Walking St Ives: From Fishermen to Fine Art
Buy for a Group
Reviews
About the Tour
About the Tour
Cornwall’s rugged coastline has shaped St Ives for millennia, transforming it from ancient Celtic settlement, to bustling fishing port, to world-renowned artistic center.
On this coastal walking tour, you’ll explore the winding streets and sheltered coves that tell the story of its remarkable transformation. You’ll discover how pilchard fishing once powered the economy, learn about the smuggling networks that flourished along these shores, and understand how the unique Atlantic light drew artists from across the world.
The tour starts at St Ives railway station above Porthminster Beach. You’ll weave through ancient lanes too narrow for cars, and past cottages where fishermen once dried their nets on the walls. Along the way, you’ll find out how Celtic saints like St Ia crossed the sea on miraculous journeys, and why the Great Western Railway’s arrival in 1877 forever changed this once-remote fishing town.
You’ll explore Smeaton’s Pier with its two historic lighthouses, hear tales of shipwrecks and daring rescues, and walk the same coastal paths once used by revenue officers hunting smugglers. The tour ends at the iconic Tate St Ives gallery overlooking Porthmeor Beach, where you’ll hear how this fishing town became an artistic colony that transformed British art.
On this 60-minute walk, you’ll have a chance to:
- Visit the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, where one of Britain’s most important artists lived and worked in the 1900s
- Walk along Fore Street, once the bustling commercial spine where fishwives sold their catch and merchants traded goods
- Explore the Island (not really an island), with its defensive blockhouse from the 1500s, and St Nicholas Chapel that’s watched over sailors for centuries
- Learn how pilchard fishing shaped the town’s economy and architecture for hundreds of years
- Discover the stories behind St Piran’s flag and Cornwall’s rich mining heritage that once made this one of the wealthiest regions in the world
- Enjoy spectacular coastal views across St Ives Bay to Godrevy Lighthouse, which inspired Virginia Woolf’s famous novel
Whether you’re drawn to maritime history, artistic heritage, or simply breathtaking coastal scenery, this walk captures the essence of a town where fishing boats and artists’ studios have shared these shores for generations.
Tour Producer
Tour Producer
Penelewey Tours
Hi, I’m Becky Frost, a proud Cornish storyteller and founder of Penelewey Tours and Penelewey Audio Story Tours, also known as PAST. I create immersive walking audio tours and GPS guided audio experiences on the VoiceMap platform, bringing history, culture, and place vividly to life across Cornwall, the South West of England and beyond.
I specialise in historical walking audio tours, indoor audio guides, and place based storytelling for heritage sites, cultural organisations, cities, and coastal towns. My work covers research, scriptwriting, narration, and delivery of audio tours from concept through to launch, ensuring each experience is authentic, accessible, and thoughtfully paced.
As a fisherman’s daughter raised by the sea, storytelling has always been part of my world. My work is rooted in landscape, memory, and the voices of ordinary people, those whose stories are often walked past rather than truly heard. Through carefully researched and locally voiced audio tours, I invite listeners to slow down and connect with the layers of history beneath their feet.
My greatest fascination lies in the Celtic period, shaped by the movement of people, ideas, trade, and shared culture, alongside Cornwall’s long history of resilience and its ongoing fight to retain identity and land. These themes run quietly through my work, blending local history with wider European narratives in a way that feels grounded and human.
I have been commissioned to create audio interpretation for one of Cornwall’s most significant historic religious buildings, alongside developing audio tours for towns, cities, and coastal places across the region. Accessibility and inclusivity sit at the heart of everything I do, audio tours allow people to explore independently, at their own pace, using their own devices, supporting different learning styles and access needs.
My narration is delivered in a clear English accent with a soft Cornish tone, warm, calm, and welcoming, designed to feel like walking alongside a local rather than being lectured. I write, research, and voice my tours myself, ensuring clarity, care, and authenticity from start to finish.
We don’t walk past history with audio tours, we walk through it.
Preview Location
Preview Location
Location 2
Looking over to Carbis Bay and Hayle
::
As you walk, look out to your right across Porthminster’s sweep of sand, curving toward Carbis Bay and the mouth of the Hayle Estuary. It’s a beautiful view, but also one of the oldest story points in this landscape.
Long before St Ives was a town, this... Read More
View locations and route
How VoiceMap Works
Major Landmarks
Major Landmarks
-
Porthminster Beach
-
St Ia's Parish Church
-
Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden
-
Sloop Inn
-
Smeatons Pier
-
St. Ives Museum
-
The Island Blockhouse
-
St Nicholas Chapel
-
Porthmeor Beach
-
Tate St Ives
Getting There
Getting There
Route Overview
-
Start locationPorthminster Beach, Carbis Bay, Saint Ives TR26 2EB, UK
-
Total distance3km
-
Final locationPorthmeor Beach, St Ives, Saint Ives TR26 1TG, UK
-
Distance back to start location754.31m
Directions to Starting Point
The tour begins in St Ives Station car park opposite the railway station, at the top of the steps looking over Porthminster Beach. You will see some yellow markings to stop people from parking, this is where we start. The easiest way to the starting point is by train, St Ives parking can become very busy, St Erth Train Station offers one of the most beautifully scenic branches through the Hayle Estuary and Carbis Bay, a great way to start the tour and you exit the train pretty much at the starting point.
Show Directions
Tips
Tips
Places to stop along the way
There are many places to eat and stop for coffee along the way, I definitely recommend stopping in the Sloop Inn for a quick refreshment. The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculptures make a great stop and of course, The Tate is a must see.
Best time of day
You can enjoy this tour from dawn until dusk, however, if you would like to enter any of the museums or art galleries, keep in mind their opening times, generally 9am until 5pm but can be seasonal.
Precautions
There are some steep steps and a couple of inclines getting over onto the island. We walk along the south west coast path which is delightful but can be open to the elements, take a look at the weather before going and make sure you have appropriate footwear on.
Get The App
Get The App
Last Updated
Questions and Reviews
