Eastbourne sunshine

Had a fab weekend with Christine and Paul, full of tasty food, ice cream and copious red wine. If only there was a commuter train from Eastbourne, we'd be round theirs every weekend for breakfast in the garden!

The view from our new favourite restaurant

We're staying in a fairly rural location (there are cows next door) outside Porthtowan, a tiny village with its own beach but not much else. Other than the Flaming Wok takeaway (which I'm sure is lovely!) and the beach bar there's not much in the way of restaurants here. So we were very excited to discover St Agnes just along the coast, a lovely village with a beautiful cove and two really impressive beachfront restaurants.

Driftwood Spars has sea views, a varied bistro menu and excellent fish and chips, and boasts a proper local boozer downstairs that even brews its own ales (we like Badlands, named after the local nickname for the cove - the surfers evidently don't like outsiders).



Schooners (above), which is only open towards the weekend and sometimes not even then, is our new favourite place. As well as the view, the food is delicious, fresh and imaginative (for a chef who only works 3 or 4 nights a week in a Cornwall village he's exceptional), the atmosphere is relaxed (it feels like a surfer hangout, but posher) and the people who work there are just lovely. If we could work from home we'd move here tomorrow.



White asparagus salad



Mascarpone and spinach linguine



"Side" salad



Monkfish on crab



Shortcake stack



Cafe gourmand - espresso, sorbet, rhubarb and ginger creme brulee and pot au chocolat, yum!



The sunset from our table overlooking St Agnes beach

Katy says, 'Ooh, pretty shells!'

Nigel says, 'Mmm, lunch!'

Logan hits the beach

Down in Cornwall for the week. Still getting our bearings - not found a decent walkable pub yet - but the weather's been kind and Logan loves digging on the beach.

Checking out Paradise Park tomorrow - red pandas, parrots, flamingos and, um, goats (but no camels, yes camels). They do a penguin photocall for kids, not exploitative at all, oh no...