Opportunities like these may be few and far between but the sale of the former home of Dame Laura Knight has given someone the chance to buy into the Lamorna landscapes which inspired one of the leading lights of the Newlyn School of Artists.
The Oakhill residence is currently being run as a guesthouse by Cherry Macey and her husband Chris. But after three years of watching visitors embrace the valley, which echoes with the history of the artists' colony, the couple have decided it is time to move on.
Cherry Macey said: "We have been working here for three years, there's an acre of garden and this summer we were so busy we thought there must be more to life than doing this so we're just looking for something a bit smaller."
When the couple first brought the property they knew nothing of its history but admit to a growing fascination with its past.
Mrs Macey said: "We've learned a lot about the time when she lived here. Once we discovered it was Dame Laura's house we started to delve deeper into its past."
Attracted by the area's light and the stewardship of Stanhope Forbes, Mrs Macey told how Dame Laura and her artist husband Harold moved to Penwith in the early 1900s and joined the Newlyn School.
They were heavily influenced by the French Impressionists and the daily scenes of fishermen at the harbour along with the lives of work and play in the countryside.
Oakhill was once four cottages which were knocked into one when the Knights arrived. The end cottage became the home of Joey Carter-Wood whose sister Florence was involved in a tragic love story which inspired Jonathan Smith's novel Summer in February.
Mrs Macey said: "She married the famous artist Sir Alfred Munnings but poor Florence wasn't really in love with him, she was in love with the land agent Gilbert Evans.
"She went ahead and married Sir Alfred, but later, after Gilbert had left for India, she committed suicide at the Lamorna Hotel by taking cyanide."
Little has changed at Oakhill since Dame Laura's time. Mrs Macey said: "The house is just the same as it was back then; it's been well maintained. It's got the big granite fireplace the windows are the same – there's nothing that's really been changed. The draw of the house is such that we've had one chap who has been twice now and who only wanted to stay here because it was Dame Laura's house."
The four-bedroom property is on the market for £625,000 through Savills who can be contacted on 01872 243200.
article copyright WESTERN MORNING NEWS