HF Houses - St Ives - Leaving the Car at Home.

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Getting to Chy Morvah on Public Transport

There is a railway station at St Ives. The coastal parts of the rail journey can be very scenic.

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When I went in 2014 they were still working on the Dawlish sea wall.

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The Night Riviera Sleeper would be an interesting but expensive experience.

Change at St Erth for the branch line to St Ives.

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The branch line goes along the River Hayle estuary and along the coast through Carbis Bay.

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The picture below shows the station and you need to go up the hill behind.

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An alternative from St Erth to St Ives would be to catch the bus outside the station.

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Chy Morvah

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This was the view from my room on one holiday. The house on the other side of the car park is the annex. Note the double parking, this is usual practice due to small car park, another reason for not traveling by car.

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These two were often outside my room, they can recognize a HF packed lunch. Don't leave a window even slightly open or they will get in and trash your room.

Walks from Chy Morvah without a Car

There are some good walks from the house. For example you could go south toward Carbis Bay and Hayle, or west toward Zennor, or inland to Knill's Monument and Trevalgan Hill.

The inland footpaths in Cornwall often seem to be blocked, brambles, floods and so on. I guess most people go to Cornwall for the coastal walks. I have even found St Michael's Way blocked at times. Farmers tend to put cattle troughs next to styles.

You can get either the train or bus to Penzance or Hayle.

I like to catch the bus out and walk back to the house, that way I can do a linear walk without the stress of having to catch the bus at a particular time.

The buses toward Penzance and Hayle go from the Malakoff bus station

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Image from Google Street View.

The bus station on the left of this picture is usually just used for turning the buses and the bus stop is on the road (far lamp post on the right of the picture). However I have seen people getting on the bus in the turning area so I try to be ready for either. There are usually other people waiting for the bus so I do what they do.

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Image from Google Street View.

When going west toward Zennor or Gurnards Head Hotel I go from this bus stop on North Terrace (From the back of Chy Morvah go to the end of Bishops Road and down the footpath, across Park Avenue, and further down the footpath to North Terrace.

Penzance

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Mousehole

Mousehole is very scenic but I wouldn't recommend walking from Penzance as there did not seem to be a cliff path all the way so there was some walking near the main road.

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St Michael's Way

Get off the bus gust before Penzance at Longrock.

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Then go inland

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Via Trencrom Hill to Knill's Monument and back to St Ives.

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Knill's Monument

Up through a housing estate above St Ives.

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Gurnards Head and Zennor

When going west toward Zennor or Gurnards Head Hotel I go from this bus stop on North Terrace (From the back of Chy Morvah go to the end of Bishops Road and down the footpath, across Park Avenue, and further down the footpath to North Terrace.

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When you start to get close to St Ives I tend to head inland via Trenwith Leisure Centre, its not as scenic as going along the coast but it avoids going all the way down into St Ives and then back up the other side.

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I like to find the industrial history and try to work out how it all operated:

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Botallack Mine

Difficult to get to by bus.

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Porthcurno

On a lead walk.

Where lots of early submarine telegraph and telephone cables came ashore. Further along the coast is Minark Theatre.

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Gwennap Head

On a lead walk

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St Agnes

On a led walk:

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Other Documents on this site

Click on the following for more information

Getting To HF Houses on Public Transport
Abingworth Hall picture
Dolserau Hall in Dolgellau picture
Longmynd Hotel in Church Stretton picture
Holnicote House - Selworthy picture
Newfield Hall - Malham picture
Derwent Bank - Keswick picture
Freshwater Bay House picture
Chy Morvah - St Ives
Harrington House - Bourton-on-the-Water
Nythfa House - Brecon Beacons
The Peveril of the Peak - Dovedale
Larpool Hall - Whitby
Thorns Hall - Sedbergh
Monk Coniston
Nether Grange - Alnmouth
Alitshellach - Glen Coe picture
Former HF Houses
Conwy (1914- 2011) picture
Newlands (1914- 1987) picture
Swanage (1947- 1995) picture
Isle of Arran (1925- ) picture
Scarborough (1954- 1998) picture
Lulworth picture
Beddgelert picture
New Inns picture
Penrith picture
Milford-on-Sea picture

About This Site

Here is some information I have gathered together about getting to and walking from HF houses when leaving the car at home. On these pages I have also put some history about former HF houses I have visited.

The information here is based on my visits to HF houses over the years. It may be out of date so don't rely on anything here without checking. If you find any errors why not let others know by putting a post on the HF Holiday Fans ( unofficial) Facebook forum. I will try to quote such posts here so they don't get lost.

This is information I have discovered over the years which would have been useful to know before. Unfortunately the travel information on the HF website, for getting to houses by public transport, is poor. I think it would be better if the information on this page were on the HF website.

Web page design and content © 2025 M J Baker..