Feast on food, art and culture in St Ives

With 2016 well under way and spring within touching distance, we can feel the all too familiar bubbles of excitement building for the year ahead. St Ives is a beautiful place to visit at any time of year but if you like to satisfy your inner culture vulture whilst travelling, why not coincide your holiday with one of our favourite festivals? There is certainly plenty to choose from…

St Ives Literature Festival

Saturday 14^th – Saturday 21^st May

If you’re a wordsmith at heart then we highly recommend a visit to St Ives during the literature festival. Packed with events celebrating the written word there is a busy schedule of events taking place across the town from open-air poetry readings and comedy to book launches and live music. Just around the corner in Norway Square you can listen to live music and poetry readings every day (for free) and if you have always flirted with the idea of penning your own work, there are a range of drop-in workshops to get you started.

If a luxury literature break sounds like your cup of tea, take a look at the remaining availability in our luxury self-catering apartments in Cornwall here.

St Ives Food and Drink Festival

Saturday 15^th & Sunday 15^th May

St Ives Food and Drink Festival celebrates some of the regions finest producers, chefs and local food on Porthminster Beach. The weekend plays hosts to a number of talented local chefs who will be showcasing their culinary skills with some fabulous cookery demonstrations, rumour has it there may even be a few well known chef’s also paying a visit to the cookery stage! There will also be a live music stage to really add that festival flavour and if you’re feeling a bit peckish you’ll be spoilt for choice with the range of food stalls offering street food style catering. The producers market will be bigger and better this year so have a wander and try a few nibbles for free.

If the foodie vibe floats your boat we have put together a special package for the festival weekend, find out more here.

St Ives September Festival

10^th – 24^th September

One of our favourites and most certainly a highlight of the year, St Ives September Festival is a cultural feast offering two weeks of live music, art, performance and exhibitions across a huge number of venues in the town. With something for everyone this festival is hugely diverse and spans all genres from world music, folk and jazz to name just a few. The headline acts are beginning to trickle through and so far the confirmed names include ‘Rick Wakeman’, ‘Baka Beyond’ and ‘Sound of the Sirens’. The majority of events are ticketed but you’ll also find lots of quirky street artists on hand to provide lots of free entertainment throughout the festival.

If getting knee deep in culture has your pulse racing checkout our remaining availability for the festival weeks here.

Kelly x

Looking for a reason to visit St Ives this May...

For any serious food and drink connoisseur the St Ives Food and Drink Festival kicks off for its sixth year on Saturday 16^th & Sunday 17^th May. So there has never been a better time to head to St Ives and spend a luxurious weekend in one of our 5* luxury self-catering properties whilst spending time gorging on the tantalising delights that St Ives has to offer. 

The Festival takes place on the iconic Porthminster beach with its white sand and turquoise sea, boasting one of the UKs most stunning coastlines and promoting all that is great about the region’s natural produce.

Produce is diverse from cheese and artisan breads to the finest chocolatiers, not forgetting freshly landed fish including mackerel, bass, Dover sole, bream, herring, crab and lobster. There is then the multitude of county ciders, real ale and craft beers from the local independent microbreweries spread across the region. 

As the St Ives Food and Drink festival suggests ‘If you want to experience some of the best food and drink that this county has to offer then a visit to the St Ives Food and Drink Festival is an opportunity not to be missed.  Paradise never tasted so good…’

All of this wonderful produce is showcased during the festival and much of it supplying the local eateries, which are not to be missed during a visit to St Ives. We highly recommend that no visit to St Ives is complete without a lunch or evening soiree at the Porthminster Beach Café, just make sure to make a table reservation up to a week in advance to avoid disappointment.

We have 3 properties available over the Food and Drink Festival weekend; with opportunity to stay either a short break (Fri – Mon) or why not indulge in a 7-night stay, making the most of what St Ives has to offer:

Beach: Three bedrooms, two en-suites and a family bathroom along with wonderful spacious open plan living, make this a fine example of our luxury accommodation in St Ives.

7 nights £919 (£154 pp) | 3 nights £689 (£115 pp)

Ocean: Three floors of contemporary 5 star accommodation in St Ives with three double bedrooms and two bathrooms; topped by a relaxed living area with stunning sea views and a spacious kitchen-diner.

7 nights £1035  (£173 pp) | 3 nights£775 (£129 pp)

Slipway: Exquisite 5 star luxury accommodation in St Ives. With 3 en-suite bedrooms and a large kitchen-diner, Slipways piece de resistance is a large sunny sitting room complete with its own private balcony overlooking Porthmeor Beach. A private car parking space in our onsite garage is also included.

7 nights £1399 (£233 pp) | 3 nights £1049 (£174 pp)

Katy x


Find out more about staying at The Sail Lofts self-catering apartments in St Ives...OR call 01736 799175 

Find out more about The St Ives Food and Drink Festival...

Celebrate great food and drink in St Ives

Celebrate great food and drink in St Ives

Preparations for the St Ives Food and Drink Festival, taking place between 21^st and 27^th May 2012, are well underway.

The town comes alive during the festival with many of its local producers, chefs and resident foodies coming out to soak up the atmosphere of this exciting festival.

There will be many events taking place over the festival including fishing and cooking your catch, coastal wild food walks and wine and cheese tasting evenings. For a full calendar of events taking place over the festival please click here.

There will also be cookery demonstrations by some of St Ives’ leading chefs on the Harbour Beach (opposite The Sloop Inn) on Saturday 21^st and Sunday 22^nd.  The cookery demonstrations will begin at 2pm, 3pm and 4pm on each day so arrive early to ensure you get a front row spot.

The West Pier will host a producers market on Saturday and Sunday with many of the county’s leading food and drink producers showcasing and selling their produce. Sample and buy lots of delicious goodies including wine, cider, chocolate, cheese, meat, chutneys and curry. For a full list of producers exhibiting please click here.

If you can’t make it to the festival but fancy trying some inspirational recipes at home take a look at some of the recipes provided by a handful of fabulous chefs, who head up some of the best restaurants in the town, here.

If this has got your taste buds going and you fancy a last minute foodie break in St Ives we still have limited availability over the festival period. To check availability please click here or contact us on 01736 799175.

St Ives Food and Drink Festival

As promised here is the second installment of our pick of the best events happening in St Ives. This week we are featuring the St Ives Food and Drink Festival, a relatively new festival to the town, but one of our favourites.

Starting on Monday 16th May for six days the festival promises to highlight the culinary delights of St Ives and the local area amongst a host of cooking demonstrations, foraging, walks and wine. 

Here is a pick of some of the events we are looking forward to most:

Tuesday 17th May - Coastal forage and beach barbecue with Porthminster Cafe

A foraging walk along the coast with one of St Ives' most renowned restaurants to forage for food to cook later at the beach. We think this sounds great, there are so many hidden treasures along our coasts, with the help of some experts this should be a great day out. It is limited to 15 people and tickets cost £20 - make sure you book in advance with Porthminster Cafe on 01736 795352. 

Thursday 19th May - South African Wine Evening with Scarlet Wines in Lelant

A sharing of tables in a relaxed setting - guests will be provided with six wines to taste served with South African inspired dishes. A great way to try new wines from a very knowledgeable team, with a growing reputation for the quality of food this should be a great sociable evening. 

Friday 20th May - Wine and Cornish cheese evening with Mark Elwood at Cornish Deli 

Sample some of the best Cornish cheese with Mark, its a great place to eat at any time, but this should be even more special! 

Sunday 22nd May - Cooking Demonstrations

There are going to be several cooking demonstrations on the Sunday, our favourites would be at the Porthminster Cafe, Porthgwidden Cafe and the Seafood Cafe. These should be great and we look forward to seeing you there! 

Next time we will be looking at the big one, the St Ives September Festival.

Websites

We are busy working with our web designer to produce a brand new website for launch at the beginning of June. Lots of new features and hopefully much simpler design, for those following the blog they will need to wave good bye to the current url in a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted of when this happens. 


The Tate has opened the doors to their new summer exhibitions, Lily van der Stokker- No Big Deal Thing and Object:Gesture:Grid- St Ives and the international Avant-garde. Guests of The Sail Lofts receive 50% discount so if you are staying with us don't forget to pop into the office to borrow a Tate Corporate members card!


St Ives food and drink festival is also progressing with some interesting events already lined up, see their website for more details.

We only have very limited availability in the summer now, so please do contact us sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment. We are also booking up very quickly for the September festival week, its always a great week!