Tickets go on sale starting Monday 10 August, at 8 a.m. Bookings should be made early to avoid disappointment and can be made on the St. Ives September Festival website, or at the St. Ives box office. See more links below.
St. Ives Festival events at Talland House
Tours of Talland House garden
13, 16, 19 September, 10:30 a.m. – noon
Woolf spent childhood summers at Talland House, where the garden provided a treasure trove of images and memories that she would later weave into her novels and memoirs. Join Polly Carter, Talland House gardener, to explore the recent plantings that she has introduced and how they relate to Woolf’s writings. Reserve your spot.
In Conversation with Artist Adrian Neil Taylor and Talland House Gardener Polly Carter
24 September, 2 – 3:30 p.m.
Talland gardener Polly and artist Adrian discuss his latest work using charcoal made from wood taken from Talland House garden, the setting for Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and her childhood summer residence. Hear, too, about Talland House, past, present and future. Reserve your spot.
Talland House Farewell to the ‘To The Lighthouse’ View Garden Party
26 September, 6 – 9 p.m.
Godrevy Lighthouse
Possibly the last chance to witness the view of Godrevy Lighthouse from Talland House before a proposed development blocks it. A view of international literary significance, it forms the backbone of Virginia Woolf’s ground-breaking modernist novel To the Lighthouse. Includes pay bar, musical recital, speeches and charcoal firing. Reserve your spot.
Join the mailing list
To join the Talland House mailing list for notification of future events email pollycartergardener@icloud.com
A corner of Talland House garden in June 2004.
A view of the front garden — and a group of photo hungry Woolfians — on a hazy day in June 2004.
Encouraging news has arrived from the UK. The proposed development that threatened to destroy Virginia Woolf’s view of Godrevy Lighthouse from Talland House, has stalled.
The move comes after Woolf scholars and common readers from around the globe raised an outcry using email, social media and the Web. Their efforts generated media coverage that included the BBC and resulted in the Cornwall Council Planning Committee postponing its decision on the project.
Now a helpful source from Cornwall Council emailed this news to Woolf scholar Maggie Humm: “The application has been affected by the affordable housing changes…at this stage the application is not likely to go to the planning committee.”
Here’s what this means. In November 2014, the Conservative (Tory) Party ruled that developments of 10 or less could avoid paying an affordable-housing levy or offering any such housing in their development. Humm said this provision offered licence for any developer.
In early August, the High Court threw out this legislation, so the developer of the St. Ives project, which included a six-story block of six flats and a car park to be constructed in front of Talland House, must rethink the economic viability of the project and resubmit it.
In addition, a local resident forwarded Blogging Woolf an email from English Heritage saying legislation includes a provision to “avoid harm to the setting of a listed building if it contributes to the significance of the building.” Talland House is considered Grade II, which means it is “nationally important and of special interest. The St. Ives resident cited National Planning Framework Section 12 paras. 128,9,132 and noted that he would add this information to the planning comments page for the project, PA15/04337.
Woolf and her family summered at Talland House for the first 12 years of her life. The lighthouse she could see from her summer home plays an integral role in her famous novel To the Lighthouse (1927).
Plus here is more good news that indicates the St. Ives Town Council may be taking the preservation of local history more seriously: The Council recently voted down a different application to build on an ancient site.
Woolfians around the globe have succeeded in saving the view of the lighthouse — for now.
Screenshot from 7/222/15 BBC Entertainment & Arts page
They used email and social media to temporarily halt action on the ill-conceived construction plan that would destroy the view of Godrevy Lighthouse from Talland House, Virginia Woolf’s childhood summer home in St. Ives, Cornwall. The lighthouse is also a key element in Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse (1927).
Cornwall Council was scheduled to vote on the plan, which calls for building a block of six flats and a car park in front of Talland House, on July 14. But according to stories in the Western Morning News and BBC Cornwall, that vote will take place at a later date.
The IVWS put Western Morning News reporter David Wells in touch with Woolf scholars and connected BBC reporter Miles O. Davis with Cecil Woolf, Virginia and Leonard’s nephew. Cecil spoke out on the plan in today’s BBC story and on Blogging Woolf. The main BBC story is posted on the Cornwall section of the website. A link is also posted on the Entertainment and Arts page. A version of the BBC story also ran in the Observer Chronicle.
Woolfians protested the plan by sending emails to Cornwall Council and St. Ives Town Council, posting comments on the plan, posting messages on the Cornwall Council Facebook page and tweeting to Cornwall Council @CornwallCouncil. They also contacted West Cornwall’s Minister of Parliament Derek Thomas via Twitter and email and tweeted to @EnglishHeritage for assistance.
By this morning, 66 comments against the plan, which would destroy a vital piece of literary history, were posted on the application from developer Porthminster Beach View Ltd. that is now before Cornwall Council. Talland House is considered of historical importance, as it is listed Grade II.
The decision on whether to approve or reject the plans will be made by Cornwall Council on a date to be decided. — BBC Cornwall story, “Virginia Woolf relatives defend view ‘To The Lighthouse'”
Add your voice to protect the historic view
To submit your objections to the plan, send an email to planning@cornwall.gov.uk. Include the planning application number: PA15/04337 in your message.
You can also post a comment on the planning application at this link, but you must register first. To do so, you are required to have a UK postal code. One Woolfian ant the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain suggested using the Talland House postal code, which is TR26 2EH.
Here is a comment posted by Vanessa Curtis, author of Virginia Woolf’s Women and The Hidden Houses of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.
I’m saddened to read of this latest threat to such an important part of our literary heritage. Already Talland House, the beautiful listed building so loved by Virginia Woolf and her family, is boxed in by other modern developments which should not have had planning permission granted, but this latest application appears to perhaps be the worst of all. The patch of land that the proposed apartments will be built upon was once owned by Leslie Stephen, Woolf’s father. He took out a 100 year lease on the land to prevent anybody building on it and spoiling his view out towards Godrevy Lighthouse. Please, please do not let the greed of developers wipe out our literary heritage and further ruin the spectacularly attractive coastline of this part of the world. As one drives into St Ives now, the dominant view is no longer that of the Victorian buildings around Talland House, but of various high-rise blocks which would look more at home in inner-city London than overlooking the stunning sweep of Porthminster Beach.
