Self-catering accommodation in St Ives

Katy Peck

With the start of a new year comes the return of your annual holiday allowance which is subject to jostling for days off with your co-workers, so with this in mind why not start plotting your holiday ahead of the rest. So where are you going to choose as your destination of choice…

Holidays in St Ives

2015 might have been the year of the staycation, however, things have come a long way since then, a discerning traveller is looking for more than a humble abode to shack up in for a week’s holiday. So why St Ives? St Ives has been a popular destination for holidaymakers for the majority of the past century, bringing with it discerning artists, culture and seekers of authentic experiences.

Sail Lofts – St Ives

Built around, upon and encompassing what was once St Ives’s largest pilchard pressing yard, Sail Lofts has retained key features of what was once its industrious past with exposed beams and sections of original granite wall. The buildings making up what is now luxury self-catering accommodation also held a sail makers, and fish smoking house.

It is hard to imagine, when looking out from one of the many Juliet balconies located across the luxury apartments, that once this was a hive of activity, from artists milling around painting across the street at the Porthmeor Studios to the fishing hauls being carted off the boats, up the cobbled streets of the down-along and into the Sail Lofts yard, which is now a Mediterranean styled court yard, with a focal point bronze water sculpture depicting the dog fish and pilchard that were once in the same location strung up and beaten for oil.

Why choose St Ives?

The town is steeped in history, which is inescapable as you walk its streets, with plaques on every row of classic Cornish cottages stating previous inhabitants, from Alfred Wallis by Bumbles Tea Room to Barbara Hepworth who moved to St Ives with her husband Ben Nicholson and young family at the outbreak of war in 1939.

‘Finding Trewyn Studio was a sort of magic’, wrote Barbara Hepworth. ‘Here was a studio, a yard and garden where I could work in open air and space.’ When she first arrived at Trewyn Studio, Hepworth was still largely preoccupied with stone and wood carving, but during the 1950s she increasingly made sculpture in bronze as well. This led her to create works on a more monumental scale, for which she used the garden as a viewing area.

Along with it’s history the town is the proud home of some of the west country’s best restaurants including the Alba and Porthminster Kitchen, and not forgetting miles of golden sandy beaches. You cannot go far wrong when looking for an all-encompassing destination to feed your soul, mind and spirit.

To book luxury self-catering accommodation in St Ives, please call our team of friendly guest hosts on 01736 799175 and a member of the team will be happy in aiding you in booking the perfect holiday in St Ives for 2017.