An Aussie With Four Cottages

Friday is changeover day, which means all manner of packing, refrigerator-emptying, last minute laundry (which always takes ages here) and dragging bags to the Library. The Library is very accommodating about bags. There are any number of ladies wandering around in St Ives on changeover days, all of whom have bags and all of whom don't like dragging them.

Checkout is at 10:00 and checkin is 5 hours later, so you can see the problem. Shop owners want the women to be comfortably hands-free so they can dig for their credit cards more easily. So the Library scheme was born, and each week their storage room is crammed with our stuff. It looks like a hoarder's paradise in there. I love it.

After a bunch of shopping and walking, I ran out of steam and finally crept over to the cottage that would be mine just to have a look. Wait - it had a bench out front in a little courtyard! There were potted plants sitting around the bench and dear little flowers peeking out at me. I could get out the flower book that had been left for me by the lovely daughter, and identify them! I began to dig.

"A'llow!" said a voice in an Aussie accent. I looked up. There stood a man wiping down one of the walls of the courtyard, bags of linen laying around his feet. He smiled.

"Oh! Hello, sir," I said. "I was just going to sit here and wait, if that's alright..." 

"Of course! In fact, I'm just about done and you might as well have your cottage right now!" He unlocked the door, giving me a glimpse of the interior - then stopped.

"Do you want to see the other cottages?"

"Other cottages?" I asked.

"Yes. There are three more, all around you."

Of course I wanted to see them all, all all all! We did a tour, during which time I learned he had moved here from Australia 18 years ago and started buying the properties one at a time. Then he obtained repurposed materials to renovate them, and I LOVE repurposed materials. You could see the touches he had created, a combination of old hardwoods, tiles, and slate for the floors, some wood countertops, uniquely crafted bathroom tile work, creative lamps, SMEG toasters and kettles, cute rugs, stained glass, scrubbed pine tables, comfy sofas, non match-matchy kitchen chairs, the works! 

In the cottage on the top floor there was a huge view of St Ives Harbor, revealed by bi-fold floor to ceiling glass walls, which stood open. Taking a breath of the fresh sea air, I determined then and there that I would stay in the top cottage one day. He led me back down the labyrinth of stairs and corners, twists and turns, until we spilled out and into my very own cottage once again.

"Have a lovely time!" he said, and bent to pick up his linen.

Finding new cottages is always fun, but finding FOUR of them, all in one go? Practically miraculous.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady