We are lucky enough to only live an hours drive from St Ives and love to pop over for a day trip – although we 100% don’t visit enough. So we thought with the Summer holiday’s looming (St Ives gets so busy over the Summer) we’d go for a whilst it was still quite quiet. We picked a glorious day, although I do still enjoy St Ives when it’s overcast it feels super romantic on days like those and it gives you an excuse to hide from the rain and explore all the galleries and coffee shops.
We park at the top of the hill opposite the St Ives Brewery, it isn’t the cheapest parking but it is easy to find and the view across the bay is stunning. The walk down is quite steep but easier on the way down and it brings you right into the centre. If you have trouble with inclines you can get on the car park bus for a small fee.
I have shared photos of my previous visits on my blog and I never grow tired of taking photos and wandering through all the beautiful back streets that are lined with tiny whitewashed cottages. I also really like how people decorate their fronts with pretty flowers & plants, it reminds me of Amsterdam.
Fore Street, which is the main shopping street is always busy but I do like having a peek into all the shops and the smell of the bakeries (Cornish pasty) always tempts me in. This time we arrived at lunchtime and couldn’t resist a Wholemeal Vegan Pasty from The St Ives Bakery – which was just heaven, you need to try it if you visit St Ives.
Then we just enjoyed the sunshine and explored all the little side streets snapping photos along the way. There are so many cafes and places to grab Ice Cream so if you need to take a break you can. We always stop at The Pier Coffee Bar for a cuppa, it is right by the harbour but tucked away enough that you can always get a seat.
Now our main reason for visiting St Ives this time was so we could eat at Blas Burgerworks which is located in the Warren. I have walked past it so many times but we tend to be in St Ives too early as it only opens at 5 pm. On this occasion, we were there later & ready for burgers. They have so many Vegan options available which made me so excited so I opted for the Blackbean Burger & my husband picked the Sunflower Burger.
The decor is very basic and you mostly have to share a table as it is small and gets very busy. Even at 5.30, we were lucky to get a seat. Now on to the burgers, well let me just say that I was so disappointed. I wanted to love it but both of us elt our burgers just were not up to scratch. They came beautifully presented and the chips, OMG the ships were so yummy but the actual burgers turned into a soft paste, they lost all structure and you had to admit defeat and eat them with a knife and fork and I don’t know if you feel the same but I think burgers are meant to be eaten with your hands!
The burger was unrecognisable as a burger and was so soft that I felt I’d been robbed of my burger experience. I have had Vegan Burgers that didn’t have great structure but these took it to a new level. I am sad to say we won’t be going back. Let me know if you have been & tried the Vegan Burgers and if you had the same experience. I told our server that they were a little too moist but she just said Thank You like I’d given her a compliment?!
If you have any recommendations of things to see or do in St Ives leave me a comment & I am always looking for suggestions of places to eat!
