Howthere barn is a romantic, boutique holiday cottage tucked away on the Helford. It is an imaginative award-winning barn conversion, including bedroom complete with super-king-sized bed and a romantic double-ended bath. Howthere opens on to the gardens of Kestle Barton art gallery. You’ll be close to Frenchman’s Creek and numerous beaches.
Short breaks are available from October – March excluding school holidays (Friday or Monday arrivals only, 3 night minimum). If your desired dates are not bookable online please contact the team here.
Howthere Barn is one of our most popular hideaways for two, and it’s easy to see why. Step through the unassuming doorway and you know that this is no ordinary barn-conversion. Howthere has been created with comfort in mind. Some guests come for a week and are seduced by the view of the garden to the extent that they barely leave the sofa. Nearby there’s beautiful creek-side walks, cosy pubs, impossibly charming fishing villages, world-famous subtropical gardens, great restaurants, enticing art-galleries and pristine beaches that we are blessed with in this secret corner of the Helford.
Howthere Barn is a part of the ancient farmstead of Kestle Barton, the whole of which has been lovingly restored. Here you will also find the Kestle Barton galley, with its changing displays, art workshops and beautiful sculpture garden. As well as Howthere, there are two other barns sleeping six and eight, and the original farmhouse sleeping eight — making this a great place to book separate accommodation with friends and family. You’ll find Kestle Barton Farmhouse and the barns Avallen and Mowhay on our website too…
The superb architectural quality or Kestle Barton has been acknowledged with several awards including the Conservation Category in the RIBA South West Town and Country Design Awards 2011, and the Green Apple Award 2011 for The Built Environment and Architectural Heritage.
Inside Howthere Barn
The integrity of this historic barn has been cleverly retained by opening out the full two-storey height of the interior space and creating a modern pod of kitchen, bathroom and night-time space in the heart of the building — leaving swathes of open internal wall and double-height glazed doors to the garden. The effect is of a space that is at the same time intimate and open, old and new, cosy yet light and airy.
In the living area you will find a small but perfectly formed kitchen and dining area, fully equipped so that even the most enthusiastic cook will not feel under-tooled. Opposite this the sofa, large TV/DVD and fabulous inset wood-burner beckon for nights in, complemented by the heating beneath the oak floor boards. You’ll also find a contemporary bathroom with a nice shower tucked discretely away.
All this is nice, but there is another ‘wow’ up the open-tread stairs. You will slumber in a superking-sized bed, on an open-plan night-time sleeping platform beneath huge beams, flanked on one side by contemporary glazed screens, on the other by your romantic double-ended and free-standing bath. You may never want to leave.
Outside the property
Step out of Howthere Barn through double-height glazed doors into a small private courtyard which is a corner of the beautifully planted garden of the Kestle Barton gallery. You can see this clearly in the last slide show picture above. You have garden seating and a barbecue. Your garden and the galley garden are south-facing and give direct access to the meadows and orchard beyond. You have full access to all these areas at all times.
During times the gallery is open you will also find your hosts here, so you can always find someone if you need them. You can also get good coffee and often nice baked things here.
Many of the artists showcased by Kestle Barton gallery have international reputations, and exhibitions change regularly throughout the spring, summer and autumn.
Things we love…
The clever interior design makes this space a joy. Throw the huge doors open to the garden and you have an airy and spacious spring or summer retreat. Hunker down with the wood-burner and a great book or classic film and you have a perfect autumn or winter bolt-hole.
The setting of Kestle Barton is unique. You are staying not only in a beautiful barn conversion, but also in the heart of an ancient farmstead that is now both a haven for escape, and a highly reputed centre for the arts. In turn, Kestle Barton is connected to the world by footpaths that lead to woodland and village, creek and pub.
Alastair Sawday has visited and inspected Howthere Barn and he loves it too!