WHAT? WHERE?

The Una St Ives resort is tucked into the countryside near to Carbis Bay in the west of Cornwall. Offering the best of Cornish laid-back luxury and set in a calm and tranquil countryside location, Una St Ives is also close to the golden shores of St Ives Bay, a mere walk from the beach, and handily placed for accessing both St Ives itself, or the rest of the rich natural and cultural landscape that makes up the West Penwith peninsular. That’s if you can drag yourself away from the resort itself – everything you could need for a relaxing break is on site, including a spa with state-of-the-art facilities including indoor pool and gym, the new 20-metre heated open-air lido pool and poolside street food inspired grill / bar, CARGO, and a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and evening meals

It is super easy to access Una St Ives from the main A30 and makes a great location for exploring and relaxing in this far west corner of the Duchy. No car? No problemo, you can also get the train to Carbis Bay and then a taxi up the road, and for days out, the Coaster bus will take you right the way round the West Penwith peninsular if you’re looking to make it a proper eco-break.

It’s all about luxury self-catering breaks at Una St Ives where the cedar clad architect-designed lodges and villas are set into the Cornish landscape. There are a mix of one, two, three and four bed properties, which you can book by the week or weekend, as well as an increasing number of stunning villas to own on a hassle-free Live & Let basis.

As part of the exciting next phase of Una St Ives’ development, 27 high-end two, three and four-bedroom villas with private hot tubs will join the collection by Easter 2025, with the first five available now, which is what we were there to experience. Built with iconic Cornish stone, giving the sense of rising from the land, these will be some of the best-appointed holiday villas in Cornwall, featuring spacious, open-plan, Scandi-influenced interiors utilising traditional materials in a contemporary way.

THE VIBE

Set in sweeping wild flower meadows and with countryside walks on the door step, plus a hot-tub in the garden, our villa was a Swedish architects minimalist dream. Clean lines, blonde wood, double-height spaces and nothing superfluous whatsoever. On the sun trap of a terrace we could have been in the med; the next day in the lido, the vibe was more Palm Springs meets Cornwall.

Una St Ives new villas Muddy Stilettos Cornwall June 2024 — Credit Adj Brown

As you’d expect with the entire resort being self-catering, the added bonus is that you also have your home from home in your villa should you fancy cooking your own favourites, or just all spending time together watching TV.

The site is spacious without feeling like everything is too far away to be easy to access, and the lodges and villas discreetly set so that there are private spaces and views without rows of fences and screens – it’s communal without feeling like you’re on holiday together with people you don’t know.

Una St Ives takes its eco credentials seriously: all lodges have solar panels, sedum roofs and cedar cladding as well as lamb’s wool insulation and triple glazed windows, meaning they are warm and quiet. The villas are heated by energy-efficient air source heat pumps.

Inside all lodges and villas you’ll find fully equipped kitchens with spacious dining and living areas, perfect for family meals; outside, there are individual private spaces and parking for each property, so you can drive up and roll in without having to worry at all about parking. Some lodges and villas have an outside hot tub and many have cosy wood burners in the living space, making Una a year round resort. All villas have electrical charging for one car as standard.

PILLOW TALK

We stayed in a three-bed villa, which had more than enough space for a family of four; we had the kids sharing the twin room and invited a friend along for the other double room, but we could have had six without feeling like we were on top of each other. The master bedroom is en-suite (with a second family bathroom for the other two bedrooms to share) and leads out onto the lower terrace, handily placed for the hot tub.

Everything was tastefully and neutrally decorated, with the art work in both the villa and the main building / spa taking pride of place. Like our previous stay a few years ago when we tested out one of the 29 cedar lodges, apart from the TV in the main living area, there were no books or games included, so you’d need to remember your own – the upside, no clutter whatsoever!

Everyone slept soundly in the huge beds, with white sheets and duvets. Towels are provided for the bathrooms and there are even additional ones to take to the pool. Una toiletries were included and also in the showers in the gym/spa, so no need to pack anything beyond your suit and goggles.

SCOFF AND QUAFF

On site is the adjoining stylish bistro, Una Kitchen, under the care of winning Cornish chef Glenn Gatland, where residents and non-residents alike can enjoy his Mediterranean-inspired menu created from local Cornish produce, as well as beautiful cocktails. Daily menus include some great fish dishes, signature pizzas, wood fired Sunday roasts, and breakfasts along with a great selection of drinks.

You can see above the Gozney wood fired oven which was the first of its kind to be installed in Cornwall and is huge – making the place perfect for winter breaks – in summer, the doors open onto the deck – and just right for pizzas, steak and mackerel. Dogs are also welcome in the restaurant and actively welcomed by the extremely friendly team who provided excellent service and looked after us beautifully.

Una St Ives Cargo Food Muddy Stilettos Cornwall 2024-UNA-x-CARGO-April-food-LR-57-1536x1023

Expanding on its recently opened lido swimming pool, Una St Ives has also launched the seasonal CARGO, an outdoor BBQ and poolside dining space serving a street-food-inspired menu. The flat breads were excellent, as were the cocktails, and we enjoyed the inside/outside vibe.

Back in the villas, the kitchen is all set for cooking, with pans and plates and so on, as well as place mats, coffee pot and a dishwasher, but if you’re a real foodie and set on serious cooking day after day, you might want to double check on specific equipment.

There was a lovely welcome pack, which included washing up liquid and two loo-rolls, as well as enough tea, coffee and milk for the first day or so. No breakfast cereal or bread though, so you’ll need to remember that if your kids are early risers (breakfast in Una Kitchen doesn’t start until 8.30am).

We recommend stopping at Splattenridden Farm Shop at the end of the road (open until 5.30pm over the summer) which also stocks the best local milk we know, Trink). For something a little fancier, Lobster Box is a Cornish seafood delivery service; order lobster which will arrive completely ready to eat alongside a selection of hand flavoured sides & sauces.

SPA

The heated infinity pool is the centre piece of the wellness facility – a square 1.2m pool looking right out into typical Cornish wild gardens, into which is now set the new lido 20m heated outdoor pool and CARGO poolside bar and eatery. I’ve swum here in summer and autumn, and the colours change with the seasons thanks to the clever planting, always feeling chic. The outdoor pool is surrounded by tempting loungers – when the Cornish weather is onside this is just the place for whiling away afternoon after evening (twilight swims are available, and its open to day guests too).

There is also a children’s pool inside and outside, plus inside is a steam room, sauna and jacuzzi. Locals can also buy membership, so there are sometimes quite a few kids with their families, making it feel buzzing but not over busy, but the weekend we visited was actually quite peaceful and at times we had the outdoor pool to ourselves. No lifeguards, but you can bring your own noodles and floats (and snorkel – the round windows were also fun to engage with!).

I’ve got to admit that I did not, ahem, test the gym or fitness studio, but they are there as an option for a workout should you desire, and again looked out on fresh Cornish air and countryside. I did however do the hard work and head for one of the four treatment rooms – where I had a combo signature Elemis treatment of facial and back massage. I left rejuvenated and photo ready for the Muddy Awards being held the next week, but if you prefer other something longer, or more focused, there is an extensive range of pampering and holistic treatments and the products are Elemis.

KID-FRIENDLY?

Yes, very much so, in both lodges, villas and also both Una Kitchen and CARGO, where there are kid-sized portions including burgers that my kids both enjoyed. Children are welcome in the pool and lido from 8.30am – 6.30pm (adults only before and after) and there are child specific spa treatments on offer too. Last time we visited, my daughter and I had matching manicures! Cots and highchairs can be hired locally to be available to use in the lodges and villas, and there’s surfboard and bike storage on site.

OUT AND ABOUT

You could stay on site for your whole trip, but while that would be nice, I think you’d be missing out, as part of the beauty of Una is that it is the perfect family and dog-friendly countryside base for exploring the wild and remote West Penwith peninsular. St Ives, Penzance, Sennen, St Just and Lands End are all within easy driving distance – you could do a circular route in a day and see all of them, but the real gems are to be found by parking and walking.

With only a weekend we couldn’t do everything, so as ever, I had to be a bit selective. You must make time to head to bright lights of St Ives itself, where my personal highlights are the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden (above) and the Tate itself, or recent Muddy Gallery winner, Penwith Gallery near Porthmeor beach. See my insider guide for more tips on the town – there’s also several beaches in the town itself.

The nearest beach to Una though is Carbis Bay, a sweep of blue sea with golden sand almost a mile wide, flanked by St Ives harbour and Godrevy lighthouse in the distance. Although the beach is privately owned by the hotel, it’s open to the public and is very family friendly, complete with hire options for watersports and often with a pod of dolphins or seals to be seen enjoying the waves. Pick up a picnic at Yvette’s Pantry as you walk past. If you’re feeling flush, head down one evening to splash out on a fancy tasting menu at Ugly Butterfly, Adam Handling’s fine dining restaurant at Carbis Bay.

Some of our other favourite things to do are to head to the Jackson Foundation Gallery (above) in St Just, which won Best Art Gallery in 2023 Muddy Awards, and then after refuelling with ice-cream from the Moomaid parlour, continue on to Priests Cove (below) at Cape Cornwall. This is one of the places Kurt Jackson paints often, and if you watched him on Rick Stein’s Cornwall show, you’ll recognise it.

Off the shore you can see the Brisons and there’s a little tidal pool in which you can take a dip – or if the tide’s in, I like to swim off the slipway. Park in the National Trust carpark and there is a lovely little walk down to the cove, from which you can also pick up the coastpath where you can walk to Sennen or Lands End. Fun fact, the café serves drinks from an extensive selection of china royal memorabilia cups and mugs. In winter, the NT carpark makes a good place to take your own hot drink and watch the storms chase in from the sea to the west.

Had we had longer, we would have continued our arty theme and headed into Penzance and Newlyn, to the Newlyn Art Gallery and Exchange, revisited the Tremenheere Sculpture Garden and Penlee House, eaten supper at Argoe, or lunch at the Old Coastguard in Mousehole. We would also have booked into the Gurnard’s Head for lunch and walked more at Zennor, but you could spend a month down here easily and still not have done everything.

DOG-FRIENDLY?

A number of pet-friendly lodges are available, and Una Kitchen also welcomes well-behaved dogs.

ACESSIBILITY

Due to the unique nature of the properties they are not deemed suitable for disabled access.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Families, or couples, with or without dogs, who want self-catering with space and peace and quiet, out of the hustle and bustle of a town, yet with amenities. If you were a larger group, you could also hire two or more lodges next to each other, retaining your own space but with the option to hang out together too.

Not for: The lodges are luxe but it is still self-catering, so you’ll have to make your own bed and so on, so worth bearing that in mind if it’s not your bag – plenty of hotel options here to look at instead!

The damage: A self-catering stay at Una St Ives in a 2-bedroom lodge costs from £150 per night and from £200 per night in a 2-bedroom villa. (Prices are based on low season and include full leisure club access.)

Una St Ives, Carbis Bay, Cornwall, TR26 3HW,
+44(0)1736 257 000, unastives.co.uk

Muddy Reviews: Una St Ives

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