Cornwall, fire pits and shanties: Thanks to the G7 leaders for test running my staycation plans

After 16 months of a pandemic, there’s something poetic about seeing world leaders served up the type of staycation many of us have spent all year saving up for, writes Sophie Gallagher

Tregenna Castle, St Ives, welcomes leaders this weekend (PA)

If you too have spent endless evenings frantically scrolling Airbnb looking for somewhere to stay west of Bristol that doesn’t require you to remortgage, then you’ll sympathise with whomever at Downing Street was responsible for block-booking half of Washington into a seaside location just before the start of the school summer holidays. Like planning a hen do on steroids.

The G7 delegation will spend the weekend at Tregenna Castle, near St Ives – described by the New York Post as castle-themed, forgetting we actually do have historical buildings here – to talk everything from Brexit sausages to Covid vaccines, and whether or not the men present did indeed “marry above their station”. Sounds like the start of every good family holiday.

The guests will also spend the weekend diplomatically trying to not put their foot in it, and appear enthusiastic for a pre-planned schedule of sightseeing after spending six hours sitting on the A30 to get there. And the weather: well it could only be Cornish mizzle.

After 16 months of a pandemic, with international travel left in the dust, there is something rather poetic about seeing world leaders served up something remarkably similar to the staycation many of us have spent all year saving up – financially and emotionally – for.

They too will have to put on a brave face when paddling in the sea for photos – “really, it’s actually quite warm in here” – wear a coat and scarf when enjoying a pre-dinner Coca Cola on the terrace, and ensure all outside evening plans are centred around a fire pit (did Johnson get his from Aldi too?), even if it does make you smell like a bonfire.

And the cherry on top of this wild weekend? Sea shanties. Sung by local group Du Hag Owr at dinner on Saturday evening, the G7 leaders will have ticked every box in the pandemic-edition staycation bingo (and played a blinder for the Cornish tourism board).

So if you’ve been feeling downbeat about having to wait yet another year to say goodbye to Britain’s shores, or get a reliable 10 days of sunshine, be reassured: at least you don’t have to share a breakfast buffet with Boris Johnson.

Yours,

Sophie Gallagher

Deputy lifestyle editor