all photos

antonia's pearls

t h e v i l l a g e o f c h a r l e s t o w n

built in the late 1700s
the tiny harbour village of charlestown
is largely unchanged and has been
granted UNESCO world heritage status

the beaches either side of the
quay are so close a toddler can make it

charlestown is approximately 10 minutes
from both the eden project
and the lost gardens of heligan.
it is also ideally situated for visiting
the maritime museum in falmouth,
the tate at st ives, and of course, padstow.
the airport at newquay and our closest surfing beach,
watergate bay, are both a 35 minute drive and it is
a 10 minute drive from the main line train station.

david and antonia have sensitively restored
from the ground up
the sea cabin and the studio
the cottage and olivias cottage
blossom cottage and marine villa
self to fully catered with
great grub and spa at home
and on a stormy night
the waves might just lull you to sleep

a little bit of history

in the 1750's, the royal society recommended
smeaton to build a lighthouse for the
eddystone rocks, the fearsome
submerged rocks off plymouth

smeaton put granite blocks together using
dovetail joints and marble dowels and
rediscovered the use of hydraulic lime,
a form of concrete that sets under water,
last used by the romans

in the 1780's, when charles rashleigh wanted
to build a harbour in the tiny fishing village
of polmear for the export of copper
he asked smeaton

smeaton used the same construction
techniques for charlestown harbour's cats paw
at the end of the harbour arm

the harbour was finished in the 1790's,
the villagers asked if they could rename
the village charles' town.