Vintage pieces conjure up a mood of old-fashioned simplicity
Springtime sees many a village along the Cornish coastline bracing itself for the first wave of holiday-makers, bearing their booty of buckets, spades, buggies and surfboards. But in the quiet village of Gunwalloe, daily life continues at its usual steady pace. “Even when we move into summer, not much changes here,” says Beth Tarling, who lives in one of a clutch of houses that overlook the sweeping bay of Fishing Cove. “You’ll see a few more dog walkers, but it never gets crowded.” Beth and her husband Dan live in one of the last cottages before the road peters out into a sandy track down to the sea. “Next stop, America,” she jokes.
This beautifully secluded vantage point may escape the attention of most daytrippers, but Gunwalloe is a place where the weather has always held sway – for today’s inhabitants as much as former fishing and farming communities. “Dan’s family has owned this cottage for many years,” Beth explains, “so he warned me to brace myself for the wind, saying, ‘However strong you think it will be, you’ll be nowhere near.’ And he was right – sometimes you can barely stand up against the force of it.” But as winter gives way to spring, the wind drops and the sun lights up the landscape, its undulating fields barely interrupted by trees. “I love it here all year round,” she adds. “It’s a truly wild place.”
Beth and Dan have gradually turned Sea View Cottage into a home that’s in tune with its timeless setting, decorating it in a style that combines functional with homely. Beth has even found a way to compensate for the fact that the strong, saltladen winds make it hard to grow plants in the small garden at the front of the house. “I turned the second living room, where sun streams down through a roof-light, into more
of a garden room, so you almost feel as if you are outside while remaining sheltered from the elements,” she says. The plants that flourish here are echoed and referenced in the fabrics and paint colours used elsewhere in the cottage. In the kitchen, cabinets are painted in soft Tapestry Green by Craig & Rose that matches the heritage shade of Beth’s collection of Wood’s 1940s Beryl Ware utility crockery, while classic Laura Ashley checks at the windows and on cushions are in a muted sage.
Beth wanted to decorate the cottage with pieces that conjured up a mood of old-fashioned simplicity, so trawled charity shops and ebay, as well as a recycling centre that sells off old pieces of furniture with life left in them. “Car-boot sales are great for finding old books, which really do furnish a room,” she says. Rows of hardbacks full of tales of derring-do or the escapades of The Famous Five add to the nostalgic atmosphere of this coastal bolthole:“well-loved books become part of a home and contribute to its character.” She and Dan have even created a reading nook in what was previously a walk-through space, adding a window seat and a cushioned bench: “We love to relax with a book or spread out a big jigsaw on the table here, as it doesn’t have to be cleared away for mealtimes.”
Bedding has a similarly old-fashioned air, featuring a mix of plaid wool blankets, flower-print eiderdowns and vintage-style florals. “The Laura Ashley look has always been a source of inspiration for me,” says Beth, who worked for the company for more than 20 years, creating shop-floor displays. “The beauty