SCENIC TRAIL
ST IVES TO LANDS END
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ( E.G. GOLF
CLUB, RIDING SCHOOL, GALLERIES, ACCOMMODATION) PLEASE SEND STAMPED, SELF-ADDRESSED
ENVELOPE (22 cm x 11cm ) REQUESTING "BEYOND ST IVES" LEAFLET TO
THE STEAM POTTERY, PENDEEN,
CORNWALL TR19 7DN
The coast road from the famous resort of
St Ives to the equally renowned beauty spot of Lands End is full of
interest and hidden delights for the more adventurous and discerning
traveller. The road meanders up hill and down dale through starkly dramatic
countryside dotted with old mine-workings, ancient stone walls and granite-built
farmhouses framed against a colourful canvas of gorse and verdant countryside
dropping sharply down rugged cliffs to the sea below. Those prepared
to take a little time and move away from the beaten track to discover
this beautiful and unspoiled part of Cornwall will be amply rewarded
by all it has to offer .
St
Ives, Zennor, Gurnard's Head
The B3306 road out of St Ives toward St Just
and Lands End quickly leads into open countryside with a patchwork of
typically irregular fields and stone walls, providing an instant echo
of the history of the area reaching as far back as the iron age. The
road continues past outstanding rock formations silently and majestically
silhouetted against the skyline, affording atmospheric glimpses of a
pagan past to fire the imagination and transport the mind into a world
of ritual, magic and demons. The progression from pagan past to Christianity
remains in evidence, etched by the landscape and its existing monuments,
as does the more recent transition from a community sustained by tin
mining, farming and fishing to one in large part dependent upon the
interest of visitors. For those prepared to engage their imagination
further, the landscape bears testimony to the grit of the Cornish working
people of recent history who toiled on the land and down the mines,
returning from lowly paid, grindingly hard and often dangerous work
to houses poorly lit, sparsely heated and devoid of running water. It
is this very dance between people and landscape that forms a whole picture,
together with a true understanding and appreciation of the terrain and
of the people who inhabit it.
Some
three miles out of St Ives is the picturesque village of Zennor, snuggling
in its own little valley with typically prominent church steeple heralding
its arrival. At the top of the road leading into the village is a large
stone reputed to have been used as a pulpit for John Wesley to convert
the local sinners to Methodism in the 1750's. Halfway down the hill
is the Wayside Folk Museum, providing a historic insight into the lives
of working people in West Penwith and including a range of obsolete
cooking, farm and fishing implements. At the bottom of the hill is the
church, complete with its own cautionary reference to the colourful
local legend of the mermaid, which should not be spoiled by prior explanation.
If the traveller is by this time in need of a rest the Tinners
Arms is close at hand, as it was for the weary Tin Miners in
times gone by. The village also offers the Zennor
Backpackers & Cafe situated in the recently converted old
Methodist chapel.
Back on the road again, the traveller might
like to stop for a spell to look at Designer Hand Knits, sample a Cornish
cream tea or take B & B accommodation at the stunningly situated
Tregeraint
House with its far-reaching vista over Gurnard's Head and the
sea, with the Scilly Isles on the horizon. Alternatively, The
Gurnard's Head Hotel, recently completely refurbished and extended,
now offers a varied menu all day long together with high quality accommodation.
From the side of the inn one can walk to the headland or follow the
track down to Cove
Cottage to find secluded Bed & Breakfast accommodation in
this lovely cottage overlooking the ocean, or the equally idyllic Chy
Barnett self-contained holiday cottage, both set in the heart
of Rosamunde Pilcher territory.