An elegant, spacious Georgian house overlooking the Cornish coast

For all the talk of leaving the city behind for a country lifestyle, surely what we all really want deep down is the best of both worlds: a pied-a-terre in the city so we can work in the office, go to the shops, and get a really good takeaway; and a more expansive house in the country where the pace of life can slow down. This may be the dream, but it wasn’t exactly what the owner of this Cornish house, Bianca Fincham, had in mind when they bought it.

“I grew up locally, in Sennen, just seven miles away from the house,” says Bianca, the founder of PR company Rainbowwave. “I was returning home after 16 years of London life and was ready to make the house our forever home.” Right next to the sea between the villages of Newlyn & Mousehole in west Cornwall, the five bedroom Georgian house had called to Bianca and her husband from the pages of The Cornishman while they holidayed there in the summer of 2017. By March 2018, they had left behind their Victorian villa in Kingston and were moving in to Pembroke Lodge, the former home of painter Walter Langley, with just the minor issue of freezing temperatures and a blizzard to contend with.

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“We couldn’t work the heating when we first got there, and it was absolutely freezing,” says Bianca. “It was too cold for the movers to unpack our belongings, and we all slept that first night in one bed covered in coats and blankets, thinking “what the hell have we done?” But once this inauspicious beginning was over, the process of making the house a home turned out to be rather fun. The house had been turned into two flats at one point, and had also served as an ammunition store in WWII, but miraculously, most of the work was more decoration than serious restoration.

Bianca’s priorities were, firstly, to paint the house so that its elegant, spacious proportions could be properly appreciated, and secondly, to redo the kitchen, a cold space with bare brick walls and a mysterious pile of three ovens, one on top of the other. With a painter installed, the dark reds, lilacs and golds of the previous colour scheme were quickly replaced with Farrow & Ball’s tasteful neutrals, including off whites like Slipper Satin and Dimity, and the subtle greens of Mizzle and French Gray. The simple remedy of painting the window frames white ‘immediately seemed to double the size of the rooms’, recalls Bianca, while the floors were sanded and oiled to an impeccable state.

A local cabinet maker, George Robinson, came on board to create the kitchen, taking the elements Bianca loved from her favourite kitchens, including the one at Ham House in London, and recreating them faithfully in a new room that overlooks the sea, complete with a generous ceiling lantern which floods the space with light. The former kitchen became a utility room, full of space for storage, and a playroom for Bianca’s children.

Armed with numerous back issues of House & Garden and books by interior designers like Ben Pentreath and Robert Kime, Bianca set about furnishing the rest of the house, haunting local auction houses and employing local tradespeople to bring her vision to life. The decoration evolved organically over time, as the budget allowed for each room to be done. “I didn’t do any moodboards, and I didn’t really plan it,” says Bianca. The result is a pleasing mix of vintage and antique furniture with on-trend textiles and finishes. The scalloped gingham curtains in the main bathroom, for example, seems particularly of the moment, but elsewhere the brown furniture and chintzy GP&J Baker fabrics feel like they could have been there forever.

The appeal of the country was strong for Bianca, particularly with such a lovely house nearing completion. But with the arrival of another baby, and the punishing schedule of commuting to and from London for her work, the family made the difficult decision to move back to the city, and now rent a house near Kew. It had always been the back-up plan to rent out the house if they decided to come back, and so it is now available as a luxurious holiday rental for anyone lucky enough to be able to book it. So in demand is the house that Bianca has barely been able to find a slot for her own family to visit. Nonetheless, it still feels like home.

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“When I walk into that generous hallway,” says Bianca, “there’s an immediate feeling of space, of the scale of the house and its light. And there’s the relief of being next to the sea, being able to see and hear it. From the kitchen we can look out at the sea and see seals and boats bobbing around – it’s beautiful even on a rainy day, with the water beating on the skylight. You feel that you’re outdoors, even when you’re not.” It’s what we all want from the countryside, and although Bianca is currently ensconced back in the convenient embrace of London, we’re sure it won’t be long before she’s back.

Pembroke Lodge is available to rent from Boutique Retreats | @pembrokelodge