Dream homes – The Cornish House
Written by Liz Fenwick, author of ‘The Cornish House’
Have you ever fallen in love with a house on sight? I have and being a writer I also have wondered about the people who have lived there, past and present. The Cornish House came from this happening.
On one of my first visits to Cornwall I saw this house sitting in a fold of land tucked away from the world and my heart was gone. Over the years I would drive past and long for it. Eventually a story evolved from my curiosity about the house. And of course by writing story set in the house I was able ‘to live’ in it.
‘The Cornish House’ tells the story of 38 year old widow, Maddie, and her teenage step-daughter, Hannah. Artist Maddie inherits a house in Cornwall shortly after the death of her husband and she hopes it will be the fresh start she and Hannah desperately need. Can a house heal a broken heart?
Trevenen is beautiful but neglected, a rambling house steeped in history. Trevenen is an ancient Cornish manor house, meaning a place of women, which has been the home of the Penventon family for hundreds of years.
In order to create Trevenen I spent a tremendous amount of time on Rightmove reading the histories of houses for sale and most importantly looking a floor plans to discover the development of Cornish manor houses. It was vital to my research and totally addictive.
Included in the just released paperback of The Cornish House is a section is devoted to the history of the house and how it developed…including floors and an artist’s impression of what Trevenen, if it existed would look like.
I still spend part of my research time looking at floor plans finding inspiration as houses are always at the heart of my books…or that’s my excuse anyway….
‘The Cornish House’ (Orion) is out now and Liz Fenwick’s next book out 23rd May, A Cornish Affair (Orion), features an historic stately home set on the Helford River.
If Liz has inspired you to look for a Cornish house of your own, here are some of our favourite Cornish manor houses on Rightmove:
