A Countryside Hideaway at Pengelly Retreat

This month for our 2 year anniversary, Alex and I escaped to a beautiful Cornish hideaway called Pengelly Retreat.

We were kindly invited to come and stay by Ruth and Jim, who moved to Cornwall in 2016 and found their home on this tranquil piece of land in the countryside, bang inbetween the North coast by Hayle/Gwithian, and the South coast of Porthleven and Rinsey.

They’ve worked hard to create a peaceful escape from the world here, by building two unique lakeside holiday accommodations that are nestled amongst the gardens and woodlands here – The Boathouse (a lakeview lodge) and The Sail House (an en-suite double yurt). The lake is large enough to have a little row boat on it (both properties have their own waterside decking & mini pontoons) and they’ve designed it cleverly so that neither accommodation look out onto each other across the lake either, making it perfectly private too.

We arrived in the evening on Tuesday after work, bringing with us some M&S food to cook up in the Boat House cabin we were to be staying in. Ruth came out to meet us as we parked up, before we headed across to the Boat House in the moonlight, guided also by pretty fairy lights on the cabin’s decking.

I was very excited to see what it all looked like in the light, as at night it wasn’t possible to see what lay beyond the decking of our lodge, making it a fun surprise when we woke up in the morning and looked out of the big glass doors!

Just look at this stunning sunrise view we were met with on Wednesday morning! I leaped out of bed to take a photo; it all looked so magical with the glassy reflections of the lake. The Boat House has a lovely covered deck area with chairs to lounge in just outside the glass doors – perfect for a morning coffee.

We made breakfast in the little kitchen area of our lodge; it’s very well equipped with a fridge, microwave oven, convection hob, toaster, kettle, and plenty of pots, pans and utensils. There’s also tea, coffee, sugar, salt, pepper, oil, as well as other lovely touches that were left for us including milk, butter, bread, jam and even some biscuits and fudge too! Because it was our anniversary, Ruth & Jim kindly left a bottle bubbly in the fridge for us with a handwritten note as well – such a nice touch.

After breakfast we decided to head out and have a walk around during a break in the rain, to explore Pengelly’s beautiful lakes, landscapes gardens, and woodlands. After walking past the lakes, we came to a sign for the ‘secret garden’; unsure what to expect, we ventured in amongst the bamboo.

What we found totally took us by surprise! A winding maze of boardwalk took us through a lush jungle of exotic plants and Asian garden features, including beautiful hidden buddha statues, red decorative bridges, and even a decked viewing point so we could find our way back. Honestly it was that big that we almost got lost, but part of me suspects that’s all part of the fun, with lots of tricks and dead ends along the way designed to mystify you.

I’ve never seen anything like it and it was so much fun to explore, even as it started raining. You won’t quite believe it until you see it!

We spent the rest of the day snuggled up indoors listening to the rain on the Boat House roof and watching the droplets on the lake outside. Designed to be a tranquil getaway, there’s no wifi or phone signal in the Boat House (although there is in the gardens outside), but we managed to find a few bars of wifi in certain corners of the cabin – enough to do a few emails if we needed to. I’d also prepared in advance by bringing some work with me that didn’t require any internet, and Alex played some games while I did that.

That evening we drove down to St. Ives for an anniversary meal, but Hayle is much closer and has plenty to eat there too. There’s also a couple of local shops where you can easily purchase food to cook your own dinner in your lodge.

When we got back, we lit the fire (there’s a toasty woodburning stove in the lodge, plus underfloor heating too, so lovely and warm in winter!) and settled in for the night. When morning came round we really didn’t want to leave – I’d grown very fond of our lakeside home.

At Pengelly you can choose to stay in the Boat House, the Sail House, or in the Mill Annexe (a cosy ground floor apartment attached to the main ‘Mill House’), and you can even hire out the entire site including the 4 bedroom Mill House for group or family getaways or for retreat use (eg. yoga retreats or writers retreats etc.). It’s an amazing place and very atmospheric for those types of events.

To find out more, visit the Pengelly Retreat website.

*We were kindly invited for a complimentary stay in exchange for a review, but all opinions are my own. This is a truly beautiful place!