St Ives, Cornwall

St Ives is one of the most famous holiday towns in Cornwall. It is enveloped on all sides by four wonderful beaches, the trade winds providing it with a sub-tropical climate where summer comes earlier and lasts longer!

Life centres around the harbour where fishing boats moor alongside granite piers. Radiating from the harbour into the old town is a maze of narrow cobbled streets lined by fishermen's cottages. Steep sloping passageways with secret corners conceal unexpected delights at almost every turn.

St Ives is world-famous as an art centre, and studios, shops, and galleries are everywhere. The Tate St Ives, part of the Tate Gallery in London, was opened in 1993, and is perhaps the flagship of Cornish art.

The Gallery's inspirational building stands high above the magnificent surfing beach of Porthmeor and features exhibitions that represent the modern 'St Ives School' of painters such as Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron and Sir Terry Frost as well as a changing programme of other contemporary work.

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