I've just come back from a blustery-with-intermittent-sunshine weekend away and I'm in love. I have to admit that Cornwall took me by surprise. I wanted to take my mum away there for some well deserved peace and quiet. I figured we'd see a ruin or too and go on some walks but nothing prepared me for how truly breathtaking the landscape would be, or how moving (ahem) i'd find the history - I must be getting sentimental in my old age.
Autumn feels like the right time to go to Cornwall. It's when the whales come past, the beaches are emptier, the ruins more noble and the haunted spots are more ominous.We only went for 4 days, which was perfect for a mini get away. There's still time to book if you want to do the same for the end of September or the start of October and as the summer season dies down there's more late space available.
We booked late because of my particularly hectic work schedule, and at first I was surprised to not be able to find a single place to stay in St. Ives (even on Airbnb, my reliable second resort). The staycation is clearly going strong. Eventually, I happened upon a place called Lord Ryans, which was a real blessing - and it turned out - a serious coincidence too. I was telling my lovely colleague Ms. Vipond, the voice of our company's twitter, about how I'd found it in the high season; explaining that it was a new business, only having opened Spring this year and they'd had one negative review on Trip Advisor which my instincts hadn't trusted so I called to be utterly reassured by the lovely Mariana who runs it. Laura interrupted me half way through my tale, exclaiming "It's not Lord Ryan's is it??" - It was. We were staying in the same place she'd been at with her boyfriend the week before.
If you're looking for a chilled out and basic, fantastically good value apartment then you can't do any better. The three of us paid £300 for 3 nights with breakfast included in total and were very comfortable. The accommodation is just up the hill from a car park and the vibe is youth-hostel meets B&B (Mariana, the owner has dorms too). It was exactly what we needed after an over-indulgent summer in hotels. It was real and you felt like part of an adopted family at breakfast.
I seem to always start my weekender posts with what we ate, but then again, that's the first thing I look up before arriving at my weekend destination so here goes.
For a tapas style lunch: The Porthmeor Cafe
The Porthmeor cafe is on the beach just to the left of the St. Ives Harbour. It serves a variety of lunch and tea options, including a tapas lunch with rotating specials. The quality of food here is outstanding, both in terms of ingredients (fresh sea food) and concepting (equal to or surpassing the best of Soho's tapas style new openings). The best meal of the trip was had here, 20 minutes after we arrived in St. Ives and with a 5 minute wait for a sea-side private booth too! The meal was washed down with my newly discovered favourite white wine, which I saw on the menu and decided to try: Los Gansos Chilean Gewurztraminer, which I've just ordered a case of from here.
We ate: crab, whitebait, sweet potato chips, squid, broccoli and duck with beetroot.
For an elegant evening out: The Porthminster Beach Cafe
I had a bad meal at The Porthminster Beach Cafe, however my two chaperones had excellent ones and once again, the quality of ingredients was out of this world so I feel compelled to give this place a good review overall. Lucky for you guys, their menu doesn't change too regularly (other than the specials), so you'll be ok if you follow my advice.
We had the starter special: a mackerel sashimi in mango juice and rice wine with cracked black pepper and pickled cucumber - a dream. My mother also ordered the scallops which were intended to come with a good-looking beetroot pure, however this had dairy so my mother, being vegan ordered hers plain. They came, well seasoned and cooked to perfection with a lemon on the side and were also exquisite.
For mains, I had the pan fried John Dory with 'crab and red pepper fritters' - you may remember my reference to this in the post: In Search of London's Cheapest Lobster 3rd paragraph down, I won't bore you twice. My food was disappointingly dry, though I do take particular issue with this where others may not mind.
Swiftly moving on, the surf and turf was beautifully done with all the tastes in their correct place, including some tender lobster meat alongside an excellent steak (truffle on top), scallops and a miniature sauce boat with béarnaise. Truffles and béarnaise are my two most favourite things, closely followed by steak and lobster so it was really my own fault for not being hungry enough to order this.
My mother had the line caught mackerel fillets in a cornish dashi broth. This was a brilliantly executed take on Cornish meets asian flavours. The dashi broth was delicate and surprising with an accompaniment of peanut and crab dumplings. Utterly brilliant. We washed this down with Dr Loosen riesling, which we had sampled during our evening at The Finsborough Wine cafe and particularly liked.
For a proper British pub pitt stop: Logan Rock Inn
In between beaches, we found ourselves at Logan Rock Inn for a slap up Sunday lunch. There's no roast here, but daily specials sourced from the sea and pies. This is your classic no-frills English pub; the salads are undressed with chunky red onion, batter so thick on the fish and chips that you need a pick axe to get in, but there's something very satisfying about this kind of food. My Cornish Crab with both white and brown meat was the best I've ever had.
For posh fish and chips: Harbour Fish and Chips
The harbour in St. Ives has a lovely little posh fish and chip shop on its right hand side. You can get take away here too. The battered scallops are the best thing on the menu (from what we tried).
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| Battered scallops with home made tartare sauce |
For the most filling meal you can hold in one hand
A pastie is a must when you're in Cornwall, but I'd advise getting puff pastry and going for mince rather than steak meat, the way it's meant to be. I love the way they steam when you take your first bite. Mmm.
What to see
The Barbara Hepworth house and garden
It's so uplifting to go to the place where Barbara Hepworth made her work. It's the kind of place you have to feel out for yourself so I won't say much. Make sure you see her workshop as it's easily missed but has a lovely atmosphere about it.
Men-an-tol
The healing stone with a hole carved in the middle, that you pass through to be well. The idea is that this stone was created on lay lines (electro-magnetic force fields in the earth), though as lay lines have been scientifically disproven, you'll have to think of an alternative reason for why this space seems to ring through your whole body. It's magical.
The old mine
Beautiful and left in its naturally ruined state, a reminder of the history that we lose when we repair or destroy.
The Minak Theatre
The work of one incredible woman who carved the theatre from the cliff-side herself, completing the first iteration in 1926 to then have much of it destroyed by the war and start again. As beautiful from the theatre as it was from the coast.
Beach life
Porthcurno beach for a sheltered picnic and a dip or Gwenver beach for a walk and some rock-pooling.
Having seen the coast from the land for three days, we saw it from the sea on the last with a Marine Discovery trip. The sealife you can see from the coast in Cornwall is breathtaking. It was a real lesson for me in appreciating what's on your doorstep. I could hardly believe that we could see seals, porpoises, dolphins, sharks and whales just off the coast in a matter of hours. Truly sobering.
...and an update with pictures from Hannah at Marine Discovery taken on the day we went:
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