I dont know about you, but when we stay somewhere, the nearest pub is almost always tried out. (Presuming that the nearest pub doesn’t look like a dump) The nearest pub to our camp site was “The Four Lords”, which can be found at St Blazey Gate – nestled between the random village of Par and St Austell.

We went along there to start with for food, we weren’t sure what to expect, but as the St Austell pub in Exeter is rather posh we expected good stuff. What we got was almighty fine food at almighty fine prices, which weren’t posh at all!

Beer wise… Well I suppose my expectations were a little high. I kinda presumed that seeing it was near St Austell then the beer would be interesting. Well it was Tribute – which is no bad thing, but I can get it from just up the road as well. I think I just wanted something a little more attention grabbing that’s all.

It’s worth noting that the wine was very nicely priced as well… And I think that sums the place up. At the end of the day, this seems like a local pub, for local people, which is geared for people who like food, and want a warm welcome.

Nice.

Never would imagine this place would be in Cornwall…

Skinners Cornish Knocker – This pale ale was enjoyed draught by Andy and myself in the sunshine in Falmouth overlooking the harbour.  It was strong, not to sweet, slightly floral and awesomly refreshing!

Skinners Betty Stogs – We tried this bottled beer from the brewery sitting in the sunshine at the campsite.  At the time I thought it was a beautifully unique tasting red ale, scoring a reliable 5.  I later learnt that it was all over the Skinners shop because it won Best Ale in the 2008 Earls Court “Great Beer Festival”.  Thats some accolade.  I don’t know whether to be sad that I have the same taste as everyone else or glad that I really can taste a good ale from a bad one!

In a word. No!

Skinners Cornish lager is beautiful. Somehow it has a nice ale over tone, while having a refreshing lager taste. Worth checking out if you can find it!

We’ve just got back from camping at Carnon Downs. The camp site itself is more pricey then other places but the site itself is very nice, and the location itself is great. Part of the reason why the location is so good is that its just over the road from Carnon Inn.

Last year we found the food was great, and the service was fantastic. Sadly this year it wasn’t so great. We didn’t have any food or beer – so we cant comment on those, but the service wasn’t great.

During our first evening there we got served a bottle of wine that must have already been used – it seemed a large glass down. Sadly we only realised after we had already poured a few glasses and saw that it barely poured four small glasses worth! During our second evening (a Friday night) we had to wait an age to get served, while after we did get served there seemed to be some confusion with our tab! It was confusing and a little embarrassing at the time, but it did make up for lack of wine on the first evening!

Well even though the staff arn’t as fantastic as they once were, the view from the pub garden is still fantastic, and is worth a visit as somewhere to chill out and relax. It is very much a chain pub, so I would suggest going elsewhere if you want somewhere more traditional.

Carnon Downs Caravan Park