have to keep her entertained with food. Pizzles are the best for this, as they last longer than most other chews. I was so impressed with the number of dog friendly cafes and restaurants in Cornwall and so many places welcomed her with treats and water.
Walking around the area was really lovely, as there were no squirrels for her to chase or get stressed about. She just explored new places, found new scents and came across new things, like sheep & cows. She wasn’t particularly keen on either, though while she just barked at the sheep, she seemed slightly more perplexed by the cows. After a while it dawned on us, that as we were walking through a field of cows, she was sniffing where they’d walked so could smell their hooves. Poppy chews on cow hooves all the time at home so think this must have had something to do with it!
Poppy got a little bit braver in the sea at Cadgwith, exploring some of the rock pools. Because Cadgwith is a fishing village, there were loads, and I mean loads, of crab claws all over the cove! Poppy was really interested in these so we had to keep an eye, especially after her suspected allergic reaction to a tuna baguette!
Cadgwith Cove was a fantastic place for our first family holiday. Everything was so easy & relaxed. We will definitely be going back there, which Poppy will be pleased to know, I’m sure!