Private rooms | Family Rooms | Dorm Rooms
Festival Time in St Ives
May 10th, 2017
It’s that time of year again (and we probably should have given you a bit more warning but we’re a bit behind on the old blog) Festival Time in St Ives. As you might know Cornwall has a history of festival shenanigans – we love a good knees up; it’s an excuse to take time off work, hit the beach or harbour and celebrate all things Cornish.
St Ives Food & Drink Festival
It all kicks off this weekend with the mouthwatering St Ives Food & Drink Festival on 13th & 14th May. It’s been going a while now and what started off as a few organic food stands on the beach with the odd chef demo is now a full-on weekend of cooking, eating, drinking and entertainment.
Taking place on Porthminster Beach – just a few minutes walk from Cohort – it costs just £5 for a weekend ticket (day tickets are also available on the gate) and this year they have demonstrations from Nathan Outlaw, Frances Quinn (of Great British Bake Off fame) & Ben Tunnicliffe to name just a few.
Food stands as far as they eye can see (lots of free samples) and the best of Cornish food and drink on offer. You can’t beat eating great food with the sand between your toes and a local beverage in your hand.
St Ives Literary Festival
Also starting this weekend but lasting the whole week is the St Ives Literary Festival, a week long tribute to the spoken word in all its forms. Venues all over town host poetry readings, debates and storytelling.
St Ives’ very own Liz Kessler (author of the Emily Windsnap series) talks about her journey from teacher to award winning author and why you should never give up on your dream; while the St Ives Guildhall hosts MCMC Spoken (Megan Chapman) who is carving out her reputation as a poet, working with local producers and rappers to make the hip hop tracks which have honed her freestyling skills. She can also be seen at the Port Eliot Festival and Glastonbury later on this year.
It’s still not too late to book your bed at Cohort for either festival. Use the promo code STIVESFEST to get 15% off your accommodation.
Swell Board Shoot Out Festival Weekend
To the uninitiated the Swell Board Shoot Out is a fancy dress surf competition; sponsored by Red Bull and in aid of the very relevant charity Surfers Against Sewage the weekend is a combination of hilarious events, big beach parties and lots and lots of surfers out for a laugh.
Photos by Nick Pumphrey.
9th, 10th & 11th June sees events across Porthmeor Beach and Cohort Hostel. There’s a big beach party on the Friday night, open air cinema in our courtyard at Cohort on the Saturday night; with the main event taking place on Sunday at Porthmeor Beach.
Beer & Cider Festival
More about this at a later date but suffice to say it’s GOOD… It takes place at the St Ives Guildhall every year and every year the variety of beers and ciders on offer increases! Read more on our blog about it here. This year the dates are 26th – 28th August and we still have availability for that weekend: See the St Ives website for details.
St Ives September Festival
Once we have a better idea of the programme for this year we’ll post more about it, meanwhile read our previous blog on the festival here. The dates this year are 9th – 23rd September and you can see programming details on their website. It’s the biggest music festival in the South West and has been going over 25 years; it’s a superb time to be in St Ives, for art as well as music and literature.
Close to everything
Cohort Hostel is located bang in the centre of St Ives. We are within a 2 minute walk to all the major venues utilised by all these festivals. The Guildhall, St Ives Arts Club and Cafe Art are all just 30 seconds away and Porthmeor Beach is a pleasant 10 minute stroll through town or a shorter, sharper 5 minute walk through the back streets.
Book online and use the promo code STIVESFEST to get 15% off your stay during the Food Festival & Literary Festival this May or LIKE our Facebook page to keep an eye out for more accommodation discount codes and offers later on in the year.