PROVIDING LIFELONG HAPPY MEMORIES SINCE 2005

A Selection of Reviews

We do our utmost to look after our guests before, during and after their holiday so that they have a wonderful time and leave refreshed and with lasting happy memories of their time together. Here is a sample of comments kindly left in our Visitors Book and on 3rd party sites.

“We had a truly wonderful stay at Porthcothan House. There’s a very peaceful feel about this property and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anybody thinking about a staycation in Cornwall. The owner’s communication was first rate and we wanted for nothing at the property.” (Leo M 08/2024 2 weeks)

“We were three couples, all seniors, good friends who have travelled together before. All of us enjoyed the visit, found the house very comfortable and appreciated the many great recommendations by the host. The coast trail hikes in both directions were beautiful and two evenings’ catering by your private chef was fantastic.” (Kirk H 06/2024 1 week)

“We have just returned from our third Easter break at Porthcothan House, a 4 generation family group who all love it, the 2 year old in our group said he never wanted to go home! The house is very well appointed, large enough for a big group to spread out but great to be together in too, especially at meal times. The bedrooms are big, the beds massive and super comfortable and the views to sea a real treat. There are plenty of bathrooms, four baths no less! It’s close enough to the sea to walk down in your wetsuit which we did often, and enough showers to all get warm when you get back. All in all it’s a perfect house in a great location with very friendly, helpful and accommodating hosts. Thank you!” (Matt T-B 03/2024 1 week)

“A truly beautiful house in a perfect location. The house is a perfect blend of old and new, with plenty of period features sensitively preserved alongside all the modern creature comforts. Very well equipped kitchen with a huge Aga at its heart, opening into the great family dining room, which then opens into the pretty well maintained walled garden, you hardly need the other three beautifully furnished reception rooms! We all enjoyed our stay immensely and the owner was very responsive and super helpful at all times. Thank you. We’ll be back next year!” (Nigel E 08/2023 2 weeks)

“Fantastic week. Such a wonderful home for our multi-generational family to spend precious time together. Thank you.” (07/2023)

“Another wonderful week at Porthcothan House where friends & families come together and create memories, happiness and smiles. We love it. Thank you.”(10/2022)

“A beautiful house that feels like home the moment you enter. Location is unbeatable and we had the most wonderful New Year break.” (01/2022)

“We have had such a wonderful holiday in your beautiful house. Everything we needed for a perfect break. Thank you.” (09/2021)

“We’ve had an amazing week in your wonderful house. This is our first trip to Porthcothan and it’s been fabulous. Amazing weather, amazing view and amazing memories. Thank you for giving us the perfect place to stay.” (08/2021)

“A wonderful fortnight spent in this beautiful & friendly home. Many happy memories made.” (06/2021)

“We had a wonderful two week stay. The house is very spacious and homely with all we wanted and needed. The light and views are glorious. The grounds were ample for eleven of us plus two dogs. Easy walking distance to the local beach plus short driving distance to many others (dependent on whim and wind for surfing). Many good restaurants within a short hop in the car plus a very nice pub two minutes walk from the house. T & J introduced us to the house and how it worked and were there when on one occasion we needed their help. Absolutely fabulous. We would love to stay again.” (05/2021)

“I feel very blessed and lucky that we have been able to enjoy your fabulous house and the surrounding coast.” (10/2020)

“We felt welcomed from the very first point of contact and that continued all through to the end of our week in your beautiful house. Every one of us had a great time and really appreciated the quality of our surroundings. By a wide margin the best holiday home we’ve ever come across.” (07/2019)

“Porthcothan House is simply delightful. It is a house of distinction that provides a luxurious amount of space and comfort. It is presented beautifully with an attention to detail and quality that makes you smile.” (09/2018)

“Porthcothan House provided very comfortable and tasteful accommodation for our family group, celebrating an important birthday. The bedrooms are spacious, all the equipment you could need is provided. In short, everything was to a very high standard. Porthcothan beach is lovely and less crowded than most and there is a footpath from the house to the beach which almost entirely avoids using the road. Although there are plenty of other attractive beaches nearby, we only used Porthcothan because it seemed the best and is very convenient. The coastal walking is beautiful.” (08/2018)

“We have had the most wonderful week. A lovely house in a perfect location.” (02/2018)

“What a magical place. Lovely rooms, wonderful fires. A very special place to spend Xmas.” (12/2017)

“We just love your house – everything about it: the house itself, the position, the relative quiet of Porthcothan Bay …” (08/2017)

“This house is filled with character, style & quality which clearly reflects the care, effort and love put into it’s presentation. A simply glorious week of serious indulgence.” (09/2016)

“I will treasure the memory of my 60th birthday celebrations in this beautiful house with all my family around me.” (06/2015)

“Amazing and beautiful place to stay.” (Steven Frayne (stage name ‘Dynamo’) 09/2014)

“A special Christmas for the whole family … the pretty little bay was visible from almost every window … the beds were the most comfortable we have ever slept in … exquisite taste shines throughout: oak floors, curtain fabrics, delightful pictures, Mexican tiles in the bathrooms, flowers … the bedrooms (except for the single) were all so large and welcoming that they were as good as each other.” (12/2013) Cyns Nature Notes – Christmas at Porthcothan House [Cyn came to stay for a special family gathering when she was ill and because she had always wanted to see the sea when she woke. She loved the house and the view from her bedroom window. Cyn sadly died in January 2020. We were grateful to have met her and the memory of her indomitable spirit, nature blog and love of simple things remain.]

“It’s very easy to see why people are on their 8th year here! It’s wonderful. We have had the best holiday and can’t wait to come back.” (07/2013) [They did come back and in 2022 celebrated their 10th year.]

“Sunny days spent enjoying Porthcothan beach and loving the time spent together in this gorgeous house.” (04/2012)

“Wonderful venue, perfect location, beautiful house and excellent weather. Thoroughly enjoyed by all.” (04/2011)

“Memories are made of this – a really happy week with wonderful friends in a fantastic house.” (07/2010)

“Wonderful Christmas in great house – loved the Aga for Christmas dinner. Appreciated special details.” (12/2009)

“The most amazing week of the year every year. Can’t wait for the next one and there’s nowhere I’d rather be.” (04/2009)

“Three generations of our family have loved the house. So much space, lovely comfy beds and practically a loo each.” (07/2008)

“Fabulous house. We didn’t want for anything. Beach clean, safe & fun. The crawl through the cave on rhs was real smuggler’s stuff!” (06/2008)

Special Places to Stay

Oak floors sweep throughout this big Georgian house, high on the hill overlooking the sea and Porthcothan beach a ten-minute stroll. D H Lawrence, who stayed here, wrote: “We came here yesterday and we love it”, this “old farmhouse with space and largeness and a sort of immemorial peace, a calm that belongs to the earth.” The setting is dreamy, the refurbishment luxurious. Enter to find two polished sitting rooms full of light, with wood-burners, rugs, bean bags and sofas; a kitchen with an Aga, electric oven and heaps of top kit; a pristine dining room with a table for 12; a conservatory full of sunshine; and six bedrooms, each with a glimpse of the sea. With Padstow five miles away, Trevose Golf Club two and a run-around garden outside, it’s a great escape for families. Mattresses are deep, duvets are soft down, bathrooms have Mexican tiles… there’s even a sand ‘n’ surf shower with a super steam button! That lovely sandy cove below is sheltered and reveals rock pools at low tide. Such a good spot: a small general stores next to the beach, a Rick Stein inn two miles down the road. The owners, keen to ensure you are happy, will personally settle you in.”

“Rescued & Restored” (Cornwall Life – September 2011)

Porthcothan House is a beautifully restored farmhouse on the north Cornish coast that had suffered nearly 70 years of neglect.

The tiny hamlet of Porthcothan lies between Padstow and Newquay on a particularly beautiful stretch of the north Cornish coast. There isn’t much here – a car park, a shop, a few houses, a decent pub and it has remained largely untouched by the excesses of tourism. It does, however, have a very fine beach used mainly by locals and visitors with young families – the surf can be good but it is variable and is not overly popular with Cornwall’s burgeoning young surf population.

In the past this small community was sustained by agriculture and in-shore fishing and it is perhaps surprising that Porthcothan House, the most prominent and architecturally important residence in the area, should be on such a grand scale.

DH Lawrence rented the house from his friend and writer JD Beresford

Little of the early history of the house is known and while there may have been earlier dwellings on the site, the current house was almost certainly built in the 18th century. D H Lawrence rented the house from his friend and writer J D Beresford between 30th December 1915 and 29th February 1916 and wrote a series of personal letters concerning his feelings for the house and for Cornwall. To John Middleton Murry and Katherine Mansfield he wrote:

“The house is a big low grey well-to-do farm place with all the windows looking over a round of grass and between the stone gate pillars down a little tamarisky lane at a cove of the sea, where the waves are always coming in past jutty black rocks. It is a cove like Tristan sailed into from Lyoness – just the same. It belongs to two thousand years back.”

It is interesting that Lawrence described the house as a “farm place” because the architecture is unmistakably Georgian, quite unlike a traditional Cornish farmhouse and more in the style of a small manor. The property gradually fell into disrepair at some time after Lawrence’s brief period of residence and by the end of the 20th century it was in a very sorry state. It had been untouched for almost 70 years and was very dark and damp with a leaking roof, collapsed ceilings, rotting windows and only basic facilities. The large garden was completely overgrown and part of the boundary wall had collapsed.

A house with a lovely atmosphere, space and light that makes the most of its prominent position

Every effort was made to restore and renew the house using traditional materials to preserve and enhance its historic character. Doors, cornices, dado rails, windows and window reveals reflected what was there originally; roof slates and floor flagstones were sourced locally and odd angles and levels were kept. Similarly, the external render on the front of the house is traditional lime plaster – the original had been plastered over with a hard cement render with an inappropriate paint that prevented the walls from breathing, which meant the house was damp and suffered from wet and dry rot. Modern luxuries such as double-glazing and central heating were installed with great sensitivity to preserve its period character.

The large traditional kitchen has many original features and a rather mysterious semi-circular mini alcove (use at present unknown) set into the exterior wall. A traditional Aga surrounded by massive green oak beams dominates one wall and an original cloam oven has been converted into a larder. The floor is Delabole slate and an island unit houses a sink at one end and creates a breakfast bar at the other.

Every effort was made to restore and renew the house using traditional materials to preserve and enhance its character

The original main entrance door opens onto the front hall, which is light and airy and has a new Exmoor oak floor and a new handcrafted stone fireplace surround. On one side of the hall is the sitting room with a splendid inglenook fireplace – another unexpected find during renovation. On the other side of the hall is the drawing room, the largest and most impressive of the ground floor rooms. Again, Exmoor oak has been used for the flooring and a beautifully crafted black walnut fire surround, made to the design of an original found in one of the bedrooms, dominates the end wall. The room is comfortably furnished with substantial sofas and upholstered chairs and features an unusual coffee table with an intricate marquetry inlay of fish in water made from veneers of burr walnut, makore, sapele and cherry. Jane Lampard paintings adorn the walls that, in common with the rest of the property, have been painted in a period colour that respects the house’s Georgian origins.

An oak staircase made by local craftsmen gives access to the first floor from the back hall. All six bedrooms are decorated and furnished to a high standard and most have sea views. As many as possible of the original features in these rooms have been retained and the four adjoining bathrooms are luxurious and well appointed.

DH Lawrence sums up Porthcothan’s charm in a letter to his friend Dollie Radford in December 1915:

“… an old farmhouse with space and largeness and a sort of immemorial peace, a calm that belongs to the earth. It does one good. We can see the sea and hear the sound of it … all at last is well.”