I love holidaying in the UK, I’ve only recently started to go abroad and have many fond memories of family holidays on the Isle of Wight and in the Lake District. I’ve also visited Devon, Yorkshire and Wales on family holidays. Since leaving university, I’ve been trying to visit more places in the UK and have managed to cross off Edinburgh, Bangor, Berwick upon Tweed, Bristol and Liverpool but one place I’d never been to and have always wanted to try out was Cornwall.

Although I can drive, I don’t have a car so my main form of transport is trains and buses. Cornwall is a 4 hour drive away from me but the trains are so expensive. You’re looking at over £100 each way! So when I was contacted about visiting Newquay, I had a look on the CheapFlights website.  I realised that you could fly there from Birmingham for £56 return! I was so excited to finally visit a new part of the UK.

For £300, I managed to get a three day break (two nights) in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. I stayed in the Travelodge Newquay Seafront which, as the name suggests, is located on the Seafront and is right in the town centre. Luckily for me, I picked three days in the middle of the heatwave so I had glorious weather with temperatures reaching 30 degrees while I was there.

As it was so hot, I chose not to do anything too strenuous while I was away. I had just come back from a very busy city break in Barcelona, so I wanted to relax away from the hustle and bustle of the city and just enjoy myself without worrying about seeing sights and getting things done. The location of the Travelodge was perfect, I could walk left up the hill or right down the hill and reach some stunning beaches. On my first night, I chose to sit on a bench overlooking Lusty Glaze beach and watched the sun as it started to set.

On my second day in Newquay, I spent the morning chilling out in my room and catching up on some work so as to avoid the midday sun (I was badly burnt in Barcelona and it was taking a long time to settle down) and then I ventured into town to have lunch in a little cafe called Niles. I then went down to the beach and set my towel down in front of the sea wall so I had a bit of shade and lay there for a couple of hours, reading my Kindle and people watching.

The weather was so good and there were a lot of people about soaking up the sun. Newquay is definitely a great place for families and there were a lot of dog friendly places too. I enjoyed sitting on the beach and watching the dogs swimming in the sea and chasing balls across the sand, it made me wish that I had my own dog as they’re also allowed to stay in the Travelodge and they looked like they were having so much fun!

After spending a couple of hours reading on the beach, I walked back to my hotel via some of the shops and then went back to my room for a shower. I decided to treat myself to a meal at Frankie & Benny’s which was just down the road from my Travelodge and I had a three course meal and a mojito for just over £15, which I thought was brilliant value. There’s not much going on on a Monday night in Newquay after 10pm, so once I’d finished my meal I wandered back to my room and had another cold shower before settling down and catching up on First Dates. It was so hot that I slept without any sheets on the bed and I really struggled to settle. There was no air conditioning in the room and if I’m honest, it was quite stifling. I found it hard to apply my makeup or even get dressed the following morning as I was constantly dripping with sweat (delightful, I know) so I’d recommend you check if the hotel has air conditioning before you travel! If I wasn’t flying back, I would have bought myself a fan from Argos down the road, but I didn’t want to waste the money as I knew I wouldn’t have been able to get it back on the plane. The corridor of the hotel and the reception area seemed to have air con though as I was alright once I left my room.

I had plenty of time before I had to head back to the airport, so I checked out of my room and left my luggage in the storage behind reception. The staff were more than happy to let me leave my case there and were really helpful both when I checked in and out. I then went for another wander down the main street and stopped off for lunch at Belushi’s which overlooked the sea. It was the most beautiful view and I even saw a chinook flying over the sea while I was eating my lunch! I then decided to go back down towards the beach as I live so far away from the sea and I wanted to make the most of it. There were a lot of families around enjoying themselves and soaking up the sun. I really enjoyed just relaxing in the sunshine and taking everything in.

If you’re looking for a relaxing weekend break away, I do recommend Newquay as there are plenty of nice beaches for you to choose from and it’s so picturesque. If you’re into surfing then it’s the place for you as it is the heart of the UK surfing scene. If you’re as far away from Newquay as I am, I highly recommend looking into flights.