Winter Solstice...

With the nights becoming ever longer and the run up to Christmas in full swing here at the Sail Lofts luxury accommodation in St Ives we decided to take a look back over 2015 at some of our favourite moments…

Lunar eclipse

Friday 20^th March started like no other day. Abi and I found ourselves up at 7am walking the lanes above St Ives looking for local bracken and brambles along with some natural fauna to deck out a photo shoot in Slipway; one of the twelve Sail Lofts five-star apartments in St Ives.  Pulling into St Ives that morning and driving around the Harbour front towards the Sail Lofts there was an eerie calm, with people sat gazing upwards. Early mornings throughout March in St Ives are usually deserted, bar the local window cleaners.

The lunar eclipse commenced at 7.40am and became total mid-morning, whilst we were setting up the photography equipment. We paused on the Sail Lofts deck during the peak of the eclipse watching across the rooftops as St Ives fell into darkness, and the murmuring of local birds reached a crescendo from the confusion the early onset of the evening caused.

The lunar eclipse marked the day of one of my favourite images taken by David during the photography session at the Sail Lofts. He popped down to the beach and caught a merry stone skipper on Porthmeor idly spending time. I feel the image of the stone skipper in the distance captures the quintessential feeling of St Ives…

Hall of Fame

In early June we received a hard backed envelope that contained a very special accolade. As a team we pride ourselves on providing the best service we can offer to our guests. We are on-site daily during the week to assist with guest enquiries and do all we can to enhance the overall Sail Lofts experience. No request is ever too much trouble, and we will always try our best to make the impossible a reality, we’ve even managed to source a birthday cake shaped like Disney’s Onna with just a day’s notice.

The contents of this mystery envelope highlights the Sail Lofts team’s work and commitment to its guests, and it is down to these guests, who take time to write such wonderful five star reviews that within this envelope we received entry to the TripAdvisor’s Hall of Fame 2015 for our continued success in providing five star service, five star accommodation, and five star locations for over five years in a row.

So we would like to say a massive thank you to every guest that has contributed to our amazing TripAdvisor reviews over the years. We look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Katy x

See Sail Lofts reviews on TripAdvisor…

Luxury dog friendly accommodation in St Ives…

As the beach ban is lifted and our four-legged friends may now play on the sand or splash in the sea all day long we are delighted to announce a few changes to our dog friendly policy…

These changes mean you and your pooch can enjoy a 5* break in our luxury dog friendly accommodation in St Ives anytime between September and June, including any school holidays that fall within these months. We currently offer four dog friendly properties – Curno, Harbour, Zennor and The Sail Lofts Cottage.

If you have stayed with us before you’ll be familiar with the scrumptious welcome pack you receive on arrival and we thought it was about time we extended this welcome to our furry friends, so all dogs holidaying with us will receive their very own welcome pack to enjoy during their stay. Don’t tell though; we want it to be a surprise.

We think St Ives is the perfect holiday spot for pups and with two fantastic beaches on our doorstop, The Sail Lofts 5* holiday apartments in St Ives are hard to beat. Our enviable location also gives you access to long stretches of coastal path. If you’re serious walkers you could tackle the 6-mile hike to Zennor and enjoy a spot of lunch at The Tinners Arms or The Gurnhard’s Head, both of which are dog friendly.

If you plan to stay closer to home there are plenty of bars and restaurants that allow dogs in St Ives. Some may have restricted areas so it’s worth checking in advance but here is a rundown of our favourites:

Rum & Crab Shack – Great for seafood dishes with a Forrest Gump twist. The rum list is pretty impressive too and with panoramic views across the Harbour The Rum & Crab Shack is well worth a visit.

Firehouse Bar & Grill – The burgers, pizza’s and rotisserie chicken all come highly recommended and the well-priced menu certainly offers fantastic value for money.

Pedn Olva Hotel – Dine in the bar area and your four-legged friend will be made to feel right at home. The bar menu offers a good selection of light bites and main meals and food is served from midday until 9pm.

The Loft – Enjoy lunch, tapas or dinner looking over the rooftops towards the Harbour from the heated terrace.  

Halsetown Inn (Just outside St Ives) – If you’re looking for a dog friendly Sunday lunch venue, look no further. We highly recommend booking though as it’s a popular choice.

To view our revised dog friendly policy, including any additional charges we make for bringing your four-legged friend along for the ride, please visit our luxury dog friendly page. If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact one of the team on 01736 799175.

We look forward to welcoming you and your furry friend very soon.

Kelly x

Where was the pot of gold?

With the weather as it is we've been lucky enough to spot a fair few rainbows in the past week, the problem is the camera hasn't always been to hand, but here are a few we did catch...

Another award for St Ives? Really?

Yes, St Ives has scooped another award, this time from the coveted Traveller's Choice Awards. We felt this deserved some space on the blog, so we will continue with the events theme next time. So what was this award for?

After winning ‘best UK holiday destination’ in 2010, St Ives has now been awarded ‘best beaches in the UK’ by Tripadvisor users at the Traveller's Choice Awards.

All with naturally soft sand, beach cafes and hire shops, they have something different to offer everyone. Porthmeor (30 metres from The Sail Lofts) is the year-round surfers beach. With the newly refurbished Porthmeor Beach Café, a surf school, chalets that can be pre-booked, and world famous Tate St Ives, Porthmeor faces northwest and is perfect for the Atlantic waves. If you’ve got small children or toddlers, 

Porthgwidden (a minutes walk from the Sail Lofts) is the one to choose. Nestled beneath the slopes of the ‘Island’, with uninterrupted views across St Ives Bay to Godrevy Lighthouse, it’s smaller crescent shape is sheltered and just right for children. There’s also got the wonderful Porthgwidden Beach Café serving food all day, with their own hire shop and beach chalets to pre-book. 

A ten minute walk round the harbour front, past the Lifeboat House and up through the Warren brings you to Porthminster, a traditional family beach with a choice of cafes, shops, and hire facilities. Don’t miss having a meal at the award winning Porthminster Beach Café which is on the sand itself, with fantastic views from the restaurant and their outside terrace across St Ives Bay towards Gwithian and Godrevy. 

Not forgetting the Harbour Beach at low tide and Carbis Bay for a spot of crabbing, St Ives is lucky to have such a selection of beaches. 

If you want to take advantage of all these lovely beaches in this lovely spring weather then we have had two unfortunate cancellations for this Friday 15th April in our Island and Zennor apartments. 

Surfing and hanging

The Sail Lofts has been busy this week with bookings flying in and a change of scene in some of the apartments. Whilst we are busy changing art, it is nothing compared to the scale of the rehanging at the Tate St Ives as they prepare for the new Dexter Dalwood exhibition opening on the 23rd January. 


New artwork has been added to many of our apartments, with some new pieces of work from Andrew Garner and additional pieces from Sonya Walters a local St Ives artist. Andrews work is very contemporary and his latest works, entitled ‘Passage’, reflect the layers in the stages of life.

It has been a good week of surf too, I've made it into the water a few times and feeling very jealous of those surfing Porthmeor today, 2-3ft and clean with a light offshore! Luckily the swell is going to keep rolling in we should be able to find a wave for a while yet. The winds are going to become a little more tricky, with North Westerlies forecast, possibly some South coast days?

For those who want to fly down to Cornwall for a bargain holiday, AirSouthWest are offering flights at £29, superb value!


We were interested to find out today too that not only are we five star but we have the Gold Award, which means we are at the very top of self catering holidays!

We still have great offers for breaks, so visit our website for more information and to take advantage of up to 50% off.

Making the most of 2009

After a few days off it was back to the office yesterday and its been very busy with new bookings (perhaps taking advantage of the 15% Vat?). The Christmas break was brilliant, some dry days, walking along the coast paths and of course a few visits to some fine public houses. 

I made a visit to the Trengillywartha Inn at Nancenoy (the other side of Helston), and what a lovely pub it is, great food and atmosphere and a some rather tasty ales! I would recommend it to anyone, only a half hour drive from St Ives and it is a convenient stopping point for some good walks. 

We were gifted with some surf over the Christmas break, a couple of North coast days with some solid waves and a brilliant south coast day on Sunday at Praa Sands (20 minutes from St Ives). This week has and will see some small but clean conditions and looking into the weekend it should be small but offshore on the North Coast. Porthmeor had a wave this morning but its dropped away near high tide.


St Ives is bustling away with tourists making the most of the sales and the independent shops and galleries, and the preparations for St Ives' famous New Year celebrations are beginning. Fancy dress all the way!

As a thank you to our blog readers we are offering 20% off all apartments for January vacations, and if you book before the 31st December you can take advantage of the 15% VAT. To find out more please give us a call and tell us where you saw the offer on 01736 799175.

Lastly we would like to take the opportunity to wish you a very happy and prosperous new year!