Holiday romance

Sarah-Jane and Matthew Cousens fell in love with a 200-year-old cottage in a divine coastal location

- JANET MCMEEKIN

When Sarah-Jane Cousens and her husband Matthew visited a secluded Cornish cove for the first time, they never expected their holiday memento to be a 200-year-old cottage. ‘During our family break in Port Gaverne, we regularly discussed how magical it would be to own the attractive stone house that was up for sale,’ says Sarah-Jane. On the last day of their holiday, back in 2016, curiosity got the better of the pair and they set up a viewing. ‘We felt compelled to step inside Leat House after my mother, who’d come to stay with us, gave me a painting depicting this very property,’ she says.

During the viewing, when the estate agent mentioned that the vendor was called Sarah-Jane and the previous occupant was a Sarah, whose middle name happened to be Jane, feeling that fate may be playing its part, the couple put an offer in. ‘As we were about to start a major renovation project at our main home in Hertfordshire, it wasn’t really the right time for us to buy,’ says Sarah-Jane. ‘However, we were charmed by the period features and magnificent views of the sea and jagged cliffs.’