for the days that call for going nowhere at all
Garden & Grounds
There's no obligation to go anywhere once you’ve put your bags down. You've come a long way to get here, and some of the best days people have with us are the ones where nobody makes it past the garden gate. There’s a lot to soak in at our house – here’s what you can discover from just a little look around.
Start in the kitchen garden
Our garden sits right on the edge of the coast, which isn't the easiest place to grow anything, so the walls do a lot of the work. Three of them have stood since 1831, the fourth is older still with a well at its centre, and between them, the Alitex greenhouse and the polytunnels, our gardeners keep things growing right through a Cornish winter.
Walk it with our gardener
Join our tour that runs at 11am every day, all year round - and it's free. You'll walk the beds with one of the gardening team, hear what we're harvesting (and what we're planning to plant next) and find out how a coastal garden copes with the elements.
The wind and salty air isn't for everyone in the veg beds, but they suit some crops very nicely indeed - our long, slim Cylindra beetroot, spinaches, cauliflowers and parsnips are the proof.
Breakfast with the pigs
If you're up early, the gardening team will be out at 8am to feed our pigs and chickens, and you're very welcome to go join them. It's a big hit with little ones, but plenty of grown-ups have been known to tag along too. Reception will point you in the right direction of where to head.
...And say hello to the quail
Our covey of quail live just beside the Kitchen Garden entrance. They joined us in spring 2024 and are well and truly part of the family now.
if you've only got a few minutes
The things most people walk straight past
Our team know every hidden corner of this house, and these are the bits they most enjoy pointing out, mostly because guests can walk past them for days without noticing. None of them takes more than a couple of minutes, so you can tick off a few on the way to lunch.
The dovecote
Tucked beside the outdoor courtyard, it's believed to be unique in England for its sheer scale and style, so do stop and look up.
The oak tree
Our 400-year-old resident, rooted right in front of the main house. Ask anyone on the team and they'll show you which trunk belongs to the old timer.
The boot room door
Borrowed from the chapel at Constantine Bay in the 18th century. The chapel itself is long gone, which makes the door all the more special to us.
The Old Dining Room frieze
A stone frieze full of sea beasts dating back to when the house was first built
The shipwreck beams
While you're outside the Old Dining Room, look up. The beams above the rustic ceiling lamp are reclaimed timber from old Cornish shipwrecks.
The Smokery
Tucked to the left of the main restaurant, this was the bread oven back in Harlyn's farmhouse days. It's now a glass smoking cabinet, so there's sometimes a row of Cornish trout fillets smoking away slowly while you eat.
the resident's snug
Our favourite cosy corner
Ask the team where they'd go for an afternoon with a book or a quiet morning coffee, and every one of them will send you to the Resident's Snug.
It's our littlest lounge, right at the back of the house, so it's almost always quiet, and it sits in the oldest part of the building, dating back to 1520, which you can feel the moment you walk in.
The walls and floors are stone, but it's full of light, squashy velvet and old rugs (just how we like it), and the log burner is lit through the colder months, though don't be surprised to find it flickering in July too.
After the garden walk
our two potting sheds at the end of the garden
Once you've done a lap of the Kitchen Garden, keep going to the very bottom of it, where the Potting Sheds sit tucked away from everything else.
It's where we do facials, massages and scrubs with Tribe517's natural products, and after a morning in the sea air it's about as relaxed as a person can get without actually falling asleep.
What's on here
Many rhythms of our house stay the same all year round. From spring onwards, the whole place spills outdoors. The Lobster Shed opens and stays open until the end of September, live music starts up on summer evenings and supper drifts later as the light does.
Come October, The Lobster Shed closes up for the winter and the fires take over - which we'd argue is a fair swap. Over the colder months, our comfy armchairs, freshly muddled cocktails, and cosy lounges really come into their own.
But there's always room for something fun, something new, and something surprising to take root throughout the seasons. Here's what you'll find happening round at our place over the next few months...
Cornish Coastal Wreath Making Workshop & Dinner at THE PIG-at Harlyn Bay
And if you change your mind
The gate isn't locked, mind! The beach is at the end of the lane and the coast path runs off in both directions from there, so if the mood takes you, everything you can reach on foot is one page away.
