St Ives, Cornwall (Mini Moon)

I looove st ives will try and remember the nice places to go but am rubbish with names, the only one that i can remember off the top of my head is Blas burgers, it is obviuosly a burger place so not a posh meal but lovely homemade gourmet burgers, it is a really small place just away from the harbour and just has 2 big tables with stools round for people to sit all fitted out from reclaimed furniture.

The cafe/restuarant at porthminster beach has a really good reputation, we have not been but OH's parents go to St Ives twice a year and always go there

Will go and have a think and be back

Thanks, Nabs. The burger place sounds ace!

Hi We go to St Ives twice a year, every year and we call it our second home! I would recommend the following:

Tate St Ives for a nice lunch

Porthgwidden beach cafe for lovely views and good food

Alfresco for amazing evening dining - the best in my opinion

St Ives Bakery (at the bottom of the Digey) for amazing pasties and scones and cakes galore

There is a tiny restaurant opposite the Mermaid in Fish Street which i cant remember the name of now but it is lush and well worth a trip. Oh its the Saltwater Cafe! Sorry just remembered it!

Go to I Should Cocoa for amazing chocolate treats too!

There is a the Organic Burger place too - which we've yet to try and always go to our other favs first and run out of time but have heard good things about it!

We might go there on our mini moon too but the place we normally stay does weekly hire and we only want to go for 4 days (well, want to go for longer but have only a few days to spare! But we might go again in september too!).

Its lovely their chocolate brownies are gorgeous too, go early tho as they dont take bokings and it is relly popular

also nice are

onshore - on the harbour nice seafood and pizzas, pretty reasonably priced can sit outfron which is nice

Alba - more of a posh restaurant on the harbour in the old lifeboat station

There is a deli on fore street which is great for lovely deli type stuff and bacon for your breakfast (if you are in a self catering cottage, we always do this)

just past the deli on the corner of the digey is a lovely place for puddingy type stuff, fruit tarts and clotted cream mmmmm

and a little bit past there is Ferrells, this is the quaintest little old school bakery, they do fresh tiger baps in a morning which are amazing for bacon butties and they do epic flapjack which is essential energy food if you choose to go surfing, i partucularly recommend the chocolate!

Have you been to st ives before? Where abouts are you staying (if you dont mind me asking!)?

MIssZKG - Thank you! I shall write all of those out!

Naboo, one of the Gonwin Manor cottages. It looks lovely. Self catering but with a jacuzzi bath, wood burning stove, own garden etc. It is going to be perfect for the rest I'll need after the wedding!

Wow they look lovely, not seen those ones before, i have been thinking of trying to get me and OH mini moon down there I thought I was fine waiting so long for honeymoon but really need a holiday now (although I wont be able to drag him anywhere until after cricket season now grrr)

Are you driving down, if you are you will go past a tesco in carbis bay (just before St Ives), We always stop there to stock up on any essentials you need as there is no supermarket type shops in st ives just the deli and a few overpried cornershop type places that have very little choice

argh Im jealous going to go look at my st ives pics to cheer myself up

No worries CB - glad to help. Be wary of the seagulls! Oh and their is a fab ice cream shop on the beach front that does apple pie ice cream with whipped cream on top - seriously YUM. And the cream teas in the Tate St Ives are mega good. Also make a trip to the Penlee Gallery in Penzance as their cafe is v good too. Can i PLEASE stop obsessing about food!! Can you tell i am on a pre-wedding diet by any chance?!

Just a note to mention though as well, as I notice that you're not staying in St Ives itself but Carbis Bay - the parking in St Ives can be an absolute total nightmare (people queue at night for a spot in the carparks!). Where we stay comes with a secure parking spot (very rare - only costs us an extra £50 so its well worth it for a weeks stay) and it is a fair old walk from Carbis Bay to St Ives itself, I would look at the bus routes or find a good taxi firm to ferry you around!

I agree parking is an issue, we pay £30 to park for a week in the council car parks but once you are in you cant move your car for fear of losing your space (hence the stocking up with groceries on the way in) the walk from carbis to St ives is a bit of a trek, there is a lovely scenic route by the cost (road walk a bit dull) that is down hill so no to bad from carbis to st ives but going the otherway is not so leisurely!! There is a nice chippy (restaurant and takeaay) in carbis bay, fish n chips are lovely but the place is straight out of the 70's its a proper time warp,! i think it is called becks or pecks!

Hi

The Carbis Bay Hotel is a nice venue for meals/afternoon teas. It has a wonderful beach in front of it with lovely views.

We got married there in 2009? and it was fabulous. We went there for mothers day lunch a couple of weeks ago and it was delicious.

As you drive to St Ives, just after the Tesco roundabout, it's signposted to the right. You drive down the hill to the bay, veer right over the railway line and the Hotel is down on your left.

HTH

x

PS - As a previous poster said, do watch out for the seagulls - they are buggers. Nicked a pasty out my husbands hands a few months back when we were down there!!

Thanks very much, you're a lovely bunch!

Plan is to have a delivery of goodies waiting there for us. I'm going to avoid setting foot in any Tescos or similar for a few days for fear of bursting my wedding bubble! We've got parking with the cottage so hopefully the car will stay there and we'll use taxis or go for leisurely walks. The plan is to have a relaxing time but see some of the sights. Watches are staying at home, as are all our cares and worries!

We drove all over Cornwall for our honeymoon, and my favorite memory was having a proper cornish pasty while sitting outside a pub on the waterfront. I know you guys love your pubs,, lol. I loved the drive down to Lands End. Exploring is all part of the fun

We had a lovely meal in Ocean Grill on wharf road (the sea front) it was a lovely summers evening and they sat us out on the (covered) balcony so we enjoyed a lovely meal whilst watching the sun go down over the sea/harbour.(And we're both fussy about restaurants)

would say however this was about two years ago though so it might have changed in the meantime.

Tried to go there last time we were in St Ives (last July) but it was fully booked for the duration of our stay.

I can't make any suggestions as we can't remember names but just wanted to say that St Ives is so lovely. I love Cornwall, it's like another world and we wish we could move there. Bet you have a lovely time x

Thanks all of you for your fabulous suggestions!

We had an awesome mini moon! The place we stayed was lovely and I'd thoroughly recommend it if you want a laid back break. We went for Primrose Cottage so we could have some privacy and it was well worth the extra dosh. We ate breakfast on the balcony over looking the coast every morning, very peaceful, and no one to overlook what we were or weren't wearing, he he!

We did plenty of walking (Nabs, that coastal path is excellent! We had 2 miles of beach to ourselves!), plenty of eating (Cloudy Bay tasting menu at Alba and fabulous dinner at Porthminster Beach Cafe - fois gras with bacon dust, anyone? - are notable mentions), drank plenty of champagne and had a thoroughly lovely time.

We have a trip to Land's End and St Michael's Mount and finished the week with a BBQ back at the cottage where we cooked mackerel that had been caught a few hours earlier. The weather was lovely, if a little windy at times, but the only time we needed to put the roof up on the car was when we hit the M4 on the way home!

Loved it and wish we were still there now. Thank you all so much for your recommendations!

CB x