Page 34 - (DK Eyewitness) Back Roads Travel Guide - Great Britain

32 BACK ROADS GREAT BRITAIN

VISITING ST IVES 1 St Ives
Cornwall; TR26 2DS
Parking
The steep streets get very congested. Once Cornwall’s busiest pilchard-fishing port, St Ives suffered as fish
Park at the top of the town and walk stocks declined at the start of the 20th century. Help had arrived with
down to the harbour. Upper Trenwith the advent of the railway in 1877, as the trains brought holidaymakers
Car Park provides a shuttle bus down. to the town. Artists, including Turner, were also drawn by the clear
Tourist Information
The Guildhall, Street an Pol, TR26 2DS; light there, and many of the harbourside net lofts were now converted
01736 796 297; www.stivestic.co.uk; to artists’ studios. The fishing never recovered, but the visitors kept
closed Sat pm, Sun coming, attracted by the fine sandy beaches and many art galleries.
WHERE TO STAY
A two-hour walking tour community. Go along Sea View Place
ST IVES Walk downhill from the Tourist to St Ives Museum 5 (open Easter–Oct,
Rivendell inexpensive Information Centre (TIC) 1. Turn left closed Sun) in Wheal Dream which tells
Award-winning family-run guesthouse along St Andrew’s Street to Market the town’s history – one gallery has
near sea and town centre; offers sea Place, which is overlooked by the paintings from the 1880s when the
views, packed lunches and car park.
7 Porthminster Terrace, TR26 2DQ; 01736 15th-century St Ia’s 2, built in celebrated St Ives School of Artists
794 923; www.rivendell-stives.co.uk the local textured granite, with was formed. Continue down a
a 24-m (80-ft) tower. It has narrow walkway to steps
Boskerris Hotel moderate–expensive
Smart but friendly hotel above Carbis carved sandstone pillars, above the sea and around
Bay with 15 stylish rooms (most have choir stalls, a gilded roof the car park above the tiny
sea views), decked terrace and a garden. and a Madonna sculpture Porthgwidden Beach and
Boskerris Road, TR26 2NQ; 01736 795 by Barbara Hepworth. its excellent café. With the
295; www.boskerrishotel.co.uk; open Turn right to join Wharf Road sea on your right, continue
Mar–Nov
3 which leads around the St Ives onto the grassy headland of
AROUND ZENNOR harbour to a tiny 16th-century Museum sign the Island, which has the tiny
Gurnard’s Head moderate chapel on Smeaton’s Pier 4 St Nicholas Chapel 6 at the
Small and cosy inn in an imposing where, nowadays, just a few fishermen top. Drop down again to the car park.
building near the sea, amidst a wild still land their catch. Carry on along Porthmeor Road and
Cornish landscape. Excellent restaurant.
Treen, TR26 3DE (3 km/2 miles west A warren of cobbled streets climbs right into Back Road West and right
of Zennor); 01736 796 928; steeply up into Downalong, the oldest again onto the seafront for the Tate St
www.gurnardshead.co.uk part of town, once home to the fishing Ives Gallery 7 (Mar–Oct, open daily;
Nov–Feb, closed Mon), a striking white
0 metres 300 building with a large convex window.
It features artists who painted in
0 yards 300 St Nicholas Cornwall in the mid-20th century.
Chapel
Walk back along the seafront,
bearing right into The Digey and
Porthgwidden right again into Fore Street. Fork right
Beach
Porthmeor uphill, following signs to the Barbara
PO RTH MEOR RD ISLAND RD Hepworth Museum and Sculpture
Beach
Garden 8 (Mar–Oct, open daily; Nov–
BACK RD WE ST St Ives Museum Feb, closed Mon) on Barnoon Hill. The
sculptor, a key figure in the develop-
TH E W H A R F Smeaton’s ment of abstract art in Europe, worked
Pier in the house for 26 years, and her work
PORTHMEOR HILL PORTHMEOR RD St Ives Gallery Museum and FORE STREE T W HAR F ROA D Harbour turn right and go steeply uphill at the
THE
Tate
is displayed here (and in the garden).
DIGEY
Head downhill from the museum,
HILL
BARNOON
Barbara Hepworth
next junction signed Trewyn Gardens.
Sculpture Garden
W E S T PL ACE
Cross these to the far exit leading to
AY R L A N E
MARKET
PLACE
High Street. Return to the TIC via
St la’s a T-junction. Turn left towards the
HIGH ST Tregenna Place, past the Library
B EDFOR D ROA D TREGENNA Tourist which, like many of the galleries in
WINDSOR HILL
Information Centre
town, displays work by local artists
PLACE
TH E STENNACK T HE WARREN or which has been created locally.
ª Exit on the B3306 towards St Just
T H E T ERR AC E
and Land’s End. Zennor is just off the
road on the right after 8 km (5 miles).
Where to Stay: inexpensive, under £80; moderate, £80–£150; expensive, over £150
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