The Orchid Event followed by Cockington Forge!

We went to the information room last night to start planning the trips for the rest of the week, and found a beautiful leaflet about Orchid Paradise. It's dog friendly and has a coffee shop, and gives you all the hints and tips of how to grow the perfect orchid, as well as showing off some of the varieties in bloom.

Great, we said. We can do that on the morning, followed by the obligatory trip to Trago for a mooch around, and then onto Cockington Forge in the afternoon for coffee and cake. Sorted!

When we arrived, we were quite disappointed. We expected a large sprawling building, much like the large garden centre chains that you see on the outskirts of most towns, instead we got an old, small, dilapidated building. Not quite in keeping with the image that pops into your mind when you think of an orchid!

We decided on the car park, not to go into the paid side of the building, but kept the visit to the plant sales building. All the time, very disappointed with what we were seeing - certainly not a paradise!

As we walked back to the car, Mike spotted a large banner against the wall, stating there was an Orchid Event that weekend. What??? Will they be singing and dancing to make themselves more desirable? Needless to say, for the rest of the week 'The Event' was mentioned on numerous occasions, along with laughter that made us cry! Perhaps you had to be there to find it so funny, but trust me, it was!

We escaped The Event, and headed a few minutes up the road to Trago, for a wander around, and a pasty lunch, then it was Cockington Forge. We loved our trip there in the Summer and really wanted to return once more.

The weather was blue skies and tiny showers of mizzle, but this did not deter us. We wandered through the grounds of Cockington House, and then got seats inside, where we had some lovely big slices of cake with tea and coffee.

Both of the dogs got treated like royalty by everyone. After all who can resist a pair of handsome westies, when they look so cute together!

After our afternoon tea, we continued our walk through the grounds and headed back down the hill towards the village once more.

It was another lovely visit to this beautiful village.

It had been a lovely day, and we soon wandered our way back up to the campsite for a relaxing evening. We have to save some energy for tomorrow!