'It's got relaxing COASTAL CHARM'

Idyllic seaside summer holidays inspired Stacey and Guy to buy a pretty Cornish cottage and give it a fresh and timeless seaside-themed look

- VIVIENNE AYERS

I hadn't been back to Cornwall since I spent happy holidays there as a child,’ says Stacey. ‘But when we bought our two West Highland terriers, Piglet and Alfie, we wanted to go on holiday with them, but found we couldn’t easily take them abroad with us.

My husband Guy had never been to Cornwall before, so one year we decided to rent a cottage in Port Isaac. We fell in love with the village and ended up going back there two or three times a year for the next decade. We began to dream of buying a cottage in the village and, one day, I decided we should take the plunge!

First impressions

I spotted a cottage online, and Guy and I drove down for the day to view it. We thought we’d be able to look around the house and then go on the beach and enjoy a nice lunch in the sunshine – but in the end, even though it was August, it poured down with rain! Despite the awful weather, the day wasn’t wasted, as the cottage turned out to tick all our boxes.