PIER-LESS COTTAGE

SOME properties can rightly claim to be unique, maybe in their design, or they have a past that runs through every brick and stone in every room. For some homes it’s the location, from a coastal property with a sweeping sea view to a house in a remote corner of the countryside.

One cottage in Pembrokeshire can claim all three elements, which when combined makes it a home that can never be replicated.

Called Pier Cottage, this tasty combination of design, history and location has captivated owners in its past, but they have had to find it first before they could fall in love with it.

Pier Cottage is tucked away below a few other buildings and hardly visible from the quiet dead-end street above. It is visible from ships and boats travelling along one of Wales’ most famous estuaries, though, as the house is embedded into the rock right next to the sparkling water.

Caroline Summons, 41, and from Milford Haven, introduced her mother to Pier Cottage over 21 years ago, and it was instant attraction.

The views are uninterrupted because the cottage almost overhangs the water, partially built into the rock of the shoreline with two-metre-thick reinforced concrete.

It’s no accident to find this historic house hugging the water.

Caroline says: “It was a toll cottage in the 1800s for foot passengers entering Milford Haven, for which they paid an entrance fee. They also paid for high tea in the large building next door, which was a hotel. There even used to be a trapdoor in the hallway of the cottage where the washing from the hotel next door would be flung, passing it downstairs to be laundered.

“In old photos and newspaper cuttings you will see a wooden pier where boats used to pull up and let passengers off. Hence the name, Pier Cottage.”

Inside the cottage, Caroline’s mother has framed and hung some of these past images and references to the history of the cottage.

One of these fascinating insights into the home’s past reads: “In the 1850s Colonel Greville built this 750ft wooden pier from the cliffs between Milford Beach and Scotch Bay. It has a toll house and a hotel and was connected with Hamilton Terrace by Pier Road.”

In these old photos the hotel is clearly visible and it looks as though it still remains as homes, situated along the cul-de-sac that sees Pier Cottage located at the end.

And it is a most enviable position, lower than the road so anyone visiting nearby homes is unlikely to know Pier Cottage exists, unless they see the chimneys peeping over the wall.

Caroline says there has been a lot of work done to the cottage over the last two decades, including landscaping the garden and extending the kitchen.

But it’s making the most of the views that has been the core objective and adding glass bay windows has been an inspired decision.

Due to great design, the bay in the master bedroom seems to protrude over the water, with mesmerising views on three sides thanks to the use of floor-to-ceiling windows, and this design is replicated in the living-room.

Arguably the most wonderful of the additions to the cottage is the balcony area found between the bedroom bay and the bay window in the lounge.

Accessed via a door in the lounge bay, this private, sunny balcony boasts a patio that also has glass panels so nothing gets in the way of that spectacular view.

There are plenty of other places to be fully and happily absorbed into the view, from the spacious conservatory accessed from the kitchen-diner and the lounge, to the arched window in the second bedroom

Outside there are plenty of spots to watch the ships glide past, and the water-based wildlife.

Even though the garden has amazing, panoramic views from the lawn, maybe the optimum area is the terrace along the waterfront – plenty of space here for everyone to pull up a chair and enjoy the sunshine.

Caroline says: “It is a peaceful, calming and relaxing spot. Hearing children playing on the beach in the evening and the waves lapping while sitting admiring the view of the waterway with forever activities on the water from the local yacht clubs.

“However, the winter months can be a different story but equally engaging; loud, roaring waves, fog horns and the spray from the waves crashing over the conservatory and into the garden.”

Enter through double gates and then steps that take you onto a sunny decked walkway, reminiscent of the pier that once stood next to the cottage, and overlooking the very pretty walled garden, constantly accompanied by the water views.

The estate agent auctioning the house states that there is a garage, accessed from the roadway beside the entrance gates, with another access door inside the property boundary, plus an allocated parking space by the roadside. There is also a built-in shed at the end of the garden.

Into the cottage on the ground floor and a central hall that immediately gives you a glimpse of the water directly from the welcome mat via the

lounge bay window at the far end of the property.

To the right is a spacious and modern kitchen-diner that leads via glass double doors into the conservatory.

Although the kitchen has ample room for a table and chairs, it’s probably the dining area in this bonus garden room that wins almost every time as the best place to enjoy your breakfast, rewarding you with huge water views on two sides.

There’s an extra bonus here too, with a cute additional glass windowencased room – surely a fabulous reading nook, that also gives you access to the waterside garden terrace.

There’s a separate dining-room that is currently being used as a snug and understandably so, as it has a generous log burner nestling in a characterful fireplace with large wooden mantle above.

The living-room at the water-view side of the cottage also has a fireplace, plus ceiling and wall beams that can be seen in a number of rooms.

The living-room has access to that quiet, waterside balcony via its special glass-filled bay area, and it’s additions like the balcony at this property that really elevate it into the dream home bracket.

Into the ensuite bedroom next to the living-room and there’s another perfect reading nook within this room’s glass bay window.

Down the central stairs to the hallway on the lower ground floor, and this room can show you its vintage via ceiling and wall beams, whitewashed stone walls and the cutest of fireplaces. This space is generous, so it could easily accommodate a home office area.

There’s another large bedroom down here, plus a four-piece bathroom with roll-top bath. There’s also a quirky, separate shower built into the wall that is pretending to be a red phone box, illustrating the current owners’ playful personality when it comes to interior design.

Throughout the house the owners have made this cottage their own personal sanctuary, and it will be a lot of fun for a new owner to decide how they want to make the decor reflect their own personality.

But this lower level can offer you maybe the most engaging feature within the whole house, apart from the view. There are four delightful porthole windows, one in the bathroom, two in the central hall and one in the bedroom on the side wall.

They all open and they all provide fabulous circular views almost at water level – you feel like you’re on a boat bobbing along the estuary.

Pier Cottage is being sold via virtual auction with West Wales Finest Properties with a guide price of £395,000 which ends on Monday, May 18 at noon. Call the estate agent on 01267 236 655 to find out more, including the fees attached to buying the cottage.