Cornwall Party House: Shun Lee holiday home, St Ives

Built in 1881 by master mariner William John Paynter, Shun Lee is so named after the tea clipper Paynter captained around China in the late 1870s. With prestigious views over the glittering St Ives Bay and out to Godrevy Lighthouse, this beautiful private Victorian home - painstakingly renovated in 2018 - still feels wedded to the sea, with Porthminster beach just a few steps down the South West Coast Path, which passes by the foot of the large garden.

The House

Set over four floors, this grand house has seven bedrooms and sleeps up to 14 guests. With a private cinema room, two large sitting rooms, further games room with pool table and a separate modern dining room seating 14, it’s ideal for a large group of friends or family.

There is a concierge service on-hand to cater for anything you desire - whether that’s making reservations or receiving recommendations, organising a private chef or arranging in-house yoga lessons.

Much is made of Shun Lee’s nautical heritage and rightly so; it's rare to find high-quality holiday homes with such majestic sweeping views of the Cornish coastline. The gardens, complete with gas-fired barbecue, are terraced and part paved, providing an additional outdoor dining area overlooking lawns below.

Shun Lee is a fabulous house to entertain in during the summer months.  Custom fabrics from Designer’s Guild bring the feel of the beach inside, and several pairs of French doors facing the sea can be thrown open to provide peerless inside-outside space. The huge kitchen also has a large Rangemaster, plentiful storage plus an additional utility room and walk-in larder.

St Ives is famous for its magical light, but should the weather be less clement, there is enough space within Shun Lee’s walls to mean no-one feels confined. Bring binoculars: dolphins and porpoises can sometimes be seen leaping in the cove in front of the house from the bay window in the sitting room and there are plenty of other hidden places to curl up with a good book.

The Location

Ten minutes walk along the - fairly steep - coastal path leads you to the charming town of St Ives, which has been home to painters and artists (the likes of Ben Nicholson and Dame Barbara Hepworth among them) for centuries.

Being within walking distance of the town is a key selling point of Shun Lee - in the summer months, traffic brings the town to a standstill and parking is impossible.

Art, of course, is one of the main attractions of St Ives, and the small town is home to both the recently revamped Tate gallery and the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, which are just 10 minutes walk from each other.

There are six white sand bays within a couple of miles of this house, each with different USPs - the Atlantic-facing Porthmeor is popular with surfers while Porthminster and Carbis Bay are more sheltered and suitable for families with small children. There are also breathtaking circular walks to be had, around the coastal path - be sure to plan yours with a stop at the award-winning Gurnard’s Head restaurant.

Standout feature

Shun Lee’s standout feature is the 180-degree views it offers out across the Cornish coastline which are unbeatable and visible from several of the bedrooms and the downstairs sitting and dining rooms. We visited in the shorter darker days of winter and still found them awe-inspiring.

Do also organise a private chef. We had an incredible meal cooked for us by local chef Fiona Were, using mackerel caught from the bay outside Shun Lee and locally foraged ingredients.

Not so keen

While the house sleeps 14, there are only seats for eight at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, which could make breakfasting awkward and means setting the more formal dining table if you all rise at the same time.

In a luxury house, bathroom amenities should also be provided and they weren’t at Shun Lee - shampoo, conditioner and shower gels would be useful for guests, not to mention bathrobes.

The rooms

Spread over two levels, the seven bedrooms (five of which are en-suite) at Shun Lee all feel self-contained and peaceful and there’s an additional family bathroom and shower room.

The master bedroom is located on the first floor and while it’s not the biggest, it affords superlative views across to St Ives harbour and has an olde-world feel - think vintage trunks, an open (but unusable) fireplace and evocative handmade furnishings intended to transport you back to the days Shun Lee was sailing the waves.

Families will appreciate the second floor which can become a private sanctuary - offering one en suite room with sea views and two smaller bedrooms with zip and link beds (meaning they can be kings or twins), with use of a grand family bathroom.

Wedding ready

This house isn’t big enough to facilitate a wedding and wouldn’t have enough parking nor indoor space should the weather be inclement, although it would be an ideal location to host a small reception, or a large group of friends or family attending a celebration nearby.

Getting there

Driving to Shun Lee can be an ordeal for anyone based beyond Cornwall. We took a 45-minute flight from London Gatwick to Newquay with FlyBe and hired a car with Hertz at Newquay airport, which is 50 minutes drive away.

Trains to St Ives leave from London Paddington station hourly and take a little over six hours with one change. St Ives station is five minutes away from Shun Lee by taxi.

Cost and how to book

Shun Lee is available to rent through Perfect Stays from ￡2,740 per week; shorter stays cost from ￡2,340.

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