We set out for St. Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum and I was happy. Traffic was very heavy and it only got worse when we arrived at St. Ives. There were car parks at the top of the town and lots of people walking down towards the center, but we kept going, thinking that we would be able to park closer to the museum. After driving around and getting lost (our MO it seems), we found a parking lot close to the museum, but I think it was restricted parking although that was not very clear. Anyway, it didn't matter since there were no spots available. I went online to their website (I never like the mobile version on these sites) and it said something about following the brown signs to the Tate, but the Tate St. Ives is closed until next spring. It's not easy maneuvering through the narrow streets so I decided to call them to get the best advice. Well that didn't work out so well.

I called the number on the website, listened to a few recorded messages about admission and hours, pressed "0" a few times and finally got a live person. Only problem was he was at the Tate in London! He gave me a number to call, which I did, but that got me nowhere. So I called the number that was in my guidebook, reaching someone eventually after another round of recorded messages. I told him I was in St. Ives and would like to know where we should park. He gave me the postal code, which I'm learning is the best way of finding places on our sat nav (gps) and said we should be able to find parking nearby. I thanked him profusely, hung up, and then plugged the letter/number combinations into my phone. It quickly gave directions--however, it was to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield, over six hours away! We decided to go back to one of the car parks at the top of the town, the one with 1,000 spots (per their sign). Do you think we could find an empty spot? Nope. At this point I turned to Gord and said that we've just wasted over an hour trying to find this place and that we should just forget about it and go to our bed and breakfast in Penzance. Note to anyone thinking of visiting St. Ives: Do not go by car! My guidebook did not say this, but Peter in Penzance said they always tell their guests to take the train into and out of St. Ives. It is not a car friendly place.

We are staying at Trereife House (pronounced Treave) in Penzance, a beautiful house built in the early 18th century.

We entered through a long driveway, past some horses. We were greeted by a man who was in his eighties (at least) and who spoke with what I would call a very proper English accent, but I think it is referred to as received pronunciation. That should have been my first clue. When his son Peter was showing us around and I asked him how long they had owned the house, he replied that it had been in his family since 1799!

After getting settled, we wandered around the grounds.

I asked Gord if he wanted to take a turn around the garden and I felt like I was in a Jane Austen novel.

The back courtyard of the house was used for the 2013 film Summer in February. I'll have to watch it some day.


After a quick bite at a nearby pub, we drove to Porthcurno to the Minack Theatre to see a performance of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Part 1 in one of the most beautiful settings imaginable. It was very enjoyable if a little chilly (Peter lent us two seat cushions and a blanket, thankfully). I was hoping to finish reading Charles Dickens' novel, but it's 700 pages and I've not been able to read much since we got to the UK.