Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ART COURSES IN PENWITH
Penwith's artistic heritage makes it an ideal place to mine your own creative side. The peninsula now has two art
schools where you can learn everything from landscape painting to ceramics under the guidance of top Cornish
artists.
In a prime spot overlooking Porthmeor Beach near the Tate, the St Ives School of Painting (
01736-797180; www.stivesartschool.co.uk ; 2-day courses from £150) was opened in 1938 by two young artists -
Borlase Smart and Leonard Fuller - and was later attended by many of the leading lights of the St Ives School. It
now runs courses focusing mainly on painting in watercolour, gouache, oils and other media. There are drop-in
sessions on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, as well as longer courses lasting from one to six days. The
school forms part of the historic Porthmeor Studios, a collection of artists' rooms and fishermen's stores, parts of
which date back to the 1800s. After decades of disrepair, the studios were recently restored thanks to a £4m grant.
On the other side of Penwith, the Newlyn School of Art ( 01736-365557; www.newlynartschool.co.uk ;
2-day courses from £130) is an exciting new project run by local artist Henry Garfitt, who set up shop in 2012 in
the old school at the top of Chywoone Hill. The range of courses on offer is comprehensive - ranging from exper-
imental landscape painting to screen printing - and the roster of tutors reads like a Who's Who of the Cornish art
scene. Classes are kept small (maximum of 10 people) and, unusually, are open to artists of mixed ability. If you
just feel like dropping in, the Wednesday evening life class (£13) provides a good introduction.
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Mousehole
In contrast to rough-and-ready Newlyn, the next-door harbour of Mousehole (pronounced
mowzel ) is a gentler affair. Once a bustling pilchard port, and now a hot spot for second
homes, Mousehole's muddle of slate-roofed cottages, meandering lanes and granite quays
is undeniably attractive, although the village is swamped by visitors throughout summer
and the Christmas lights in December. Whatever you do, leave the car on the outskirts - or
better still, follow the coast path on foot from Newlyn.
Mousehole's main claim to fame is being the home of stargazy pie, a baked pilchard pie
in which the fish heads are left poking through the crust. It's eaten on 23rd December,
Bawcock's Eve , in commemoration of Tom Bawcock, a local lad who ended a village famine
by braving tempestuous seas to land a bounty of fish. The traditional recipe is still a
closely-guarded secret at the village's hugger-mugger pub, the Ship Inn.
Halfway along the Newlyn road, look out for the old Penlee Lifeboat Station just below
the cliff. On 19 December 1981 the Solomon Browne lifeboat went to the aid of the
stricken coaster Union Star, which was being driven onto rocks near Lamorna by heavy
seas. Both ships were lost with all hands; since then the boathouse has remained as a
 
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