A few months ago, we listed this Cornish beauty in an off-season round-up of empty beaches. At the time, I could safely say that there were many, even among avid Cornish beach goers, who had never heard of the place (for your reference, it’s on the Atlantic coast, between St Ives and Hayle). If you haven’t heard of it now, you need to get out more (in a manner of speaking*). Carbis Bay has been chosen as the location for this summer’s G7 summit (June 11-13), a convergence of leaders from Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the United States (Joe Biden, no less) hosted by the UK. Soon, it will be world famous. Dammit.
The main venue for the summit is the beach-front hotel and spa at the swish Carbis Bay Estate with delegates staying at the Tregenna Castle Resort (a former railway hotel in St Ives) among other places. I have to yet to find out whether the Boskerris Hotel (one of our favourites) is in the mix but we imagine that all rooms will be snaffled for the duration with very limited access to any part of Carbis Bay (a modern village of mostly 20thcentury homes and apartments arranged on a hill that slopes down to big sandy beach).
Between discussing topics like debt, climate change and the global pandemic, delegates might like to take a stroll along the South West Coast path to St Ives or Porthkidney (another largely empty beach). Or hop on the scenic St Ives’ Bay railway line which runs from St Erth to St Ives stopping at Carbis Bay’s station halt on the way). Unlikely. The security operation is said to be the biggest in Devon and Cornwall Police history. Expect miles of fencing, armed security, exclusion zones; the place will be crawling with press. It’s not going to be much fun for locals. There might be protests. But let’s hope the world will have forgotten Carbis Bay once it’s all over. Again, unlikely.
*Literally, you don’t need to get out more. Please stay at home until further notice.
