The Secret Beach House

Overview

If you’re looking for places to stay by the sea in Cornwall, you can call off the search. As the name suggests, the Secret Beach House is a stunning Cornish beach house, sensitively converted from a former boat shed. Set in beautiful Porthgwarra Cove and sleeping just two, this secret hideaway (also known as Hella) is one of Cornwall’s true hidden gems, with an open-plan kitchen and sitting area, a mezzanine bedroom and its own, large, private garden.

Something of a secret place in Cornwall, known for the two beach tunnels that were once used by farmers and fishermen to store seaweed and shellfish, Porthgwarra is so unspoilt that it was used as a location for the swimming and wrecking scenes in the BBC’s 2016 adaptation of Poldark.

Dip into the summer house to read Winston Graham’s whole, classic Cornish saga in the shade, or kick off your shoes and tiptoe down to the sandy hidden cove below for a day of swimming, reading or beachcombing. Then return to this dog-friendly Porthgwarra cottage for a dinner of grilled local seafood – cooked up in the kitchen or outside on the barbecue - and an evening spent sitting out in one of the garden’s Muskoka armchairs, toasting the sunset and listening to the waves roll ashore below (at high tide the water’s edge is right at the bottom of the garden).

If you can’t face leaving your four-legged friends behind, you can bring them too: dogs are welcome here. We charge £50 for up to two pets (please add them to the booking so we know in advance) and ask that you bring their own bowls and beds and don’t let them loose on the furniture, or upstairs.