This project is the expression of the wish that the house and garden in which I grew up in Carbis Bay and where my parents lived for almost fifty years until 2019 should now come into the service of the local community.
Renovation of the cottage is nearing an end, and work on the land has started. If working together with others to create a place of beauty, sanity, connection and regeneration is for you, this is your place. Please get in touch via the contact page.
Carbis Bay, briefly famous as the location for the G7 conference in 2021, is a place that evidences the massive expansion of the tourism industry in Cornwall. Many original buildings have been replaced by or converted to holiday lets and much land has been sacrificed to “development” as defined by that industry. As is the case in many similar places, the of sense local community suffers from many house standing unoccupied for much of the year and local people are affected by the seasonality of work availability and the concentration of wealth among those who directly benefit from the “visitors” expenditure. At the same time, a growing number of locally-based community projects have come into being, offering an alternative vision and ethos from the margins. It is the intention of this house-and-garden project to both celebrate and foster these margins.
Sycamore Cottage is rather unique for Carbis Bay in having an exceptional location together with large amount of land. So how about joining in turning that land to community use, grow produce there that can reward those who put time and effort into the growing, distribute the surplus to those in need, bring people together through this endeavour, and thereby hold the door open to a way of acting and being together that feels right and necessary, even urgent, both locally and globally.
Jonathan Lever