Coombe is a small hamlet at the forgotten junction of two wooded valleys in North Cornwall. Mill, millhouse and anciently picturesque cottages cluster in orchards around the ford of a shallow stream, just half a mile from the sea at Duckpool, where half tide exposes a sandy beach. The hamlet once belonged in part to the Grenville family of the long-demolished Stowe Barton, and its souls were later under the care of the Reverend Stephen Hawker, celebrated Vicar of Morwenstow. Landmark’s presence at Coombe (and only our visitors populate it today) preserves the hamlet and its exceptional setting in a joint scheme with the National Trust, who own most of the surrounding land and coastline.

Coombe Corner was built on a hillside above the rest of the village in the 1930s. With its painted weatherboarding and large windows it represents a completely different approach to building, and to living, to the solid old houses of Coombe itself. Here life is all about enjoyment of the weather, of the Cornish coast, of the view, in a way that could scarcely be imagined by ordinary hard-working people even 50 years earlier. Simple bungalow it is, but made with discretion, forcing itself on no one. We bought it to round off our ownership of Coombe and to ensure that it was not replaced by something less well-mannered, an all too likely possibility.

Sleeps: 6