Happy Autumn from us at Pengelly!  It’s the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness as my Dad used to say and we’ve certainly had a few misty, mizzly days here.   Apples and leaves are falling onto the dewy grass and the nights are drawing in.   X Factor and Strictly are back on the telly and party plans are afoot for Aggie’s 3rd birthday.  All of which means October is definitely here.

Season of mists…

In my last post we were giddy with the success of getting a yes for our holiday houses from the Council Planning Committee.  However we still had one last hurdle to jump.  We needed a flood risk assessment and a thumbs up from the Environment Agency.  After various delays and a lot of ‘that’ll happen dreckly’ we finally heard that the EA are happy for us to go ahead.  Great news all round as this means (a) our house and land aren’t about to be washed away in a flood and (b) our full, official planning permission for our Pengelly Retreat is now in.  Hooray!

Cow parsley seeds

Sh*t just got Real

Now that we have our official go-ahead, Jim has gone into overdrive in planning out the exact dimensions and details of our lakeside cabin and en-suite yurt.  We have some beautiful architect drawings which helped us to get planning permission.  However translating those into a structure is a much more technical matter altogether.  We now need a structural engineer on board to help and have been busy mapping out on the ground where everything will go.

New bridges to the lagoon island

There is also the not-so-glamorous (but essential) matter of the services: electricity, water and sewage treatment .  I won’t thrill you with the ins and outs of poo treatment, although it’s given Jim a few sleepless nights going through the options.  Our vision for Pengelly Retreat is luxurious glamping in the Cornish countryside, a cut above the usual bog-standard (excuse the pun).  We don’t want our guests to have to trek across a field to get to a chilly bathroom block.  So our cabin and yurt will both be en-suite with running hot water and flush toilets.  Sounds straightforward but involves hundreds of metres of cables and pipes and a network of underground trenches.

Pengelly Retreat Branding & Website

On a more artistic note, we have also finalised our beautiful Pengelly Retreat branding, inspired by the lakes, land and wildlife here.  It’s been created for us by Jim’s very talented (and patient) friend and designer Rich, https://www.richardedgerton.com.  We’re thrilled with it and will be unveiling the brand when our website holding page goes live later this year.  Watch this space!  Our full website will go live in the first half of next year designed by another talented friend Helen at pepperstreetuk@gmail.com.  Aren’t we lucky having all these talented friends!

Red campion flowers

Spooky Party

It seems only 5 minutes ago that I was writing about Aggie’s 2nd birthday.  Now here we are just 1 week away from her 3rd.  Amidst the plans for our holiday houses, I’m also planning the very important business of her birthday party.  We are having a spooky theme which means Aggie gets to wear her favourite witch’s outfit and Jim and I have to dress up like loons.

Spooky-party ready

Aggie has decided that I should dress up as a spooky bride and wear my wedding dress.  She’s very opinionated about clothing and fashion for a nearly-3 year old (no idea where she gets that from).  I’m not sure I want to get my wedding dress covered in cake and mud.  But I do like the spooky Miss Havisham bride dress-up idea!  Jim’s costume is currently tbc although he says he is going to dress up as a Dark Lord.  What this means is anyone’s guess.  The spooky theme also gives us a great excuse not to sweep away the spiders’ webs on our outside deck area.  Lack of cleaning?  No, those are  natural ‘spooky’ decorations. Photos to follow (of the party, not the spiders’ webs).

Got my wand, got my purple mobile phone..

Chicken Farm Petition

Some of you may also have seen on Facebook that Jim and I are now campaigning against an industrial-size chicken farm which has been proposed close to our neighbouring village of Nancegollan. The plan is to build 4 huge multi-tier barns with over 110,000 hens all packed into a small sloping area of land with a watercourse at the bottom.  This watercourse feeds both our stream and ultimately the whole River Hayle system.  The potential pollution impact to air, water and land doesn’t bear thinking about.  While the proposed farm is called ‘free range’, it’s uncertain how much freedom to range the hens will in fact have, making it completely unethical too.  If you have a spare minute, we’d really appreciate your support by adding your name to the petition against it.  https://www.change.org/p/cornwall-county-councill-stop-the-free-range-egg-farce?

Staying zen..

Fancy a holiday?

While our gorgeous holiday homes won’t be unveiled till late Summer/early Autumn 2018, our lovely Mill House Annexe is already up and running and ready for holiday rentals.  This is the new section of our house which we converted when we moved in.  It has it’s own private entrance, a lovely spacious bedroom and living room, cute shower room with Cornish tiles and petite kitchenette complete with microwave, fridge, toaster, kettle and washing machine.  It’s very cosy and comfy, perfect for a couple and we are also doggie-friendly.  Although Chigley still isn’t that keen on visiting dogs…

We were pretty much booked out in September, but we have availability in October, so please recommend us to your friends and family.  Here’s our link on Air BnB: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/show?euid=d361cb97-03e8-015b-f8be-a96edd051ad4&id=20407604

Autumnal blooms

More Postcards to follow 🙂