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A former shed on the Cornish coast reconfigured into a charmingly warm cottage
Ultimately, it was the view that sold it. When Bianca Fincham and her husband bought a Georgian house on the Cornish coast – for a time their home and now a charming holiday rental – they knew that one day they would also transform the small, single-storey garage on the hill into a welcoming holiday house. When funds finally allowed in 2024, its elevated position, offering a clear line of sight to St Michael’s Mount and a turquoise-blue sea, heavily influenced the design.
‘It was a bit of ugly building to be honest,’ says Bianca of the old structure, a stocky off-white cube built by a former owner with a lichen-covered roof. ‘It became a dumping ground for us.’ Nestled between fig trees and reached via granite steps, the new conversion, a far cry from the run-of-the-mill garage it was once, has now been clad in charred Siberian larch, a hardy material suited to its coastal position. It's a striking contrast to the Georgian main house, Pembroke Lodge. ‘We wanted to make it like a modern boat shed,’ says Bianca, founder of PR company Fincham Communications. The nearby village of Newlyn provided much inspiration, with its rich boating and fishing heritage, but coastal buildings around New England and in Norway also inspired the renovation.
After falling in love with an architect-designed holiday let in nearby Mousehole, Bianca called on the same architects, Studio West, to help enact her vision. While they had been successful with planning permission relatively quickly back in 2021, the process of scaling the original structure of the garage up to double-height to create a mezzanine level wasn’t without complications. 'We had to underpin the whole building because it didn't have enough groundwork,' Bianca recalls. ‘You pay per pole and per metre and I think they ended up getting down to nine metres and not hitting anything. We were like “oh my God, we had not budgeted for this at all!”’ In the end, 10 steel poles were needed to stabilise the structure. In addition, all of this was going on in torrential Cornish rain, while Bianca was working in London and while guests were coming and going from Pembroke Lodge, so you can understand why the end result must have felt a very long way away when the work began last January.
Bianca, who grew up locally, saw an opportunity to embed Cornwall – its people, history and natural beauty – as deeply into the house as the structure itself is into the Cornish earth. Here, she turned to local builders and tradespeople, some of who she had grown up with, to create a space that would leave guests both impressed and warmed by the space, with a ground floor open-plan living space and separate bathroom and a mezzanine level bedroom.
White French doors by local business Camborne Joinery lead visitors into the inviting interior, where they are immediately met with a Contura log burner and that incredible vista, facilitated by enormous wooden windows. "We were going to use steel and then we had a bit of a change of heart as I was thinking it's going to look too modern. So we ended up going with wood to soften it a bit."
The balance between soft and hard is a thread that runs throughout the space. While the cabin’s exterior stands out against the Cornish skyline, prominent with its dark wood but somehow not severe, the inside plays delightfully with colour and pattern. Unpainted plastered walls and Farrow and Ball's ‘French Grey’ on the woodwork give the main room its inviting pink and subtle green scheme. A bespoke sofa upholstered in a Colefax & Fowler chintz has become a guest favourite since Little Pembroke officially began accepting bookings in March this year, just weeks after completion and 14 months after work began. Upstairs in the mezzanine bedroom, a lime-green Nix by Nicola Harding bed sits on a rug from Penzance-based business East of Here.
Bianca worked with local cabinet maker George Robinson on the kitchen, which was inspired by the freestanding, shaker-style one at Howe on the Pimlico Road. She eschewed an island in an effort to preserve some space, opting instead for open storage over the counters, including an impressive Georgian-inspired plate rack stretching the width of the wall. ‘My husband jokes that the house sleeps two but we’ve got a rack for 42,’ she laughs.
Paintings by Cornish artists adorn the walls both upstairs and down, a nod to the space's history as the art studio of Walter Langley, once the owner of Pembroke Lodge. The largest is by renowned English painter Kurt Jackson, who stayed at Pembroke Lodge last summer and, as Langley had done, painted the view from the garden, sweetly including Bianca and her family. It's a fitting tribute to how well Bianca has rooted this house in its surroundings.
Little Pembroke can be booked at littlepembroke.com, Kip Hideaways, and Booking,com
Dean Hearne1/17The cabin, known as Little Pembroke, is in an elevated position and is reached by stone stairs.
Dean Hearne2/17A vintage brass outdoor wall lamp from Moretti Luce was handmade in Northern Italy. Its shape, reminiscent of fixtures on 20th-century ships, evokes the maritime past and present of Little Pembroke’s surroundings.
Dean Hearne3/17The doors were painted white to contrast with the black of the charred Siberian larch that Eli and Mark from Cornwall-based Polybuilders used to clad the former garage. Curtains made from cove cotton, a textured, almost boucle-type fabric, reveal the main room.
Dean Hearne4/17The rise and fall ceiling light is from Original BTC. The dining table is vintage and the roman-style vase on it is from Astier de Vilatte. The runner is vintage french lace from Sew & Quilt.
Dean Hearne5/17The Georgian style plate rack is painted in Benjamin Moore’s ‘Manchester Tan’. The sink is vintage and was found by Bianca on ebay. The taps are by Perrin and Rowe. In keeping with the area’s nautical connection, the wall lamp is from Trinity Marine who reclaim maritime lighting.
Dean Hearne6/17The kitchen was built by George Robinson kitchens, who also built the kitchen in Pembroke Lodge.
Dean Hearne7/17Outdoor furniture by Sharland England accounts for two of the chairs here and are often swapped out outside as well. The floor lamp is Original BTC X Beata Heuman.
Dean Hearne8/17The bathroom tiles are by Bert & May and are of a larger size to avoid problems Bianca had with tiling and water in the Georgian house.
Dean Hearne9/17The ceiling light is from Holloways of Ludlow. The mitred Bertie and May tiling continue into the shower. The oak and Carrara marble sink and vanity washstand is from Neptune and was inspired by antique drapers’ tables. The wall lights are from Rose Uniacke.
Dean Hearne10/17The Audox & Minet rope mirror is from Folie Chambre. The panelling is painted in Farrow and Ball’s ‘Schoolhouse White’. The silver vase is from Roan Iris.
Dean Hearne11/17The bed is an adaptation of a four poster design, created by Nix by Nicola Harding. The chair (found at Tallboy Interiors) is upholstered in blue linen from John Lewis. Both beside tables were sourced from Tom Finn Antiques. The throw cushions are from Cutter Brooks.
Dean Hearne12/17A classic Anglepoise lamp sits on this vintage chest of drawers with a fun, scalloped bottom edge.
Dean Hearne13/17Eli and Mark of Polybuilders built the bookcase in the bedroom. Bianca decided to plaster the walls and then leave them bare enjoying the washed pink look. The quilt is from Sew & Quilt, the Penzance business Bianca’s sister Jessie owns.
Dean Hearne14/17The tall, silver chimney was built to accommodate the log burner. The garden rockery was designed and tended to buy their gardener Tracey.
Dean Hearne15/17These large bespoke wooden windows were made by Camborne Joinery, a Cornwall-based carpentry company. They were painted in ‘Off Black’ by Farrow & Ball
Dean Hearne16/17The outdoor chairs are by Rowen and Wren.
Dean Hearne17/17
