Last Friday we jumped in our old 1980s banger and set Google Maps for the tiny village of Porthpean in Cornwall, home to stunning house by the sea, The Big Beautiful Beach House…
Owned by the same family for five generations, Porthpean House is unusual for its proximity to the sea – most houses like these were built further away from the beach to protect against smugglers from what I understand! It has 12 bedrooms (sleeps up to 21) eight bathrooms, two kitchens, living room with grand piano, snug, games room and book-lined drawing room with a huge dining table; plus countless stairways and passages to get lost in. Suffice to say it took a bit of getting use to finding our way around! We arrived en masse – thank you Sophie for organising us all and arranging the trip! – 7 adults and 5 children; running round and choosing rooms whiled away what was left of the evening, followed by storytime for the kids and late snacks and wine for us oldies…
ROOM WITH A VIEW
So many of the rooms are seafront facing, many with a bathroom nearby, we all slept and woke to the gentle rush of the waves against the beach…
SO GOOD FOR THE SOUL
The first morning, we scoffed left-out-for-us scones and headed down for a play on the beach. Too cold to swim – for ordinary people, my Skye-born husband braved a plunged before shooting back out in shock! – but blissfully sunny and perfect for sandcastles and goofing about. Cups of warming tea, then half the group went searching and found a sea of bluebells up the hill while rest of us warmed up with tea and more scones, jam and clotted cream. Too good!
VISITING NEARBY CHARLESTOWN
After lunch, Myles, Gus & I drove to the next town Charlestown for ice cream and investigated the Shipwreck Centre – home to the largest number of shipwreck artefacts in the UK. Thumbs up all round for this kid-friendly and fascinating exhibition, the perfect way to while away a couple of hours. On our return, the house being so capacious, the gang of kids tore around playing hide & seek and laying out train tracks while pizza, salad and homemade apple crumble made for the most delicious and easy suppertime.
THE LOST GARDEN OF HELIGAN
The following day was a toss up between The Eden Project (quite pricey at £25 and a bit further) and The Lost Garden of Heligan. We went with the latter as the forecast was good, tickets cheaper and the temptation of ancient woodlands and pleasure grounds discovered under bushes and brambles 25 years ago was just too much. The outing proved a huge hit with us all – from ice creams to sleeping giants covered in moss, rope bridges, oversized jungle plants, emus and a rare song thrush sighting. We walked for quite a while before collapsing into the cafe as the day came to a close. We could have easily spent loads more time there exploring the Italian gardens and greenhouses, stunning!
SAD TO SAY GOODBYE
Our last night we ate leftovers and enjoyed the relaxed feeling of traveling back Monday instead of Sunday – highly recommended, without leaving-London-on-a-Friday-traffic to contend with, we made it in 6 hours including teabreaks. Do check out the house if you’re looking for somewhere to accommodate a big group (up to 21) – fabulous place for family get togethers, weddings, birthday parties…
NB. The house is also taking B&B bookings for June 6-9, so get in touch at:
www.thebigbeautifulbeachhouse.com
All photos by me on the Olympus Pen F with the in-camera colour settings just the way I like them!
Lovely photos. We were staying at the house only a few weeks ago and this has brought back wonderful memories. Just want to go back …