Cornish Chronicles: St Ives

October 9, 2014 13 Comments

In 2012 and 2013, our autumn holidays were dictated by the touring schedule of Mr Leonard Cohen (Berlin and Dublin respectively). As he had the audacity to miss a year (well, he is 80) we had to make our own arrangements for 2014. We decided to go to Cornwall, the extreme south-west tip of England, which I, to my shame, had never visited, and which John had only visited as a young child. In fact, we spent a whole week exploring the extreme south-west of the extreme south-west, not straying far from the Penwith Peninsula, that crooked finger that juts out from St Ives (where we stayed) to Land’s End.

St Ives has a maze of narrow alleys and lanes, often with peculiar names, tumbling steeply down to its beautiful harbour and three sandy beaches. This does mean that wherever you are staying, there are a lot of hills to climb! Originally a pilchard harbour, these days it is more of an arts centre – although we were disappointed to find that Tate St Ives closed for two weeks for rehanging as soon as we arrived. We did manage to visit its roof-top café for coffee with a view, which compensated a bit. (Barbara Hepworth’s studio was open, but that will feature in a later post.) As you can see from the gallery below, despite being the end of September / beginning of October, the weather was glorious.

St Ives harbour

St Ives

Quirky street names

St Ives by night

The Island and Chapel of St Nicholas

Tate St Ives

Roof café

Chapel of St Nicholas

St Ives

Our base in St Ives was The Nook, a comfortable guest-house with friendly staff and good breakfasts. The room was quite small (though with plenty drawer and wardrobe space), but that didn’t matter as we were out and about so much. Cornish Chronicles to be continued soon…..

England, UK Cornwall, St Ives

13 Comments »

Lucid Gypsy
July 13, 2015 at 21:23

I followed Jude over here to check out what you got up to in St Ives. I’m glad you liked it, looks like you did a lot of walking, those cliff paths keep you fit. Glorious photos Anabel 🙂

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- Anabel Marsh
  July 13, 2015 at 21:53
  
  We loved tramping those cliff paths – and we were amazingly lucky with the weather for the time of year (Sept/Oct). I keep a photographer handy (aka husband) for most shots, I shall pass on your compliment.
  
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Heyjude
March 10, 2015 at 14:13

I was in Cornwall during October 2013 – it does seem to be a lovely month to be down that way. I have a few posts about Cornwall, but St Ives featured in this one: http://wp.me/pL5Ms-Jb

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Chris Robinson
October 11, 2014 at 11:06

I went to St Ives when I was about 18 – which was quite a long time ago 🙂 – and would love to return one day! It still looks beautiful!

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- Anabel Marsh
  October 11, 2014 at 11:22
  
  Thanks Chris – it is! More on Cornwall to come when I find time to write it. We had a great week there.
  
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  - Chris Robinson
    October 11, 2014 at 11:24
    
    I look forward to reading more then. Unfortunately, when I visit England, I arrive at Dover which, as I am sure you know, is a long drive from Cornwall!
    
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    - Anabel Marsh
      October 11, 2014 at 11:34
      
      Indeed! I’ve just been looking at your blog and see you are living in Germany, so I look forward to finding out more about that too.
      
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Lori L MacLaughlin
October 11, 2014 at 03:03

We drove through Cornwall when we were there, visiting sites related to King Arthur, including Tintagel Castle ruins on the coast. Such a lovely area!

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- Anabel Marsh
  October 11, 2014 at 07:50
  
  Tintagel is further round the coast – definitely on the list for next time!
  
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Silvia Writes
October 9, 2014 at 21:47

Looks so peaceful. I can just imagine how beautiful it looks up close since it looks marvelous in the pictures.

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- Anabel Marsh
  October 9, 2014 at 22:34
  
  Thanks – not so peaceful the day we arrived as it was the end of their festival, but many tourists must have gone home after that and it was much more quiet. Some beautiful coastal walks coming up when I sort the rest of my pictures out…
  
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Birgit
October 9, 2014 at 20:46

This place looks lovely and it reminds me a little of a TV Show my hubby & I love to watch which is Doc Martin. It is a tiny village with steep hills also. I have to say as soon as I see little fishing boats in the water I find it strangely and weirdly depressing. I have ever since I was a little kid. I have no idea why. Take the small boats out and it is perfect, place one rowboat in and instant depression. I feel like the person in the boat was lost at sesa-how weird is that?

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- Anabel Marsh
  October 9, 2014 at 21:06
  
  Doc Martin was filmed in Port Isaac which is further east from where we were, but still in Cornwall. I know someone who originally comes from there, but we didn’t get that far this time. Maybe you were affected by something on the news about a fishing boat sinking when you were young, and it’s left you with that feeling? A helicopter crashed in Glasgow just before Christmas last year and now the sound of one always makes me nervous.
  
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