the watch house

a 19th-Century lookout on a remote stretch of coastline

There are places that feel removed from modern life, and then there is The Watch House.

Perched dramatically on a cliff on the south Cornish Coast, this beautiful 19th-century coastguard’s lookout sits entirely alone on a seven-mile stretch of wild coastline between Polruan and Polperro. Reachable only on foot, it offers one of the most private, elemental and memorable stays we’ve ever experienced.

We first discovered The Watch House in 2018, and it remains the wildest and most romantic place we’ve ever visited.

This is not luxury as conventionally defined, but it is luxury of the rarest kind: solitude, silence, firelight, and an uninterrupted horizon of ever-changing sea.

The Watch House is the only building on this long, dramatic sweep of cliffs. Dug into the rock and facing south-east, it sits sheltered beneath Pencarrow Head, protected from the worst of the south-westerly winds while still commanding breathtaking views across the Channel.

Reaching it is part of the experience. From the National Trust car park, it’s a 20-minute walk, two-thirds of a mile along the coastal footpath and across a field. Everything you bring, you carry. Everything you leave behind, you truly leave behind.

Once there, the sense of separation from the outside world is profound.