This was our second visit to catch up with Heather's brother, his wife and two kids since they moved from Derbyshire to Cornwall in 2017.

Our journey started from Derby catching the 1628 CrossCountry service to Exeter St David's a journey of just under three and a quarter hours. Our hotel for the night, the Premier Inn, was opposite St David's station so there was no need for a long walk into the city centre. We were soon unpacked and ready for dinner and maybe a glass or two of wine - we were, after all, on holiday.

On Saturday morning we collected our hire car and set off to see Jon and Carol, a journey by road of about an hour through some lovely countryside. They have plenty of work ahead of them on their 'new house' and it was good to see that things are starting to happen . . . . although it will be a long slog as there really is plenty to do.

Before lunch we had a walk alongside Golitha Falls on the edge of Bodmin Moor quite close to Liskeard. The kids seemed to enjoy the walk and it really was a very pleasant place to spend an hour walking even though the going underfoot was a tad wet. Lunch was had at Inkie's, an American style smokehouse shack, situated in the car park for Golitha Falls. What a great place this was - a massive pile of pulled pork topped my rather meaty and very tasty burger. It was really good and a shame that we could not try all that was on offer on the menu.

Once back at Jon and Carol's there was time, after the kids had gone to bed, for a nice curry and a few drinks before we retired to The Racecourse Inn, the local pub in the village of North Hill. It was not the best of nights, the room was cold and the bed rather uncomfortable - the place was better on our first visit in September 2017. There is very little choice in North Hill so I guess we will be back there again in the future - hopefully they will have sorted out the heating and beds!

On Sunday morning we drove around 40 minutes to the south coast and the National Trust beach at Lansallos close to Polperro. It was long walk down from the car park to the beach but this seemed to keep the tourists away - we had the place to ourselves for a good 45 minutes. This coastal area is fabulous and I can see why living in this part of the world has its benefits for not only Jon and Carol but also what a great place it is for the kids to grow up in too.

After a few hours on the beach it was time to say goodbye as we had to head to Exeter to catch our train back to Derby. It was sad to be leaving but we will be back as we see our youngest nephew and niece grow up in the south west of England.

The drive back to Exeter, via Plymouth, was fairly smooth and by the time I returned the hire car the Citroen C3 was slowly growing on me.

It was now just a matter of getting back to Derby and we were lucky that a 40+ year old stalwart of Britain's rail network was working our train back to Derby. The High Speed Train, or HST, really is the best train running on the network and a three hour journey north, complete with some snacks and drinks, on board this train was a really nice nice way to round off the weekend.