If like me you dream of a summer holiday by the sea, in a castle with spa facilities, then I've found the place for you. Possibly a little bit more niche is my love of everything eighteenth century, yet on this front it ticked that box too.
Built in the 1770s and set in 70 acres it lies above the seaside town of St Ives in Cornwall and is absolutely stunning. Added to this, it has a golf course, walled sub-tropical garden, spa facilities and outdoor pool making it a destination in itself.
When we arrived, we drove around the side of the castle to park and that's when I first saw St Ives. Directly below you can see the harbour and Island of St Ives on the promontory. It's so picturesque we just stopped to look.
Once parked we headed to our accommodation, actually not in the castle itself, but even better for loads of reasons. For the same price as a double room, we had our own kitchen, sitting room and south facing balcony overlooking the golf course. We had space, independence and privacy in a beautiful setting. It was perfect.
The next time I saw St Ives was that evening when we went on a little reccy. Heading down the path in the castle grounds to the beach we passed under giant gunnera, over eight feet tall and other exotic plants by the side of a stream.
At around 9 o'clock we reached a virtually deserted beach, apart from some guys playing beach ball. Boats were moored for the night on the water, the tide was far out and all was still.
Following the beach around into St Ives along the sand we reached the harbour floor where boats were pitched in the sand. From there we took the steps at the far end of the harbour wall and headed into St Ives.
Although the climb up the hill was steep, our first visit to St Ives was worth it.
