Its time for a change, driven by our love of Cornwall.
Ian’s grandparents lived in Caharrack for 30 years and he spent every school holiday exploring the towns, villages and beaches of this amazing county. We have have been in book selling and publishing for over 30 years and Ian reached the heady heights of Sales Director at Penguin and Dorling Kindersley latterly. And Jane at WHSmith head office. But in November 2017 that all changed.
I guess we all dream, in every edition of Cornwall Life magazine we would read about people jacking in their jobs and moving to Cornwall to start a new life, always dreaming, never really thinking that we would do it. But after 13 years of getting up at 4.30 every day and commuting to London from the Cotswolds, constantly missing the 2 boys sports days, Christmas plays, football tournaments etc., etc. and Jane playing mum and dad, it was time for a change.
We had always dreamt of running a self catering holiday complex and had been half heartedly looking online for one, but last January we decided to take a look at a few, just to see what was about. We had seen Penrose Burden cottages up for sale the year before and it had sold, but fate works in mysterious ways and the sale had fallen through and it had come back on the market.
We went and had a look and although it needed a huge amount of work, we fell in love with the spot overlooking the Camel Valley and decided to take things further.
We have had to write 3 year business plans, budget refurbishment programmes for 8 old Cornish stone barns and cottages, have just taken delivery of 9 kitchens, sort out huge planning issues, understand mining surveys, tackle a missing bore hole and move our 2 boys schools along with
resigning both our jobs, along with selling our house in the Cotswolds and my Dads house as we wanted to bring Grandad with us - it's a 3 generation project!
It's been an amazing journey so far, managing to get 3 cottages ready for the Easter holidays. We now have 5 online and are tackling number 6 – the biggest project of the lot. We’ve got plenty to keep us busy but its great to see holidaymakers starting to make memories in Penrose Burden.
Best wishes,
Jane