Location and luxury combine to offer a selection of Cornish self-catering retreats that will surpass expectation.
Words by Hannah Tapping
It all started over breakfast, as many great ideas do. Three colleagues sat down with a shared vision for a luxury holiday company that would use their combined years of industry experience in some of the self-catering industry’s largest agencies to create an impressive portfolio of quality properties in coastal locations. Luxury Coastal now has a directorial team of six industry experts who have grown the business to be a market leader. As a completely independent holiday letting company, Luxury Coastal carves its own path, ensuring each and every property selected meets the teams’ exacting requirements, as Director James Lund explains: “The freedom that comes with running an independent agency means all decisions are ours to make, and where every decision puts our owners’ properties and their letting needs ahead of our bottom line.” Recent awards are testament to this, with the company winning the Leisure and Tourism Award in the South West Business and Community Awards and silver in the British Travel Awards 2022 for Best Company for UK Holiday Home Rentals.
However, it’s the beautiful properties and the lifetime memories created in them that truly tell the story of Luxury Coastal. Gannel View at Pentire near Newquay, as its name suggests, has incredible vistas out across the estuary. With its elevated position each social space benefits from a bird’s eye view of the water below. The main living area is open plan and on warm winter evenings dining on the balcony feels distinctly Mediterranean. An incredible master bedroom suite occupies the top floor in its entirety with a private balcony for secluded relaxation. Sleeping ten across five bedrooms, this holiday home invites extended families or groups of friends with extensive entertainment space both inside and out. The cinema room is a delight for film buffs while the terrace, complete with its own plunge pool, is a sun-worshipper’s idea of heaven. From the bottom of Gannel View’s garden, guests can wander to the river bank to dip toes in the water or even paddle a board across to Crantock Beach.
Pentire is Newquay’s hidden gem. It has the best of both worlds when it comes to a north coast Cornish holiday as it’s within easy access of the town with its wonderful café culture and eclectic range of restaurants, but far enough away to be a place of retreat when solace is required. Similarly, world-class surf breaks are just around the corner, or the estuary provides a gentler ocean experience.
When a property is called Gwithian Lookout, there’s an expectation that there will be a view. With this property, expectations are exceeded on every level, not least the incredible ocean vista. There are few luxury properties that can boast such proximity to the coast. Gwithian Lookout is a mere 250m from the three miles of golden sand that sweeps from Godrevy at one end with its iconic lighthouse, past Mexico Towans and on to Hayle Beach at the other. The view over St Ives Bay often looks like an oil painting, such is the quality of the light here and the layers of colour from beach to sky that change from azure blues and golds in the summer to moody greys and browns come winter. Gwithian Lookout captures all of this, including the north coast’s infamous sunsets, from its full height windows that frame the view to perfection.
Five guests are treated to beach-house luxury here. The living area, with its vaulted ceilings and vast patio doors invite the dunes to the doorstep. Two additional mezzanine areas, accessed by hand-crafted wooden ladders, afford away-from-it-all spaces for reading and relaxation. The interiors here are beautiful in their simplicity; paired back so that they don’t detract from the view, yet echoing the coastal colours, even the sink-into sofas are reminiscent of the sea pinks that cover the dunes in summer. The outdoor terrace makes for a perfect viewing platform to soak up the endless natural panorama and, with an ocean playground on the doorstep, Gwithian Lookout promises an unrivalled coastal stay.
Such is the diversity of Luxury Coastal’s portfolio, that it’s not just impressive beach houses that bring the wow factor. Cosy cottages line cobbled streets in Cornwall’s harbourside villages and perhaps none is more famed than St Ives. The St Ives School artists placed the town very much on the creative map during the 1950s and to this day it remains a vibrant creative hub. It is also known for its white sand beaches that could be mistaken for those of more tropical climes and the town now finds itself on the modern-day foodie map with a host of renowned restaurants. St Ives’ winding streets reveal a new fascination at every turn, whether that be a boutique shop, a gallery or a museum, and on the town’s iconic Street-An-Pol you will find Tregurno.
This traditional Cornish cottage has been transformed into a retreat that exudes luxury inside and out. Period features have been retained while a natural colour palette creates an air of light and space. Sleeping eight guests, there is plenty of space for all including a delightful patio area for spilling out onto for morning coffee or a sundowner, and the addition of a hot tub adds to the luxury. St Ives is hugely popular in the summer months, but is just as charming out of season. If you like your holiday experience to be a little more low key then this is the ideal property for enjoying St Ives as she dons her autumn cloak, with a warming woodburner to hunker down in front of on chilly nights.
Mariners Cottage in Mousehole is another historic property in the portfolio that is quintessentially Cornish. An original 17th century fisherman’s cottage, you only have to look out of the sash windows to imagine yourself in days of old, watching the boats return to their harbour with their catch. Dogs are welcomed here, so it is a place for the whole family to enjoy. With space for four, the cottage is cosy and welcoming, with deep window seats for watching the world go by. From its water’s edge garden there are views to St Michael’s Mount and the Lizard peninsula beyond and stroll the mere 100 yards and you’ll be dipping your toes in the water in minutes.
Luxury Coastal’s hand-selected range of Cornish retreats is breathtaking and with a wider portfolio of properties that extends across the South West, coastal luxury doesn’t come better.
luxurycoastal.co.uk