Tony and David's first ever holiday: A Cornwall adventure

By Terry Searson, Deputy Manager, The Lodge

At The Lodge, we support two brilliant guys, Tony and David. Neither of them had been on holiday before, and that's something I really wanted to put right.

So I sat down with both of them and talked it through properly, giving them some choices about where they might like to go. They chose Cornwall. I asked them what they wanted to do while they were away, and they both said the same thing: they wanted to do something with animals. That gave me plenty to go on.

I did some research and came up with the Cornish Seal Sanctuary and Newquay Zoo. I also suggested crab fishing. I spoke with their appointees, who help look after their money, to check it was all possible once I'd worked out the costs. They agreed to everything.

I also asked if we could keep some of the holiday flexible. That way, if we were near somewhere interesting, we could just drive over and take a look, rather than planning every single minute.

Seals, sunsets and a pyramid-shaped hill

On our first full day, we visited the Cornish Seal Sanctuary. While we were there, I looked up what else was nearby and found out Goonhilly Earth Station wasn't far, along with The Lizard Point, the most southerly point in Cornwall.

The guys could see the Earth Station in the distance and were happy just seeing it from there, so we carried on to The Lizard Point. We parked up, took lots of photos, and spotted some seals out at sea. We could even tell they were "bottling", something we'd just learned about at the sanctuary. The guys loved it. On the way back, we drove through a few different towns and spotted a hill shaped like a pyramid, which David got an amazing photo of.

Zoo animals, kite surfers and a runway view

The next day, we went to Newquay Zoo. It wasn't huge, but we saw some animals and had lunch there. While we were in Newquay, I told the guys about the famous beach where surfers go, so we took a trip down to see it.

They loved watching the kite surfers. The day before, we'd driven past an HMS barracks with a plane on display, and the guys had mentioned wanting to see planes. We explained that one was just for show, but I remembered what they'd said, so while we were in Newquay, we took them to the airport instead.

When we got there, a plane was on the runway with passengers boarding. We waited and watched it take off, and the guys were so impressed that we stayed to watch another one too.

Alpacas, afternoon tea, and a cow with a grudge

On the third day, we didn't have much booked in, other than crab fishing, so I had a look online. A few weeks earlier, when I'd visited my mum, who lives in Cornwall, I'd picked up a leaflet for alpaca walking. I checked online, and there were spaces, so we booked it, sticking with the animal theme the guys loved so much.

On the way there, driving through the country lanes, we came across a cow standing in the road. A car in front of us had pulled over, so we carried on past it. Juliet isn't keen on cows and started trying to lock her door, which had all of us laughing, telling her the cow wasn't about to open it itself. We drove on, only to realise the cow was now following the car.

By this point, the guys were in hysterics, and Juliet was threatening to hide in the footwell. I lost sight of the cow as we went round a corner and told everyone it must have stopped. Then we looked again, and there it was, running round the corner after us, which set us all off laughing again. Moments later, the cow gave up and jumped into a field, and we carried on our way with a very relieved, and very funny, Juliet.

We made it to the alpacas, which also came with a cat café, where we'd booked in for afternoon tea. I'd told the guys that to really experience Cornwall, you need a Cornish cream tea and a Cornish pasty, so this was the first of many. We were matched up with our alpacas. Tony got Gandolph, who loved to moan and make noises, which suited him perfectly, since Tony loves a good moan himself. David was matched with Willow, Juliet with Chewy, and I got Bruce.

Bruce was easily the most affectionate of the bunch, in my opinion. I called him Brucey Baby the whole way round and joked it felt like a dinner date, since he kept stopping to eat grass and happily took snacks from the little pouches we'd been given. Bruce loved a cuddle too, and I think the lady running it could tell I needed one. Afterwards, we had our cream tea with the café cats, one of which tried to climb into my car boot and refused to leave us alone.

Very cute, but he went back inside where he belonged.

Crab fishing, a glass-bottom boat, and Bodmin Prison

From there, we drove to Looe, did some souvenir shopping, and tried our hand at crab fishing. David's net got stuck in the harbour wall and ended up breaking, and Tony didn't catch a thing.

While we were there, we noticed a shop advertising boat trips out to Looe Island, leaving in fifteen minutes. We checked with the guys, confirmed they had enough money, and booked it on the spot. It turned out to be a glass-bottom boat. Tony, who'd never been on a boat before, held on for dear life, while David absolutely loved every second of it, leaning over to watch the fish beneath us with the sun on his face and the wind in his hair. Tony relaxed a little once we stopped to look for seals, which we did spot, along with jellyfish and fish swimming under the boat.

After that, we grabbed something to eat and headed back to where we were staying, where David and Tony wanted to finish the evening at the arcades.

On the way home, we stopped off at Bodmin Prison, somewhere we'd spotted on a leaflet earlier in the week. It's no longer a working prison, and it turned out to be brilliant. We saw all sorts, including a trapdoor drop recreating a hanging, which caught us completely off guard. It only jolted a little, but it was enough to make us all feel like we were going down with it. We watched the story of local smugglers unfold, complete with a boat struggling in rough water, and wind and rain effects that reached right into where we were standing.

The guys also learned the prison is said to be haunted, which they loved, since they're both big fans of anything paranormal.

Already planning to come back

I tried to plan the holiday around what they loved, listening properly to what they wanted rather than sticking rigidly to a plan. I didn't want it to just be three places and nothing else.

When you go on holiday, you want to experience different things, and I wanted this to feel like a proper family holiday, the kind we'd want for ourselves.

By the time we were driving home, they were already talking about coming back to Cornwall.