All about St Ives

St Ives in Cornwall

A perfect holiday destination for everyone. With such beautiful beaches and Cornwall's amazing climate you'll find it a wonderful place to relax and unwind on the beach at St Ives or walk through the quaint streets exploring one of the most artistic towns with galleries and art exhibitions. You can even find art classes.
Locally caught seafood is available in the restaurants and cafes and makes you realise the deliciousness of freshly caught and cooked fish.
Porthgwidden Beach is great for swimmers as it's sheltered.
A cornish cream tea is a must have treat for everyone who visits Cornwall.

Celebrations and festivals in St Ives

Knill Ceremony which takes place every five years on 25 July. The next ceremony takes place on 25 July 2011.

St Ives feast which is a celebration of the founding of St Ives by St Ia and takes place on the Sunday and Monday nearest February 3 every year

St Ives May Day

St Ives September Festival

Surfing at Porthmeor beach is a popular reason to visit St Ives or you can relax on the soft, smooth sandy beach, or walk round the tiny streets packed with interesting shops, galleries and exhibitions as well as cafes and bars.

Barbara Hepworth Museum includes a garden packed with her sculptures, whilst the Penwith gallery shows local artists work.

The local countryside is stunning with some spectacular cliffs and beaches to explore. Local attractions include The Eden Project, St. Austell which is a major tourist destination with it's gigantic paid or geodesic conservatories - one contains rainforest, the other contains the ruits and flowers of the Mediterranean, South Africa and California.

St. Michael's Mount (National Trust) Marazion, near Penzance. Access via the causeway when the tide is low or boat at other times. The medieval castle, shops and the restaurants are well worth a visit showing you history, architecture, horticulture all on a tiny but beautiful island.

Lands End - somewhere to have your photo taken! This is a traditional location where you stand by the sign and have your photo took!

The Minack Theatre, Porthcurno, Penzance - open air theatre.

Flambards Village, Helston. Packed with children's rides, more scary thrill rides and activities for the whole family, Flambards is a great day out for the whole family. The Really Wild Experience is a great way of seeing and getting hands on experience with rare and exotic species. There's also the Hands on Science Experience where you can play with great experiments that make science fun!

 

National Maritime Museum Cornwall - a great museum for those interested in boats and the sea. They have over 140 small craft from both the UK and rest of the world. The Bartlett Library is here and holds a huge colection of books and papers on maritime history. The set sail experience gives you film footage, sound tracks and still images, interviews with famous sailors and designers and an overall amazing history of boats. The collection of boats is spectacular and will entrance old and young alike.
One of the most spectacular features of the museum is the Tidal Zone which gives you windows on to the underwater world in the habour outside. This is amazing to see what's going on out there and if you're lucky you'll see cormorants fishing by diving down, fish, shrimps and crabs will also be seen.

Paradise Park, Hayle, Nr St. Ives - top wildlife sanctuary with an indoor play centre and home of the World Parrot Trust. See otters, red pandas, native red squirrels
and the rare Cornish Chough at this important conservation wildlife centre.

The Godrevy Lighthouse is a short drive from St Ives and features in Virginia Woolf's "To the lighthouse". The 26m tall octagonal tower watches over the sea, and the beach where seals visit as well as the cafe.

Wayside Folk Museum is 4 miles from St Ives at Zannor. Historical Exhibitions of : Waterwheels from Cornish mining industry; Cobblers shop with exhibition on the History of Wayside Mill Building, with original machinery and millstones and collection of early agricultural implements and the Blacksmiths Forge; Domestic implements; People of past; Zennor 18th century kitchen.

The climate in this part of Britain lends itself well to growing delicate plants that wouldn't survive in other parts of the Uk. Gardens are available to visit and include Godolphin House & Gardens, Trewidden Garden and Trengwainton Garden Madron.

Tourist information can provide you with leaflets (and often discount vouchers for entry to many places) - St Ives Tourist Information Centre is situated in the Guildhall, close to the main shopping area.