Self-catering has sure come a long way. The five barns at Trevenna in Cornwall offer the best of a hotel experience in style and service, and also treat you to everything you need from a private rental to be able to enjoy utter self-sufficiency. Arrange for a spa treatment by Aromatherapy Associate experts, and consult the five-star-hotel-style concierge service to book a table and a chauffeur to Jamie Oliver’s for lunch and Rick Stein’s restaurant for supper. Or perhaps eschew the celebrity chefs in favour of some good old-fashioned farmhouse cooking brought straight to your own table.
The force behind Trevenna in Bodmin Moor is ex-lawyer Jonathan Rowe – the farm has been in his family for generations, and he’s been responsible for giving these five barn conversions set in 142 acres of green rolling Cornish countryside a new lease of hospitality life. Unfussy, upscale furnishings with modern clean lines, and in tones that complement the natural shades of stone, slate and wood. And best of all, not only are the neutral shades, and designer furniture easy on the eye, but this luxury accommodation is entirely eco. Having consulted Envision for Environmental Impact for advice, Trevenna is a member of the Green Business Tourism Scheme (GBTS) and acclaimed by the Cornwall Sustainable Tourism Project, CoaST. Even some of today’s environmentally friendly ethics hark back to when Jonathan’s grandparents tended to this Cornish land – there is the same eco-friendly aim not to waste anything, and as much as possible is reused and recycled, just like with our ancestors.
Peer out the window at the strictly rural Cornwall landscape, but ogle the interior of your barn and you’ll see barely a whisper of Trevenna’s past agricultural life on this farmland. Where young calves were once reared, their troughs have been replaced by sleek mouse-grey kitchen cabinets; chickens have been shooed from their stalls to make room for a kingsize bed peppered with Designer Guild cushions; as for the turnip tip – that’s now occupied by a drench shower and Italian square-shaped designer loo. No need to mention that any traces of the manure store are long gone – not even CSI Cornwall, if such a crack forensics crew existed, could unearth any vestiges. But it’s not all out with the old and in with the new – Threshing Barn and the Granary still have their original 400-year-old walls, and the ancient axe-cut bark-dotted beams are resplendent in their new contemporary contexts
While every creature comfort has been considered and the option to curl up on a sofa in front of a flatscreen TV, another log on the fire, this is land that begs to be roamed. If you have hiking boots itching to be used, tackle Brown Willy (stop sniggering at the back and see ‘Activities’) in Bodmin Moor. Or head towards the River Fowey and follow it south to the coast for seaside shenanigans. But with state-of-the-art mod cons and five-star service including spa treatments (and soon a swimming pool too), you might find you stay tethered to Trevenna throughout.
Reviewed by Juliet Kinsman
