It’s all about the view

As the second-home market continues to stall, buyers looking to secure a permanent home by the sea have some exciting coastal properties to consider

- Penny Churchill

IT'S all about the view across the water, says Oliver Custance Baker of Strutt & Parker (01872 301664), joint agents with locally based May Whetter & Grose (01726 832299) in the sale of The Garden House in quiet Battery Lane, Polruan-by-Fowey, Cornwall. The ancient seafaring and shipbuilding village is surrounded by water on three sides and clings to the hillside on the east bank of the River Fowey, just inside the entrance to Fowey harbour. Polruan's association with the sea goes back to at least the 14th century, when it was recorded as having sent a ship and 60 men to join the siege of Calais in 1346. Launched onto the market in today's COUNTRY LIFE with a guide price of $3.4 million, the charming stone-built house, set in more than an acre of walled gardens that run all the way down to the water's edge, provides direct access to the beach and harbour, the famous sailing waters of south Cornwall and lots of wonderful coastal and inland walks, many of them owned by the National Trust. Interestingly, The Old Vicarage, Polruan, The Garden House's next-door neighbour in Battery Lane, which was built in 1877 for a local sea captain, found a buyer last year at a guide price of $2.5m through Strutt & Parker.

The Garden House, which dates from the 1880s, has been owned for the past 31 years by the same family, who renovated it throughout when they first bought it and have since extended it to the rear. According to the agents, it was bought as their UK home when they lived in Hong Kong and has been their primary residence in recent years.