Over the years I’ve built up quite a bank of suggestions about Galleries and Museums to visit, for that odd wet day that comes along every now and again in West Cornwall. So if you should see a mornings rain in the forecast, try one of my top five suggestions for a wet day in West Cornwall, until the clouds roll away as surely they will.
Spud and Louis have a “wet day routine” of a cosy duvet day snuggled up in the Garden room. For non-feline readers here are a few suggestions for Galleries and Museums for the odd wet day.
Galleries to visit in West Cornwall
Penlee House Museum Penzance
Set at the top of Morrab road in an elegant building that was previously Victorian home. Built in 1865 it is the only Gallery devoted to works of the Penzance and Newlyn school artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The ever changing exhibitions normally showcase the work of Elizabeth and Stanhope Forbes, Walter Langley, Howard Harvey, Lamorna Birch and Dame Laura Knight
Visit daily between 10.00am and 5.00pm in Summer with the last admission thirty minutes before closing time.
More information about Penlee House visit: – https://www.penleehouse.org.uk/
Lunch suggestions
Eat lunch in the lovely airy conservatory at Penlee House, set in a lush garden or explore Penzance. The Turk’s Head, the oldest Inn in Penzance, in Chapel Street is packed full of atmosphere and character.
Tate Gallery St Ives
The Tate St Ives is home to the Post war Modernist artist including an ever changing exhibition of Cornish related works.
The Tate was opened in 1993 and a major refurbishment and extension was completed in 2017
For further information: – The Tate St Ives
The Barbara Hepworth Garden
There is a small indoor exhibition but the gardens are a must see, even in the rain! The huge sculptures set in Barbara Hepworth’s own town house garden made especially for her garden and placed there with her own artist’s eye amongst the flamboyant foliage.
Barnoon Hill, St Ives TR26 1AD
Visit daily between 10.00 – 17.20
Lunch suggestions
Try the charming Porthgwidden Beach Cafe for a relaxed but special lunch right on the beach below the Tate Gallery. Maybe the artists haunt the Sloop Inn will call. Do beware seagulls if succumbing to a Pasty or Ice Cream in the town they are experts in the field of fast food!
St Ives Art Tour
Perhaps consider a Tate around St Ives Tour starting from the Barbara Hepworth Gardens and finishing at the St Ives visitor centre. Not strictly indoors but a brolly can work wonders and we have several large Golf Umbrellas tucked in the Guest sitting room for our guests!
Every Friday and Saturday at 15.00–16.00
Every Tuesday at 11.00–12.00
7 day Art Pass
A combined ticket is available for Penlee House, Tate St Ives, the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Leach Pottery, also offering 10% discount on shop purchases at Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange, Penzance. Holders may return as many times as they like to all or any of the venues during a seven day period. Currently priced at £10 full or £7 concessions for a limited period to 31 March 2017 while Tate St Ives is closed (Hepworth Museum remains open).
Museums in West Cornwall
Geevor tin mine and museum
Geevor, the Cornish tin mine is a great place to start the full story of mining in Cornwall. The miners themselves held on to this important piece of Cornish history – it has now achieved Cornish Mining World Heritage. Take an underground tour of the 250 year old Wheal Mexico workings; enjoy talks from the ex miners themselves and visit a fascinating little museum.
Visit 9.00am – 5pm Sunday to Friday (last admission 4.00pm) Summer
For Further information:- Geevor Tin Mine
Lunch suggestion
For lunch there is an on-site cafe or meander along the scenic coastal road to The Gurnard’s Head. Alternatively the Tinner’s Arms a true Cornish is a pub dating from 1271 and once frequented by D.H. Lawrence. Here the cows still queue to be milked in the lane and hungry walkers refuel for the next stretch of the path. There is even one of the “nation’s favourite drives waiting for you, on the road between St Ives and Land’s End.
Porthcurno telegraph museum
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum is almost the birthplace for modern communications Porthcurno valley, in the far west of Cornwall, was the hub of international cable communications from 1870-1970 and a training college for the communications industry until 1993.
In WWII secret tunnels were dug by Cornish miners to house an underground building and the entire telegraph operations. These bomb proof/gas proof tunnels provided 14 secure cables out of the UK to its allies and are rumoured to be haunted still
Visit Opening times:-10.00am – 17.00 daily (Last admission 16.00)
For further info check here:- Porthcurno Telegraph Museum
Lunch suggestions
Try lunch at the unspoilt, Logan Rock Inn. It’s just as you’d expect a Cornish pub to be – spotlessly clean, full of character and unadorned.
A final note from the Ednovean mousing squad……
“Enjoy Cornwall and remember the rain never usually last for very long!”
Spud and Louis
I originally published part of this blog, in the Ednovean Diaries that I started in 2009. As it brought one of the driest summers I can remember I thought it was worth repeating!
