St. Ives, Part 1

We spent about a week at the seaside town of St. Ives, Cornwall. Here's the first round of photos from St. Ives.

Looking across the roofs from the front door of our apartment.

View from our beachfront balcony, looking to the Island (which really isn't).

We spent a great deal of time just walking around St. Ives on the steep cobblestone streets.

St. Ives has four different beaches.We were staying in The Piazza on Porthmeor Beach.

View of Porthmeor Beach from the Island

Looking back to the harbor from the Island.

The Island has an old stone seaman's chapel on it that was built sometime in the distant past. Most things in England seem to have a distinct history, but this one was vague. There's a trail along the base of the Island, and this was taken from the trail. 

Dogs were everywhere in England, and seem much more accepted in public places (pubs, restaurants, etc.) than in the U.S.  Here's a frolicking poodle in the harbor at low tide.

More people with dogs at low tide.

Gardens at Tregenna Castle, which is a large 19th century house converted to an inn on the hill above St. Ives.

Tregenna Castle Inn. "Please do keep on the grass"

Barrie uphill on one of our many walks.

The local Anglican church.

Someone in St. Ives is becoming very, very good at all-net shots.

Practice court without a backboard.

Gardens looking out over the town. Note the palms.

Parking is expensive. St. Ives has become a resort town with limited real estate.  You can buy a parking place that comes with a locked parking guard pole. 

More gardens.

Another garden, this one with colored fishing net floats.

Sunset from our apartment balcony.

Widecombe-in-the-Moor

Meanwhile, after our trip to Haytor we drove to Widecombe-in-the-Moor, home of the church of St. Pancras, also known as the "Cathedral of the Moors."  Built in the 14th century, the church still functions as an active parish, complete with a parish history organization. Widecombe hosts an annual fair that is not only the subject of a famous folk song of the same name, but also an annual event with its own website.  Here's a brief record of our trip to this lovely little town.

Where we were, and where we were heading.

St. Pancras from the village green.

Another view of the church spire, as well as one of the surrounding buildings.

View of the moors from the village green.

The church spire.

The chapel itself, which is somewhat dwarfed by the huge spire. The entrance is the door at the end of the walkway.

An Easter monument inside the church.

A tribute to the Queen inside the church.

Inside the church, with the steam pipes running beside the pews.

We visited two churches during our visit, and each one had a border collie prayer pillow.

The back of the church and graveyard.

A very mossy bench in the graveyard.

We stopped by this rock wall on the moor as we headed back to Bovey Tracey, and then....

...I turned around and this classic British car zipped by.

Next stop, the Cornish seaside village of St. Ives.