SAFE HARBOUR

Rescuing a decaying stone-built cottage in a Cornish fishing village has given Phil and Louise Smith and their family the chance to create the retreat of their dreams

-  ALEXANDRA PRATT

From time to time, an owner and a home just seem to find each other, and for this stone cottage and hairdressing star Phil Smith, it was definitely meant to be. The traditional fisherman's cottage is set on the north coast of Cornwall, on a narrow lane overlooking the sea. Phil hadn't visited the area before and was blown away' when he did. I didn't realise anywhere this beautiful existed in England,' he says. The timing was right, too. It was during the Covid restrictions of 2020 that Phil and his wife Louise sold their family home and Phil fell in love with the cottage, which he found online. Two viewings later and it was theirs, despite the property's ugly pebble-dashed exterior and a strong smell of damp inside. Yet Phil welcomed the idea of a project.

Thave been busy for 35 years, never taking time for myself, and something told me this was the moment,' he says. The cottage needed more than a little TLC. Tackling the damp was a big job, for which Phil employed local builder, Josh Grills. Josh lifted one of the stone slabs on the floor of the living room and it was literally laying in mud,' says Phil.