Tate St Ives

For the second week of our holiday, we stayed just outside the beautiful coastal Cornish town of St Ives. To get there we hopped on the train for a 10 min meander along the coastline. It was a big change to Nick's usual commute!

I had been to the Tate St Ives about 15 years ago, when it first opened. It's a small but perfectly formed gallery, and just right for 2 year old Scarlett's first art gallery experience. I spent every Sunday of my childhood either in a London gallery, Museum or a country National Trust property. Only as an adult have I really realised how lucky we were to be exposed to so many interesting and beautiful places.

Scarlett is a particular fan of sculpture (see Henry Moore post!), and told me exactly what each one was. These enlightening nuggets ranged from a fish to a robot. We ignored some uptight, snooty people who seemed to think that children shouldn't be allowed in such places.

The real treat came when we reached a walkway/balcony which look out onto a huge sea-facing window and open gallery. the gallery contained hundreds and hundreds of white inflated balloons! This is a work called 'Half The Air in a Given Space' by Martin Creed. It is interactive, and Nick and Scarlett went in first. Her face when she entered the room was one of pure amazement and happiness! The balloons covered the heads of adults and walking through was a strange experience. We spent quite some time in there, and I'm sure it was the highlight of the 2 weeks for Scarlett!

Another work was a room covered in the names of visitors in black pen by staff at the height of the person. It's a fantastic room, and though Scarlett's name stood out, being very average heights, mine and Nick's were lost in the big black band made up of tons of names.

After a coffee on the windy roof, we left and went on to have a blissful lunch overlooking the sea...........all in all, a very good day!