As a family we often struggle to find a holiday location that we all agree on. Particularly as we all have very varied food habits between us, the boys are now full meat eaters, Ruby is a VERY healthy plant eater and doesn’t like any ultra processed stuff whereas I am plant based but have quite a few issues with some veg textures etc. easy to control when cooking my own food but tricky when eating out (why does everything have tomatoes in!!?) ..and after quite a few all inclusive family holiday experiences where the location was amazing but Ruby and I survived on bread and courgettes for 2 weeks, you might consider a trip to Cornwall a bit of a left field choice. After all, the area is renowned for clotted cream loaded scones, meat filled pasties, ice cream and endless sea food!

However, all things considered, St Ives in Cornwall was the destination of choice for us this summer. An opportunity for a week in the sun, for the kids to practice their surfing without the faff of an airport.

Rather than booking a hotel, B&B or similar offer where there would need to constantly be on the hunt for ‘safe’ places to eat out for most meals – It made sense for us to go for a self catered option. This would allow us the freedom to come and go as we needed, provide more space (especially as our ‘kids’ are now fully grown up and quite often like to be in a different room to us!) ..but probably most importantly, the self catered option allowed us to have the flexibility needed to manage all of our food needs too.

Finding the right self catered option isn’t always easy – often, in my experience, the ‘Air B & B’ offer is a little lack lustre when it comes to equipment in the kitchen. Even if the kitchen itself is designed nicely and takes a nice Instagram picture, trying to make dinner for 4 each night with no oven trays, a horribly blunt knife and a cheap 50p saucepan that only fits 1 portion of food ..kinda takes the shine off the whole holiday. I do often end up travelling with a full kitchen kit (much to Gareth’s frustration) but on this occasion, space was going to be tight in the car, so I was on strict instructions to ‘pack light’.

Thankfully, the cottage we had booked through Aspects Holidays (Hope Cottage – St Ives) had the promise of a ‘well appointed kitchen’ – When we arrived, the cottage looked exactly like the photos and (after a little nosey inside the kitchen cupboards) any initial anxiety relating to cooking whilst away was gone.

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All of the charm that you’d expect from a Cornish holiday cottage and the central location (without the noise that often comes with a cottage slap bang in the middle of everything) was a real win too.

This allowed us the chance to explore lots of different local shops and foodie spots in the centre of St Ives – For me, this is part of the holiday fun.. hunting down places with actually good plant based options is my adult equivalent to finding nice shells and ‘magic stones’ on the beach!

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So, in no particular order – Some of our fab holiday finds in St Ives that helped to make our stay even more enjoyable:

The Tate

Aside from the obvious art experience (which also includes the wider offer of the Barbara Hepworth Museum – highly recommended) there is also a fab restaurant on the top floor with an outdoor terrace and a good view of Porthmeor beach.

With options on the menu that include cakes, coffees, light lunch options, soup and loaded fries.. this is a real hidden gem and perfect as an alternative to the pastry heavy options that are pretty much everywhere. We selected 2 salads to share but I definitely got food envy when when I spotted the loaded fries come out for another table!

Another top tip.. If you have a Tate members card then you get 20% discount off your food bill (as well as 10% in the gallery shop) – This is usually quite a commitment if you go for the full adult membership. However, if you have a 16-25 year old in the family they can get the Tate Collective option which is free to sign up for and includes lots of other arty, cultural discounts for the Tate too.

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The Pantry

The sister store to the ‘Source Kitchen’ restaurant (located on The Digey), the Pantry offers a range of high end deli items and fresh produce. The window display is a fab, vibrant insta worthy snapshot of what is inside. Located right in the ‘thick of it’ on Fore Street so it is ideal for picking up extra fresh treats, sauces, chutneys or artisan pasta for dinner.

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St Ives Bakery

A stone’s throw away from where we were staying, St Ives Bakery has an almost constant queue onto the street – and when you get to the front it is easy to see why!

The bread options are freshly baked each morning and are all vegan – the sourdough and the Turkish definitely get our vote (although between us we did a pretty thorough test of most things on the menu – there isn’t a bad option!) and in a place where you can feel pretty overwhelmed with Cornish pasty options as a quick grab and go lunch, the vegan pasty at St Ives Bakery is the best (and I’m pretty picky about my take away pasties!!)

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Yellow Canary Cafe

With a window packed with huge ciabatta sandwiches, huge cakes and pasties, we didn’t need much of an excuse to pay a visit to the Yellow Canary Cafe ..and as we received a £5 voucher for the cafe as part of our holiday accommodation it would be rude not to use it!

The fresh houmous and roasted veg sandwich was a welcome change to the usual sad flavourless houmous and salad option available in most places – with fresh ciabatta, roasted peppers and a drizzle of balsamic making it feel like a considered option on the menu rather than a sad after thought.

The sweet and savoury pasty options for plant based diners also offered something a little different, all served either as a dine in option or out of and the cutest serving hatch, allowing you to grab lunch on the go if you don’t want to sit inside. Food was all generously portioned and really fresh. The Apple and Blackberry pasty in particular got a big thumbs up from Gareth.

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Notable mentions to Bird & Beer and Blas Burger Works – who both offered a wide range of plant based options (almost 50% of the menu ) alongside a very meaty menu too, making either the ideal choice for an evening treat for us.

As you’d imagine, there were a few places that we didn’t manage to get to (because quite honestly, a week just isn’t long enough to eat your way through all of the options available!) but will be added onto the ‘to do’ list for our next visit will be:

Source Kitchen for a salad box to take to the beach

Olives Cafe for vegan scones

The Bean Inn – which is a little out of St Ives, located in Carbis Bay. Just a very short coastal train ride away (literally costing about £1pp from Porthminster Beach)

The Rum and Crab Shack for Vegan fish and chips

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We already knew that the location was lovely (as it was a regular family holiday destination for me when I was younger) although it was good to see that there are actually some good foodie options for us when eating out. Whether it be a grab and go lunch from the bakery, evening burger and chips or vegan ice cream (eaten WELL out of view from the pesky seagulls!) – knowing the right places to go when you are away means that, even if you do have different dietary requirements, you don’t have to miss out on the holiday treats!

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Looking forward to another visit to finish off exploring all of the yummy foodie spots that we missed!