The Most Beautiful Place | Cornwall Day 3.

If you follow me on Snapchat (@lilyoliviablog) you might be aware that as I walked over the most stunning coastal path with gorgeous sunshine and sparkling ocean on Monday I was unable to capture any of it due to leaving my SD card in the hotel room. Yep, what an idiot I am. I can barely express how genuinely frustrated I was as I lugged my hefty DSLR along, knowing that I was unable to photograph any of the picturesque scenery. And in all honesty I didn't think I'd have a blog post at all from that day as we wouldn't be returning to the hotel until late afternoon. Oh how wrong I was, as I think this is probably my longest Cornwall post to date!

Around 6.30pm as the sun began to set, casting golden light everywhere we headed out to St Mawes for dinner. However along the way we made a stop off at one of my all time favourite places: the St Just churchyard. Now I'm aware that graveyards aren't really what comes to mind when most of us think of our favourite places, however if you've ever been here, you'll know what I'm talking about. Because this churchyard is beyond beautiful.

ST JUST CHURCHYARD

Nestled along the banks of an estuary, as the river meets the sea, is a small haven of lush green plant life and serene pathways, winding their way up along the hillside and through the trees. In the golden light of sunset, everything is basked in an ethereal glow, warming the greens and illuminating the faded writing on the many gravestones that reside here. But the one thing that always resonates with me when I come here, is how tranquil everything is. You hardly ever see other people, the only noises being the wind gently rushing through the trees and the rippling of soft waves along the shoreline. It's like a secret garden, one that I would happily spend hours in.

Whenever we come down to Cornwall - around once a year or so - we always make a beeline for this place. It never gets old, there's just something so lovely about coming somewhere so calm. If you're ever in the Falmouth / St Mawes area I would highly, highly recommend a trip here. It's completely free and I can honestly say, hand on heart, that it's up there with my absolute, all time favourite places.

DINNER AND SUNSET IN ST MAWES

I briefly mentioned the small seaside town of St Mawes in my last post as the place in which we usually stay when we come down to Cornwall. In some ways, much like The Lake District, it's a home away from home as I've lost count of just how many times we've made the seven hour trek down to the south coast. And for me, St Mawes is just the epitome of Cornish coastal town. Everything faces onto the sea front and the constantly changing tide is a repetitive pattern that never changes.

We headed down on the Monday for dinner at a lovely restaurant called The Watchhouse. (Would highly recommend, V good fish and chips) But as we were a tad early for our eight o'clock booking we decided to meander our way along the sea front and take a few photos of the setting sun.

I'm running out of adjectives to describe just how beautiful it was here. The combination of the setting sun, the golden hour and watching people wander along the beach, paddling in the water (which was bloody freezing but then again this is England, we can't have everything) made for a lovely, relaxing evening.

AND THEN THE SUN SET...

As we sat, gorging ourselves on fish and chips we looked out through open windows onto the bay, watching the sun finally dip beneath the horizon, casting a faint pinkish glow onto the water. As the light died the stars came out, and with no light pollution to hinder them, it was honestly one of the most stunning sights. I'm not joking when I say that one day I want to lie in a perfectly silent field and look at the stars.

Unfortunately I don't have a great zoom lens otherwise I would have captured them for you, but take my word for it, there is nothing that makes you feel smaller or more insignificant that looking out into our vast universe.