I’ve never been to Cornwall so had a wish list of what I wanted to do during our short time there. We were based in St Ives in order to explore the West and South and here’s just a snippet of what we got up to and some info which you may find useful if you’re planning on doing something similar.
Mon – Drove down from Manchester and stopped at cosy ‘Jamaica Inn’ for refreshment on the way. Arrived into St Ives late afternoon so just walked down into town for a mooch round and dinner.
Tue – Botallack Mine (a fabulous ‘Poldark’ location – no charges for entrance currently, even though the National Trust have recently got involved – I’m sure they will follow…); Sennen Cove (beautiful large beach) and Land’s End (park in the Harbour car park at Sennen – much cheaper than the beach car park and you can pick up a trail there for the walk to Land’s End – about 1.5 miles. It’s very touristy when you get there and not my cup of tea but the views are stunning along the way).
Wed – Penzance (park in the railway car park, again it’s much cheaper) and walked to St Michael’s Mount (causeway walk ok – check the tides! – but quite hard going walking on cobbles up to the top of the castle – don’t say I didn’t warn you).
Mousehole (a bit disappointing – had a picture in my mind but it wasn’t as I expected) then to the Minack Theatre which was stunning (we arrived just before it was closing so were virtually the only people there and the views over the sea and to Porthcurro beach were to wonderful).
Thu – Kynance Cove (so beautiful and there’s a great cafe above it for a cream tea), Lizard Point (a spot of seal watching), Cadgwith Cove (tiny, quaint fishing village – far preferable in my opinion to Mousehole).
Fri – Drove home but called in at Padstow on the way back and were glad we did.
Restaurant recommendations in St Ives:
Cellar Bistro: 29-31 Fore St; St Andrew’s Street Bistro: 16 St Andrew’s Street.
Accommodation: Little Leaf Guest House – very nice, fabulous breakfasts (stayed in Room 2 – front of house – great views of St Ives). Nb: No private parking but there’s a public car park a few doors away (we paid for 24hr parking for the 4 days at a cost of £30). Also Nb: 5-10 min walk down into town via steps/slope. It’s pretty steep so a fairly tough walk coming back up.Certainly got my heart beating so I wouldn’t recommend staying here if you’re not fit enough.
All in all a great four days away and the beautiful weather was an added bonus.
Ps. Would also recommend perhaps joining the National trust if you’re not already members (dependent on what you plan to do of course) as we paid out a fair bit in entrance fees and car parking charges.
