Being all at sea helped me buy first home at 26

Graduate saves £30k in a year working on adventure cruises

- BY JAMIE SAUNDERSON

A WOMAN bought her first home at 26 after saving nearly £30,000 while working on cruise ships for a year.

And she also got a boost after the seller ignored other offers and gave her a £10,000 discount — because she was a first-time buyer.

Eleanor Boone, now 27, secured a two-bedroom terrace in Penryn, Cornwall, earlier this year.

She had been saving on her food and accommodation while lecturing aboard expedition cruises to the Antarctic.

The zoology graduate never thought she would own a home so young, admitting she was “shocked” when handed the keys to the £185,000 property after paying a £20,000 deposit.

Eleanor, from nearby Falmouth, Cornwall, said: “I got really lucky.

“The lady who sold it had other people come in who were from London and wanted to let it to students. But because I was a first-time buyer and local she gave me it for £10,000 less.

“All my friends were shocked and I was shocked myself.”

Eleanor worked as a researcher for a charity investigating whales and dolphins after graduating from the University of Exeter in 2021.