Property market
England’s westernmost county is still as desirable as ever
AFTER a decade of battling headwinds in the wake of the financial crash and the tortuous Brexit negotiations, Cornwall’s country-house agents are once again riding the crest of a wave. ‘The market in Cornwall has recovered well in the past 18 months and there is good demand for prime country and waterfront property. Ironically, the county’s appeal has only been enhanced by the current and recent lockdowns, as people adjust to more time at home and the restrictions on overseas travel,’ says Falmouth-based Jonathan Cunliffe (01326 617447).
Last week, his firm got off to a flying start with the launch in Country Life of gorgeous, Grade Ii-listed Trevella at St Erme, four miles from the cathedral city of Truro, an elegant
Georgian country house set in 14 acres of gardens and grounds in the heart of the Cornish countryside, roughly halfway between the dramatic cliffs and sandy surf beaches of the north coast and the sheltered deep-water estuaries and wooded creeks of the south. Despite its rural location, Trevella is close to all the Truro schools, including the highly rated Polwhele House prep school, which is three miles away. For buyers who need regular access to London, Truro offers a mainline railway station with an excellent overnight sleeper service to London-paddington, as well as easy access to both the A30 and Newquay airport.
Offered for sale at a guide price of £2.5 million, Trevella sits in an ancient landscape scattered with Bronze Age mounds; the surrounding parish is named after St Hermes, who was born in Greece and died a martyr in Rome in 120ad. The property is shown in Domesday as a smallholding attached to Killigrew, the seat of the Arwenack family who founded Falmouth in 1600.
In the 18th century, Trevella was owned for many years by John Haweis, a Truro doctor who died in 1760, leaving the house to his sister, from whom it passed to David Haweis of Killiow. However, the will was so complicated that soaring legal costs led to it being sold in 1782 to John James, who built the Georgian extension to the original medieval house in 1790. In 1815, the house was damaged by fire and the interiors destroyed. Although uninsured, it was rebuilt at a cost of £1,500 (£134,563 in today’s money) by its then owner, George Simmons, who also acquired the neighbouring Polglaze to improve the approach to Trevella; the curious Tower Lodge that was the gatehouse dates from this period.
In 1935, Trevella was bought by William Bickford-smith Esq. In 1954, the house and estate were purchased in turn by Lord Falmouth of Tregothnan as a wedding present for his daughter, who lived there until 2006, when the house was sold to its present owners, who, during their tenure, have made many improvements to the property, including the addition of a large kitchen extension into the rear courtyard garden.
Behind the classic Georgian façade, the porch leads through to an entrance hall with a parquet floor and an open fireplace. The central reception hall—the heart of the house— leads to the main family living and reception
rooms. These include a large sitting room, a library and an elegantly proportioned dining room and, behind that, the impressive kitchen/ breakfast room. There are six first-floor bedrooms, three in the main house and three in the rear wing, with further living space and attics on the second floor. The garden cottage was renovated in 2017 to provide further twobedroom guest or holiday accommodation. Outbuildings include a traditional stone barn with loft space used for children’s parties, stabling, a tack room and a hay barn.
Trevella’s idyllic 14 acres of gardens, bluebell woods, herbaceous borders and paddocks— part of a wildlife sanctuary that has existed here for more than 50 years—are particularly spectacular in April and May, when the magnificent magnolias and rhododendrons can be seen in all their glory.
Described by Daniel Defoe in 1724 as ‘by much the richest and best trading town in this county’, the historic port town of Falmouth lies at the mouth of the Fal estuary, said to be the third largest natural deep-water harbour in the world. Its working focus and raison d’etre is its distinctive waterfront, which forms a striking townscape both from land and water.
Here, Jonathan Cunliffe is handling the sale of Britons Slip, arguably the finest waterfront property in Falmouth, comprising a historic detached house converted in the 1980s by the then captain of Adnan Khashoggi’s super-yacht Nabila (later Trump Princess), together with its adjoining commercial and freehold development site at 39, High Street, plus freehold offices and parking at 15, High Street, at a guide price of £3.5m for the whole.
Britons Slip comes with its own private pontoon with deep-water access
The main house, listed Grade II, which comes with its own private slipway and pontoon with deep-water access (said to be the only such house in Falmouth), has five bedrooms, a two-bedroom apartment, a garden studio and a heated indoor pool.
Jack Greenwood of Lillicrap Chilcott in Truro (01872 273473) is handling the sale of landmark Skerryvore House at Newquay, a substantial 1930s villa built on a one-acre site overlooking the town’s famous Towan surf beach, with dramatic views along the coast from Newquay Harbour to Stepper Point. Mr Greenwood quotes a guide price of £2m for this extraordinary coastal property, which offers, he says, ‘huge scope for redevelopment of the main house into a stunning main or second home, as well as for multiple dwellings, subject to all necessary consents’.
Now in need of ‘extensive refurbishment’, the house was acquired by its present owner through Lillicrap Chilcott in 2016, with the intention of renovating the house for himself. Unfortunately, a subsequent change in his personal circumstances meant that his plans for Skerryvore had to be put on hold, hence his reluctant decision to sell.
In its current form, Skerryvore House provides an entrance hall, sitting room, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room and a bedroom wing with three double bedrooms, all en suite, on the ground floor, plus two further large bedrooms on the second floor. The grounds offer parking, lawned gardens, decking and hot tub, a studio/workshop and an adjoining one-bed apartment.