antonia's pearls

antonia's pearls is a small collection of sensitively restored, grade II listed, self catering seaside houses, a stone's throw apart, in the unesco world heritage cornish harbour village of charlestown. they have been restored, built and decorated from the ground up by antonia and david shields, who live in the village. antonia was a founding partner of one of london's leading couture houses and david is a furniture designer and collector of maritime folk art, which is why the pearls are as chic as they are memorably eclectic. everything is self to fully catered: food from our kitchen to order, spa at home, restaurants within toddler distance and wild swimming on the doorstep. luxury in absolute privacy.

on the quay at charlestown harbour, cornwall, pl25 3nx, on the south coast of cornwall, a mile and a half south east of st austell. the beaches either side of the quay are so close a toddler can make it, it is an easy stroll over the quay's lock gate to the restaurants, the pub, the wine bar, the cafe and the antiques shop, and a 10 minute walk to the supermarket. the full address, directions and the key code are sent once your booking is paid for. read more about charlestown.

there are four pearls.
marine villa is the original wing of a grand georgian grade II listed house on the quay with a pair of super king sea view ensuite bedrooms, a dressing room that becomes a child's room with a cot, single or bunk bed, two real fires, a dining room, a jasmine filled summer house and its own private seaside garden. it sleeps up to four adults and two children.
the sea cabin is a pair of grade II listed buildings with a glass covered sitting and dining room, an open to the rafters king bedroom, a small child's room with a pair of bunk beds, a free standing cast iron bath, a woodburner and its own private seaside garden. it sleeps up to two adults and two children, or one small teen.
the sail loft is an open plan, open to the rafters, grade II listed loft with a sumptuous king bed, a slate floored wet room, a galley kitchen, a woodburner and a secluded, rather wild, seaside garden that gets the last of the evening sun. it sleeps two.
the pearl is a land yacht, a tree hut, a sea wagon, hidden in the trees in a secret seaside garden overlooking the harbour and the fields beyond, with a king bed, a lefroy brooks shower and a woodburner. it sleeps two.
all four together sleep up to fourteen. every pearl has a proper kitchen, wifi, a smart television, bed linen and bath towels.

for a family, or two couples, marine villa. for a couple with one or two small children, the sea cabin. for a couple who want to be alone, the sail loft or the pearl. further guests for marine villa or the sea cabin can stay in king sized ensuite seaside luxury along the garden path at the sail loft or the pearl, close enough to be together, far enough apart to breathe. see friends and family.

yes. the pearls are wonderfully close to each other but not so close you can't breathe, and together they sleep up to fourteen, which is perfect for friends, parents and parents in law, or a small wedding by the sea. they are available for short stays all year round. check availability for each pearl or email us to reserve them all.

bedding, linen and bath towels, electricity, gas, wifi, cleaning at the end of your stay and, if you are staying for more than a week, cleaning at the end of your first week. you will also find clipper coffee and tea, sugar, salt and pepper, milk and some home made florentines, loo paper, hand soap, body wash, shampoo and conditioner, a hairdryer and a basket of kiln dried logs for the fire waiting for you. prices on this website include our pearl collectors discount for booking directly.

book online with live availability and payment at availability & booking, or email antonia@antoniaspearls.co.uk. a non refundable initial payment of fifty percent of the cost of the stay secures the booking. the balance, together with the refundable good housekeeping deposit, is due eight weeks before you arrive. for stays starting within eight weeks, the full amount and the good housekeeping deposit are paid at the time of booking. once everything is paid we send the full address, directions and the key code. the long version is in the small print.

yes. we call our guests pearl collectors and, by way of a thank you for booking directly with us, the prices shown on this website include a pearl collectors discount, currently £30 per night, that you won't get through booking agencies.

bookings are non refundable unless someone else takes your dates. if you need to cancel you remain responsible for the total cost of the stay, so please, please make sure you have adequate and appropriate travel insurance, as there are a multitude of reasons why you might need to make a claim. if for any reason beyond our control the property is not available on your dates, everything you have paid is refunded in full. see the small print.

a refundable deposit, paid with your final payment, that we hold during your stay and return within 28 days of the end of your stay, less the cost of any breakages or damage. it is also how you settle up for the little extras: logs at £10 a bag, the emergency rations wine, electric car charging and the like.

your stay starts at 4pm on the day of arrival, please arrive between 4pm and 10pm, and finishes at 10am on the day you leave. it is vile to have to leave so early but to get the pearls back to pristine for the next guests we need every minute. there is no reception, you let yourself in with the key code we send you, and we ask that you email to let us know you have arrived safely.

the pearls are open all year round and are available for short stays as well as weeks. minimum stays vary by season and are shown, along with live prices, at availability & booking. winter by the fire with the waves lulling you to sleep is a rather wonderful time to come.

the person booking must be over twenty one and part of the party staying. we don't take groups of single people under the age of twenty one, or groups whose behaviour might disturb our neighbours, and only the people named on the reservation form may stay. the pearls are no smoking throughout.

charlestown is on the south coast of cornwall, just south east of st austell and signposted from the a390. the pearls are on the quay at charlestown harbour, pl25 3nx. we send the exact address, directions and the key code once your booking is fully paid.

the nearest mainline station is st austell, on the great western line from london paddington to penzance, about four and a half hours from london. charlestown is a mile and a half, roughly a 10 minute taxi ride, from the station. local taxis include spot on cabs, star cars and a2b st austell, and cornwall car hire, +44 (0) 1637 850 971, can meet you at the station or the airport. more in our top tips.

cornwall airport newquay, about a 35 minute drive, with flights from london and other uk and european airports. exeter and bristol are the next nearest.

yes, each pearl can have a dedicated free parking space. see parking & ev charging.

yes. we can charge electric vehicles from a 13 amp socket, just tell us how many units you use and we charge it to your good housekeeping deposit. for faster charging, tesco in st austell and the eden project's banana car park both have 22kw chargers, the eden ones run through the mer app. see ev charging.

yes, in every pearl, and it is fast. solid granite georgian walls can test even the fastest signal so we have wifi boosters, and turning a booster off and on again usually sorts out any confusion. our wifi is secured to protect our guests, so if your work laptop has advanced security settings we may need your laptop's mac address to let it on, see wifi for how to find it. the network name and password are in the house.

clipper ground coffee and tea bags, sugar, salt and pepper, milk and home made florentines in the fridge, loo paper, hand soap, body wash, shampoo and conditioner, a hairdryer, a toothbrush and shaving adaptor plug, a basket of kiln dried logs, and a red, a white and a prosecco chosen for us by liberty wines, the emergency rations, to drink if you would like and settle up from your good housekeeping deposit. every kitchen has an oven, hob, fridge, microwave, dishwasher and a washing machine or washer dryer, and there is a smart television in each pearl. if there is anything you need that isn't there, just email.

yes. the central heating is set to come on twice a day and the radiators are easy to turn up or down, tell us if you would like it set differently. the hot water is continuous. marine villa has two real fires, the sea cabin, the sail loft and the pearl each have a woodburner in the garden, and the first basket of kiln dried logs is waiting for you, with more in the log store at £10 a bag.

no, the pearls are no smoking throughout.

these are georgian grade II listed buildings on a harbour, so there are steps and stairs in most of them. please email us before booking with what you need and we will tell you honestly which pearl will work, and which won't.

very. we have all sorts of things waiting in the cupboards for preschool children: socket covers for every socket, anti door slammers, stair gates for the top and bottom of the stairs, a tomy digital baby monitor, an avent microwave steriliser, a changing mat, a red tripp trapp high chair with harness, a play mat, a travel cot with sheets, children's plates, bowls and cutlery, a potty, a maclaren buggy with raincover and a hand held food whizzer. the beaches are a toddler's walk away and there are child window safety locks on all upstairs windows.

marine villa's dressing room makes up as a child's room with a cot, a single or a bunk bed, and the sea cabin's small child's room has a pair of bunk beds. we have a travel cot, a tiny bed, a junior bed, a child's bunk and folding beds, and the mattress sizes are listed on our beds page so you can check which will fit your child.

yes, we can organise professional preschool babysitting, just email us in advance.

we don't usually accept dogs, but we know that leaving them at home is worse than leaving one of the kids behind. if your darling is small and or hypoallergenic, it can probably stay, if it is a st bernard then it's a no. we charge £35 per night, up to a maximum of £175, to cover the extra cleaning, and ask that your dog is never left alone in the house, stays off the sofas and beds, is washed, dried and walked in the road rather than the garden, and that you bring a clean dog bed and your own dog towels. please ask before booking.

yes. food from our kitchen is made to order from scratch for you to pop in the oven, leaving you to enjoy wonderful food at home without slaving over a hot stove or booking a babysitter: a breakfast box for your first morning, suppers and puds, bread and croissant, an amazing cornish cheese board, a wonderful chocolate cake, the oh my goodness chocolates and beautiful flowers. please give us a couple of days notice and email antonia@antoniaspearls.co.uk.

all within walking distance of your front door: spring tide for fish in all its glory, the longstore for steak and seafood, the pier house with its terrace over the harbour, edie's, the rashleigh arms pub, home of the charlestown gig club, the short and strong cafe, open 9am to 4pm, and the tall ships creamery for award winning ice cream. further afield, sam's at polkerris beach and north street kitchen in fowey are 18 minutes away, and for serious eating out rick stein, paul ainsworth and nathan outlaw are all within an hour. phone numbers and links are in our top tips.

there is a supermarket a 10 minute walk away, and a tesco with electric car charging a five minute drive away in st austell. food shopping tips, farm shops and the best places for fish are in our top tips.

charlestown has two beaches, one either side of the harbour, a one minute walk from the pearls: pebbly at high tide, sandy at low tide, with wonderful rock pools. porthpean, a family beach with sand, rock pools and chips, is a five minute drive. menabilly, the beach daphne du maurier wrote about in rebecca, is 15 minutes, caerhays with its castle and gardens is 25 minutes, and watergate bay, our closest surfing beach, is 30 minutes. the wonderful thing about cornwall is that if the weather is lousy on the north coast it is usually beautiful on the south. the full list is in our top tips.

yes, right on your doorstep, wild swimming from the charlestown beaches. one tip: weever fish bury themselves in the sand at low tide, so wear jelly shoes or wetsuit boots, and if anyone is stung, a bucket of the hottest water that can be borne takes the sting away.

yes. tilly, our surf coach, was a lifeguard for six years and has coached for nine, beginners to advanced, fully insured by surf england, with wetsuits and boards to hire. a two hour lesson for two people is £125, £30 per extra person up to four, aged seven and over. email a suggested date and time and we will try to say yes.

yes. our wonderful therapist will visit for spa at home: manicures, pedicures, facials, massages and waxing, and we can arrange yoga or pilates at home or on the beach. just let us know when you book.

charlestown is the best preserved georgian china clay and copper port in the world. the tiny fishing village of polmear was transformed in the 1790s by charles rashleigh, who commissioned john smeaton, engineer of the eddystone lighthouse, to build the harbour to ship copper and, later, china clay. the village was renamed charlestown after him in 1799, nearly every building is grade II listed, and it is part of the cornwall and west devon mining landscape unesco world heritage site. tall ships are moored in the harbour, and conde nast traveller calls it one of cornwall's most beautiful and unspoiled historic ports. more about charlestown.

yes. charlestown's unspoilt georgian harbour stood in for eighteenth century truro in the bbc's poldark from 2015, and it has been used by more than a hundred films and television productions since the silent film era, including alice in wonderland, the eagle has landed, doctor who and taboo. you may well find a film crew on the quay.

the shipwreck treasure museum on the quay holds the largest private collection of shipwreck artefacts in europe, around eight thousand objects from more than a hundred and fifty wrecks including the titanic and the mary rose, and you can walk through the underground tunnels once used to load china clay onto the ships in the harbour. it is a two minute walk from the pearls.

both are about 15 minutes drive from charlestown, the eden project to the north and the lost gardens of heligan to the south west, so you can do one before lunch and the other after.

the south west coast path runs through the village, with glorious walks east to carlyon bay and par and west to porthpean and pentewan. fowey, mevagissey and polkerris are within a 20 minute drive, the national maritime museum in falmouth, the tate at st ives and barbara hepworth's house are an hour away, and padstow, port isaac and the north coast surf beaches are 40 minutes. boat trips, sea safaris, kayaking, paddleboarding, golf, gardens, galleries and the theatre are all in our top tips.

yes, a wedding by the sea: an exquisitely romantic wedding to the sound of the sea, overlooking the harbour, for you and up to fourteen guests. a ceremony at the sea cabin is wonderful for up to six guests, a ceremony at marine villa is perfect for fourteen or so, and your guests can all stay in the pearls. we recommend a three night stay, a two night stay is possible, and for locals we can organise a day booking.

our fee for the ceremony is £1595, which includes on the day wedding co-ordination, and we can arrange witnesses. guests who attend are £65 each, £35 for under twelves. marine villa is from £425 a night for two, the sea cabin from £225 and the other pearls from £185, with children from £35 and further adults from £100 a night. the cornish registrars are booked and paid separately through the cornish ceremonies team. there is a price calculator with live availability on our wedding prices page.

999 for police, fire or ambulance, 111 for non emergency medical advice and 101 for the non emergency police. our emergency number is +44 (0) 7967 104 131. the nearest doctors are st austell health care, the minor injury unit is at st austell community hospital, +44 (0) 1726 873 000, open 8am to 10pm, and there are dentists a five minute drive away. every pearl has fire alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket, with their positions listed on the fire risk assessment. the full list of numbers is in our top tips.

we collect your rubbish when you leave. cornwall council recycles food waste, glass, paper, cardboard, hard and soft plastic and tins, everything else goes to landfill, and as we may have to store it for up to three weeks we ask that everything is rinsed.

check out is by 10am. please leave both sets of front door keys by the kettle, don't strip the beds or put the preschool things away, we sterilise everything, log out of any accounts you used on the television, tell us about anything that got broken so we can mend it for the next guests, and leave things as you would like to find them. lovely comments in the guest book are greatly appreciated.

antonia and david shields, antonia's pearls, charlestown harbour, cornwall pl25 3nx. telephone +44 (0) 1726 68966, in an emergency +44 (0) 7967 104 131, email antonia@antoniaspearls.co.uk. see contact.