|
East of Zennor, the road runs four hilly miles on to the steeply built town of ST IVES , a place that has smoothly undergone the transition to holiday haunt from its previous role as a centre of the fishing industry. So productive were the offshore waters that a record sixteen and a half million fish were caught in one net on a single day in 1868, and the diarist Francis Kilvert was told by the local vicar that the smell was sometimes so great as to stop the church clock. By the time the pilchard reserves dried up around the early years of the last century, the town was beginning to attract a vibrant artists' colony , precursors of the wave later headed by Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Naum Gabo and the potter Bernard Leach, who in the 1960s were followed by a third wave including Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron and Bryan Wynter. Sunday painters dominate the dozens of galleries sandwiched between the town's restaurants and bars; the best work created in St Ives can be viewed in the St Ives Tate Gallery , overlooking Porthmeor Beach on the north side of town (March to mid-June daily 10am-5.30pm; mid-June to Aug daily 10am-6.30pm; Nov-Feb Tues-Sun 10am-4.30pm; GBP3.95; combined ticket with Barbara Hepworth Museum GBP6.50; ). The sights and sounds of the beach are a constant presence inside the airy, gleaming white building, interacting with the gallery's paintings, sculptures and ceramics, most of which date from the period 1925 to 1975. Apart from these, the Tate has some specially commissioned contemporary works on view. The museum's rooftop cafe is one the best places in town for tea and cake. A short distance away on Barnoon Hill, the Barbara Hepworth Museum (March-Oct daily 10am-5.30pm; Nov-Feb Tues-Sun 10am-4.30pm; GBP3.75; combined ticket with the Tate GBP6.50) gives another insight into the local arts scene. One of the foremost non-figurative sculptors of her time, Hepworth lived in the building from 1949 until her death in a studio fire in 1975. The sculptures are arranged in positions chosen by Hepworth in the house and garden, and the museum also has plenty of background, from photos and letters to catalogues and reviews. The wide expanse of Porthmeor Beach dominates the northern side of St Ives; unusually for a town beach, the water quality is excellent, and the rollers make it popular with surfers. South of the station, Porthminster Beach is another favourite spot for sunbathing and swimming, but if you hanker for a quieter stretch you need to head east out of town to the string of magnificent golden beaches lining St Ives Bay - the strand is especially fine on the far side of the port of Hayle, at the mouth of the eponymous river.
Your Tip for St Ives
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to St Ives - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to St Ives - visit the main St Ives forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the St Ives webguide section below! Thanks.
| 
