For the past 60 years, the Landmark Trust has been rescuing and repairing Britain’s most fascinating buildings and transforming them into holiday homes. In 1965, long before the invention of AirBnB, Sir John and Lady Smith set out to reimagine forgotten historical properties into homely places for a staycation. From a carpenter's house in Coombe to a Folley at Tamar, here are a few of the Cornish properties they’ve saved over the years.
Danescombe Mine, Calstock
Nestled deep in a steep wooded valley above Calstock, with its spectacular viaduct carrying the Tamar Valley railway line, Danescombe Mine is a tranquil stream-side escape.
One of the Landmark Trust’s earliest conversions, the engine house of this former copper and arsenic mine, which operated on and off from 1822 to 1900, was first converted in 1973. The trust worked with Plymouth architect Paul Pearn of Pearn and Procter to restore the building, which was so dilapidated it had no roof and only the structural walls were sound. Now the three-storey building features a top floor bedroom for two with views of the valley from bed, a second-floor kitchen, which was upgraded in 2022, and a ground floor living room and study, which leads out to a terrace where you can sit and enjoy the peaceful sounds of the surrounding woodland. From £332 for four nights.
Whiteford Temple Near Callington, Tamar
Gifted to the Landmark Trust by The Duchy of Cornwall, this handsome granite folly was built in 1799 for Sir John Call, a military engineer who had made a fortune in India, to adorn the landscape of his mansion.
The mansion was largely demolished in 1913 and today all that remains are traces of its garden, part of the stables and this temple, which when the trust received it, was used as a cattle shed with a roof of corrugated iron and floor of earth.
The temple, which sits above the Tamar estuary and offers incredible views across the surrounding countryside, is flooded with light during the day thanks to three glazed arches and by night transforms into a cosy retreat for two, complete with open fire. The kitchen and bathroom sit in the two wings off the main chamber. From £240 for four nights.
Mill House, Coombe
This picture-perfect 1700 part-thatched cottage in Coombe, at the heart of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, sits within beautiful orchards with a stream running past the cobbled terrace at the rear. Split into two holiday cottages, one sleeping three people and one catering for four, the property is perfect for two families or an extended family trip with grandparents, although can be rented separately.
The stone building is one of a number of properties at Coombe run by the Landmark Trust after it acquired the entire hamlet as part of a joint scheme with the National Trust to preserve it. With the sea at Duckpool a short walk away and Sandymouth’s unspoilt beach and surfing at Bude, it’s a great base from which to explore the North Cornwall coast. From £316 for four nights.
The Egyptian House, Penzance
If you wander up Chapel Street in Penzance, you will come across the extraordinary façade of The Egyptian House.
Originally built as a museum and geological shop for local bookseller, John Lanvin, the unusual neo-Egyptian building set out to emphasise the bizarre and beautiful side of geological specimens and draw visitors into the shop.
Behind its exotic, eye-catching exterior featuring flamboyant lotus-bud capitals, sit three apartments, but the top floor is perhaps the most impressive with incredible views through the chimney pots of Penzance, to Mounts Bay and St. Michael’s Mount beyond. From £284 for four nights
The Carpenter’s Shop, Coombe
Once the workshop for the Tapes, a musical family who had lived in Coombe for generations, The Carpenter's Shop has been restored to retain its simple, industrial character while creating a comfortable and practical place to stay.
Character features such as roughly dressed stone, flat brick arches, wooden beams and overlapping glass typical of early 19th century workshops are softened by homely touches like patterned rugs and heavyset decorative curtains.
A circular iron staircase ascends to a galleried landing and the bedroom accommodation while the rest of the property is laid out to mostly open plan living. Stroll out the door and you’re surrounded by an old path leading down to the pretty stream running through the hamlet. From £420 for four people for four nights
Sitting just above picturesque Coombe, Chapel Cottage arrived at its resting place in about 1860, on wheels and was once a Christian Bible meeting room. Victorians often mounted tin tabernacle churches on axles and wheels, to provide mobility to remote locations.
The accommodation, which includes three bedrooms (a double and two singles) sits across the chapel and a bungalow, which was built alongside it in the 1900s to house workers from the local tearoom. Highlights include a piano for some good old fashioned family singing (there are no TVs in Landmark Trust properties, so you have to find other ways to entertain the troops) and a woodburner. From £420 for four nights
The College, Week St Mary
The remains of a school – one of the first in the UK to be founded by a woman – The College is situated just a mile from the Devon border in the medieval market village of Week St Mary. The school, which was originally built around a quadrangle a bit like a miniature Oxbridge, was founded by village resident Thomasine Bonaventure in 1506 but closed during the reign of Edward VI. Facing a small courtyard off the main street through the village with meadows sloping away towards Dartmoor behind, the property, thought to be the old school hall, features thick stone walls and a huge open fire in the living area. Two bedrooms – a double and twin – make this a great stay for small families or group of friends.
From £404 for four nights.
