Ruth and Jim Milligan uprooted their entire lives to bring peace to others, moving from Oxfordshire to Cornwall to create the heavenly Pengelly Retreat
Tucked away in the countryside between the north and south coasts of west Cornwall, Pengelly Retreat makes the most of its five beautiful acres of land comprising intriguing hidden gardens, ponds and pools, a wild swimming lake, forest and meadows.
Owners Ruth and Jim Milligan have worked hard to create somewhere that is low impact and in keeping with the natural beauty of their surroundings. Before 2016, the husband-and-wife team were living in Oxfordshire, working in demanding office-based careers – Ruth in luxury travel and Jim in IT programme management.
‘We knew we wanted a life change and had our hearts set on Cornwall, our dream was to set up a holiday retreat that would offer something unique for guests, as well as allow us to find more balance between life and work. Over a rainy February weekend, we looked at a shortlist of possible properties – on exploring the site at Pengelly, we knew it was the one!’ remembers Ruth.
On purchasing, it was all private gardens and agricultural land with no facilities for guests, and no access to the bulk of the land. Ruth and Jim looked to turning this around as soon as they could; The Boat House cabin was designed by a local architect and built by a local builder and Jim, whilst the Sail House yurt was purchased from a local yurt company who build yurts especially designed for the Cornish environment.
‘We wanted to ensure that guests had a feeling of being in nature, surrounded by their own private space, but with all the creature comforts and little luxuries that you’d hope for in a private retreat.’
As well as building the cabin and yurt, Jim has put in a huge amount of work into redesigning and relandscaping the grounds so that it flows from jungle-gardens into natural wild Cornish trees and planting around the lakes.
‘Working in travel has given me the ability to see what works in holiday accommodation and Jim’s experience of managing a project from dream-to-reality has been invaluable for us,’ Ruth enthuses.
Ruth and Jim first opened the Sail House yurt in January 2019, followed by the Boat House cabin shortly afterwards in March.
‘Our vision was to create a peaceful haven surrounded by nature for guests who are looking to retreat from their busy lives - a unique experience in Cornwall that can’t be found elsewhere. Our ethos is to ensure Pengelly is low impact with accommodation that sits lightly within its natural environment. It’s also important for us to support and nurture the rich wildlife and native Cornish fauna and flora on this beautiful piece of land; to enable guests to benefit from the healing and restorative effects of being in nature whilst giving them luxury and comfort, privacy and space – all at an affordable price point. We also give a percentage of our profits to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, so guests know each booking contributes to nurturing the local environment,’ says Ruth.
The cosy yurt is kitted out with everything you need as well as a few little luxuries including underfloor heating, a stand-alone bath and log-burner. There’s also a wonderful secluded outdoor shower with hot water and lots of great seating dotted around overlooking the lake. It’s a place to hunker down, cosy-up by the fire and listen to the sounds of nature.
There’s also a wooden boathouse, sleeping two with a balcony overlooking the lake and a secluded outdoor bath.
Both accommodation offerings have private decks and pontoons with steps down to the lake, which is ideal for wild swimming. The Sail House has its own paddleboard to explore the lake from, whilst the boathouse has a small dingy, and the decked areas of both make great spots to practice yoga.
‘We feel like the land and lakes have such a healing quality to them – the utter peace and watery nature really helped us to shape and create Pengelly. Guests like to plunge into the lake at all times of year, reaping all the benefits of wild, cold-water swimming!’
There’s also an 18-foot streamside tipi with wooden deck-floor, cosy log burner inside and romantic firepit outside which can be booked to enjoy a relaxing treatment with Home Spa Cornwall or set up for a dinner venue with a private chef – it’s a beautiful spot, decorated with fairy lights and uplighters with the sound of birdsong and flowing water all around.
The five-acres of private land and gardens - including a secret garden tucked away at the top of the land – are a joy to explore and offer a dreamy location for a relaxed break in the Cornish countryside. It’s not difficult to see why Ruth and Jim fell for Pengelly, it feels like you’re completely remote, away from the hustle and bustle, yet the central location means you’re perfectly positioned to explore the area; just a couple of minutes’ drive from the main road that links Hayle, Helston and Penzance and 15-minutes’ from award-winning surf beaches on both coasts where you can also pick up the South West Coast Path.
‘Many of our guests come from busy city lifestyles and are looking for a restorative escape, away from the bustle - time out in a peaceful, natural environment. Guests are drawn by the wild swimming and being close to water. We felt that it was important to offer a place to help guests to completely switch off and relax; the elements of wild swimming, lakeside decks perfect for yoga and hidden spaces in the gardens really feed into that. The land has a magical quality, you can literally see people’s shoulders relax as they walk into the gardens! Throughout the many paths, you will also notice hidden statues which contribute to the mindfulness aspect. The land here definitely shaped what we have created with Pengelly.’
With its lakeside position, flourishing land filled with large-scale exotic plants and abundance of diverse wildlife – think kingfishers, heron, stoats, polecat, otters, swallows, badger and deer – Pengelly offers an entirely unique spot to press pause from the minute you set foot in the grounds.
pengellyretreat.co.uk
