The busy, bustling streets of St Ives are good fun and it's lovely to have a cup of tea (especially one where the cafe serving it has knitted cakes) and a pastie and it's a treat to look out at the blue bay with it's special light but I find all the crowds a bit much. It seems like a lot of people are there to buy expensive clothes from the outdoorsey shops, eat too much ice cream and generally take part in over consumption. This makes me feel a bit sad. It's lovely to wander the back streets and take things in...
But the hustle and bustle is not my favorite thing about St Ives.
The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden is.
Taking in the gardens of one of the UK's most ambitious artists then, with the sculptures, as well as the greenery, flowers and plants feels like a haven in a town full of tourists quaffing ice cream. We stayed for quite a while this time, taking photos, reading about Hepworth's life and works, and doing some drawing. We even made friends with a neighbourhood cat that seemed to enjoy the garden as much as we did.
There's a special energy behind those high walls, and the sculptures feel so natural, some of them womb like, all of them asking to be touched, held, walked through or felt. My grandfather was a sculptor and my family have visited this garden for years. We've ended up affectionately nicknaming her Babby Heppy.
I could have stayed all day... Here are a couple of photos:
The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden
Barnoon Hill
St Ives
Cornwall TR26 1A
