west cornwall

The bewitching seaside town of St Ives overlooks a sandy bay and crams to capacity in summer (when it's best to park at the top of town and walk down rather than face the jams). The Mediterranean light qualities have appealed to many artists over the years, including Ben Nicholson, Bernard Leach and Barbara Hepworth.

Many artists have painted the old fishing quarter known as Downalong, still a wonderfully hotchpotch maze of tiny alleys and stepped paths full of snoozing cats and noisy gulls. Even today, many buildings house craft and art galleries, while a few steps away is the harbour, which offers fishing and boat trips.

Just to the north is Porthmeor Beach, a haven for surfers. The small promontory known as The Island (actually attached to the rest) is topped by a tiny chapel where friars used to bless fishermen before they departed on often life-threatening voyages. The south side of the town is more of a sedate Victorian resort, with beach huts and guest houses.

In the town centre, the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden was where the sculptor lived and worked and died in a fire in 1975. Her overalls hang on a hook in the studio looking as if she might pop back in at any moment; in the back garden some of her highly distinctive work is on display. Overlooking the ocean, the Tate Gallery St Ives houses art from the St Ives School and changing displays of 20th-century art, within a supremely impressive modern building which makes the most of its cliffside setting. Beside the Blue Fish, the waterside Sloop is reliable for lunch, and the Pedn Olva overlooking Porthminster beach has enjoyable modern food.

Drive west on the B3306 towards St Just. The coast becomes immediately more rugged and the road winds tortuously above it.