tour de teapigs | our cornwall trip!

One sunny Monday in February, four teapigs waved goodbye to the office and headed for the A303. Their mission? The first proper outing on the tour de teapigs – breaking past the M25 boundary and head down to Cornwall for a few days by the sea… for entirely business reasons, of course. Any enjoyment of coastal views and sunshine was completely accidental and by the by.

In reality, we’d been invited to attend ExpoWest Cornwall in Wadebridge, a regional food & beverage trade show, and this provided the perfect opportunity for us to do what we love best – getting to visit our stockists. So, as teapigs Thomas and Ruby manned the show, meeting and bonding with the next generation of stockists, myself and Andy hit the road to put some faces to names of existing ones.

First stop, Mevagissey, to meet the wonderful Teacup Tearoom – a vintage, dog-friendly tea room, with the most incredible giant scones you’ve ever had. Run by husband and wife team Dave & Lis, Teacup Tearoom have been a stockist for just shy of two years and won our coveted Stockist of the Month in February 2019 (more about that here), as well as (more importantly, some may say!) the South West England Tourism Award for Dog Friendly Business in February 2020. Served in the most incredible china, Teacup Tearoom deliver almost the entire teapigs range, alongside everything from a Cornish cream tea to vegan and gluten free baked treats. It was here, while enjoying our chin wag and scones, we learnt the most important lesson of our trip: jam first. Don’t yell at us, Devonians - the wall said so.

In a scone-filled daze (seriously, I can’t stress enough just how big and beautiful they were), we made our way to Truro. There, we popped in to meet the folks at The Cornish Vegan – another husband and wife team, Dawn & Paul, champions of homemade vegan comfort foods as proven by their V2 Outstanding Restaurant of the Year 2020 award… which meant, of course, that a slice of banoffee cake had to be sampled, just to make sure. With over 3.5 years under their belt as a stockist, they’re sadly selling the business to move on to a new adventure, but we’re very happy to have had the chance to stop in and say thanks before the fact. We wish them well!

Just a few streets away was our next visit, The Old Cheeseshop – a perfect pit-stop, as it meant we could deliver their prize for being Stockist of the Month in January - find out more about that here! Boasting a gorgeous window display (stop it, we’re blushing!), they’re well deserved winners indeed. Pairing a robust range of teas with locally sourced pastries, these guys have cracked it. And by “it”, I mean the dream combination of an everyday brew and a Da Bara Bakery cinnamon bun. Which, Andy promptly ate. Look, we don’t make the rules - sometimes the number of stockists met directly correlates with the number of incredible baked goods consumed. It’s a difficult job, but someone’s gotta do it!

With bellies bursting with goodness, it was time for a digestive walk along the coast. A short drive south brought us to Falmouth, to the bustling Gylly Beach. Sat right on the shoreline, it’s a beautiful spot for a quick stop or a full sit-down meal – as a stockist for a full five years, it’s a crime we haven’t been down to visit before! Sadly there was no time (or room) for more sweet treats at Gylly Beach, as by the time we’d finished our beach photoshoot (of our keepcups, though Andy is a dashing chap…) we were chasing the light to make it down to the our last spot of the day – a little town called Lizard.

Here, at the Southern-most tip of England, we found Wavecrest Café. Located at the top of a cove, it’s the perfect place to end your coastal walks - sit back and enjoy a brew while simultaneously drinking in panoramic views of the Celtic Sea. Lush. Wavecrest Café has been open in one form or another since the 1930s, and we’re glad to be a part of its current era. The perfect spot to end our first day of zipping around!

Unfortunately, the sun chose to leave us after our first day, but never fear – St Enodoc Hotel is here. Nestled in Rock, with its incredible, seasonally focused food offering, its fireplace the perfect spot to pass by a misty morning while looking over the bay and watch the oyster cages (and by “pass by” I mean hold business meetings… yes ma’am).

Finally, we popped over to St Minver to visit one of our newer accounts, Moyles Farm - a collection of holiday accommodations ranging from lovely 4 bed cottages down to the cosiest shepherds hut, with all kitchens (big or small!) stocked up with your favourite brews. Did we mention there’s even a secret pirate skeleton hiding on the property?! That gives us an idea for the office….

And with that, our tour came to an end, with one final day with all hands on deck at ExpoWest to meet as many folks as we could, because this won’t be the last time we come visit - the more places to visit, the merrier!

Where should we bring the tour to next? Let us know on Twitter @teapigs!