After a day spent exploring the shops and galleries of St Ives, guests at Malcolm Herring’s hilltop private hotel can relax on the seaward terrace with a Blue Hayes Colada and feel serenely above it all. Decorated in cool coastal blues and creams and set in palm-filled gardens, the hotel has just five ‘very spacious’ suites (and a single) with ‘every possible comfort’ (fresh milk, ground coffee, bone china, smart toiletries). ‘Ours had a table and chairs in the window where meals could be taken.’ Trelyon has a large roof terrace with fabulous views; all have a bath and walk-in shower. The ‘well-trained’ staff (many have been working here for years) are ‘a joy’. For dining out, there are restaurants for all tastes and budgets, but guests staying put can order ahead from an ‘amazing selection of cold supper dishes’, served in the dining room or alfresco. Maybe a Cornish blue-cheese salad, lobster with saffron and dill mayonnaise, a seafood platter… A ‘magnificent’ breakfast brings kedgeree, berry pancakes with crème fraîche, a full English. The host is a visible presence front-of-house. ‘Malcolm was happy to talk about the three years he took to convert the old tired building.’