Out of our 5 nights in Cornwall we spent 3 full days in St Ives, but it’s easy to see how you could spend so much longer there very happily.

We rented a small cottage on Airbnb right in the heart of the old town of St Ives on Back Road East. The cottage itself is a run by Escape to St Ives holiday lets but we didn’t deal directly with them. Our cottage had a comfortable living room, decent sized kitchen and bathroom, and two bedrooms, plus a front porch which was very handy for storing body boards etc. Although parking is basically a nightmare in St Ives (more of that in a minute) we were really happy with our cottage and where it was located as it was perfect distance to the three beaches and the town centre. We liked that it was self catering as it was nice to have our own space to spread out in, and we were able to cook a couple of meals too.

• 

• 

Our first day in St Ives we decided to go for a walk to help stretch our legs after the long drive down from Bath the day before. We had already investigated local walks and knew that the South West coastal path is through St Ives and so we decided to walk south to Zennor – the path website is really good for helping plan sections to walk www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk. We do quite a lot of hill walking in Scotland and use the website Walk Highlands a lot, and when it notes a time or distance we have found it is really quite accurate and if anything we do the walk quicker. We have found that is not the same with walks in England, the distance and time it takes can vary wildly which we found hard to get used to. We set off from the cottage and walked the length of Porthmeor Beach and up onto the cliffs where the path was easy to find.

• 

• 

The path is in pretty good condition and easy to follow, though there are a few forks where you have to be carefull which one to pick so you don’t end up on a big detour. Due to the nature of the landscape it is quite undulating and so there is a lot of going up and down headlands which is a bit tiring. The scenery though is worth it, and as we walked into a bracing headwind it certainly blew away the cobwebs! The route we were taking noted it was 6 miles to Zennor so when we had walked 6.5 miles with no sign of any turn off or settlements we started to get worried, but speaking to other walkers they noted the same so we carried on. After 7 miles we reached a fork in the path and knew to head inland to reach Zennor. There isn’t much in Zennor but there is a good pub – what more do you need! We stopped for a well earned pint and a snack sitting in the sunny beer garden feeling slightly more tired than expected. We had intended to walk back to St Ives across country but looking at the time we realised we hadn’t left enough time. Luckily the other useful thing about Zennor is that there is also a bus stop, and there was a bus arriving at the perfect time for us to hop on. We were surprised to find that the bus was an open top one which travels the Cornish coast, so we had great views all the way back to St Ives. In the end I’m pleased we got the bus, we say bits of the local area we wouldn’t have seen otherwise and managed to make it home in time for dinner.

Our second full day in St Ives it poured with rain, but luckily we had planned for this to be our day of art galleries and museums. My brother is a member of the Tate and so was able to get us discounted tickets for the Barbara Hepworth Museum and the Tate – thanks Rob! We went to the Barbara Hepworth museum first, somewhere I was really excited about visiting. The museum is located in her old studio where she lived and worked, and also has a beautiful garden filled with her sculptures – you would never know you were in the heart of St Ives standing there. We spent just under an hour there, it is quite small with only two small rooms inside and then the garden, but even still I think it was one of the highlights of our trip to St Ives.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We then went onto the Tate which sits just behind Portmeor Beach, in full blast of the Atlantic gales. Unfortunately for us our timing was bad as they were in the middle of taking down one exhibition of put up another meaning we were only able to see one level of galleries (around 4 rooms) and visit the shop. It was interesting to see, and I think if you were able to visit the main exhibitions it would have been even better. The cafe did look good, with great views out over the beach. But if I had to pick between the two I would always go to the Hepworth museum instead.

• 

• 

A colleague of mine had told me that St Ives is brilliant for artists, and I can see why. And because of that the town has a huge number of art galleries with wonderful pieces for sale. You can while away a whole afternoon pottering in and out of them, and if you’re like us come out having bought too many!

The other highlight of our trip to St Ives has to be the beaches, they are just wonderful. Having spent many of my holidays on the west coast of Scotland I am used to golden beaches and clear seas, but the beaches in Cornwall seemed to have an extra glow about them. The beaches in St Ives are amazingly clean seeing as it is such a busy place. We spent quite a lot of time walking along the beaches, even just sneaking out from the house before or after dinners to have a peak to see if they still looked as amazing – they did.

On our third and final day in St Ives we decided to venture into the sea. We had brought our own wetsuits and body boards down with us so we were all set. After walking the beaches for a couple of days we had worked out that Porthmeor beach was the one with the waves, and also the lifeguard station. During the day the lifeguards put out flags on the beach to show where it is safe to venture into the sea for swimming / body boarding or surfing, which can be quite a small area so great to know if you aren’t aware of local rips. We spent a brilliant few hours body boarding, with some great success and some face dives into the waves. And the best bit was it was just a quick walk back to the house to warm up afterwards.

Driving and Parking in St Ives

I have to say one thing I did not enjoy about Cornwall was driving around the lanes. I’m used to single track roads, but usually they don’t have 8ft hedgerows either side and no passing places! We were also very naive about driving and parking in St Ives. We had read a bit and knew roughly where the car parks were located in relation to our house, but looking on google maps does not prepare you for driving round the tiny lanes. There is a rough one way system around the town via very narrow streets, often only just wider than a car – but that does not mean all the narrow streets are one way.

After passing the railway station on the way into the town the streets become substantially narrower. You can’t access the front in a car during the day in high season but at other times you drive along the harbour on what you would think is a pedestrian street – people everywhere – and at the far end there is very little signage to show where to go but you head left up Fish Street. At the end there is a sign to the Island Car Park (which always reads full) so a sharp right hand turn onto Back Road East (which is 2 way) and then an impossible left hand turn onto Island Road to lead you to the car park. We found this car park was always full, and only once we managed to get a space as someone left. Do not be fooled by empty car parking spaces, they are only for permit holders. The other main car park is Barnoon Car Park which is up behind Porthmeor Beach, again always full. The other battle is that people are trying to unload there luggage in all this which leads to some interesting traffic jams. The moral of the parking story is if you get a space, think twice before leaving it.

Paying for parking however is very simple as you can buy long stay tickets, even up to a week, online using Ringo.