The beach community at Carbis Bay
For the Carbis Bay beach takeover, we turn a spotlight on inspiring and exciting food venues and action taking place around the bay.
In 2021, the global spotlight turned on the small beach community at Carbis Bay, when it played host to the G7 conference. A surprisingly fitting location for world leaders to discuss the state of the world beside the ocean: a small village with big sustainability ambitions – from local community initiatives to its most famous restaurants.
Usually, the sheltered sandy beach is what lures visitors to Carbis Bay, but it’s far from the only place to connect with nature and experience the area’s wild beauty. On the 40-acre nature reserve Steeple Woodland, overlooking the bay, we meet Rupert Manley.
“Over the last 25 years, volunteers have planted more than 4,000 trees, established ponds, bird boxes, an orchard and beehives, creating several biodiverse habitats,” Rupert says. “It’s a place to slow down and spend time in a positive natural environment, which is proven to have huge mental and physical benefits.” And you can give back to the nature here while away; there’s volunteer sessions Wednesday and Sunday mornings.
Winding down from the woods to the shoreline, past thriving foodie venues, it’s clear that there’s no need to visit neighbouring St Ives to indulge in some of the best of Cornwall’s edible bounty. Within minutes we pass The Bean Inn vegetarian and vegan restaurant, Yvette’s Pantry serving beach-ready salad boxes stuffed with wholefoods and just-picked seasonal produce, and La Casita for Catalan tapas using Cornish ingredients. That’s all before reaching the line-up of cafés, cocktail bars and restaurants on the beach.
“Pickled capers from the last pick of wild garlic. Lemon and lime pulp dried and crushed into sherbet. Strawberry tops from Mitchell Fruit Garden made into syrup.”
Image credit: Ugly Butterfly
Back to the earth
“There’s a lot of new places bubbling up in Carbis Bay, which is really exciting,” says local ceramicist and grower, Jo Riley, who will soon be out on her bike collecting food waste from all the restaurants, to compost for local growing projects.
“Since 2021, I’ve been using my electric bike to collect food waste from businesses in St Ives, and taking it to the St Ives Orchard,” Jo explains. “Now I’ve raised money for a community electric bike, other volunteers can take on the St Ives route, so I can use my bike to collect waste from the growing number of restaurants in Carbis Bay to take to our new community permaculture and garden space at Sycamore Cottage.”
Going further, Adam Handling’s zero waste ethos at the Ugly Butterfly restaurant has raised the bar for sustainability within Carbis Bay’s already squeaky-green crown.
Graced with floor-to-ceiling windows overhanging the powder-white sands and many-hued blue sea, it’s not just gobsmacking views that have given this Michelin-starred dining room its reputation. The plates served here not only tell a story of Cornwall and the seasons, but also one of every ingredient used, from its beginning to end.
Image credit: Ugly Butterfly
“You get pink and orange sunsets in summer. Dark and romantic candle-lit nights in winter. We’ve even had sheet lightening displays in the storms.”
A neon sign next to a wall stacked high with jars, preserves and concoctions flashes: ‘No Waste.’ For here, every food scrap is used. Pickled capers from the last pick of wild garlic. Lemon and lime pulp dried and crushed into sherbet. Strawberry tops from Mitchell Fruit Garden made into syrup. There’s nothing left here for Jo to collect on her bicycle rounds.
A menu of stories
“If it’s not local, in season, and can’t be used from top to tail, it’s not on the menu,” explains head chef Aiden Blakely-May. “Almost everything comes from within an hour and 45 minutes’ drive of the restaurant.”
Some of the ingredients are surprising. Who knew you could grow lemons and walnuts in Cornwall? Alongside line-caught seafood from fishermen on first-name terms with the chef, there’s lamb sourced from the most southerly working farm in mainland Britain, on the Lizard Peninsula, naturally seasoned by the salty air.
It doesn’t stop at the food. At the bar, millet offcuts come together with discarded banana peel rum in a zingy Mai Tai cocktail. And oyster shell vodka in a martini, finished with samphire and seaweed, with a cloud of sea foam on top. The beach in a glass.
Image credit: Ugly Butterfly
“Dining at the Ugly Butterfly is a hyper-sensory experience,” explains restaurant manager Tobie Heseltine. “It’s not just the food that reflects the seasons and the location, but the setting too. You get pink and orange sunsets in summer. Dark and romantic candle-lit nights in winter. We’ve even had sheet lightening displays in the storms.”
Today the panorama is one of dazzling summer beach life: windbreaks, deckchairs, paddle-boarders and picnic blankets. Visitors basking in the environment that shapes the dishes on the table.
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