Dubbed the ‘UK’s last untouched coastal town,' this stunning English village set along North Cornwall’s spectacular coastline is largely undeveloped and has so far dodged the blight of second homes and holiday lets. The estate was put up for sale in 2022 and was recently sold to the William Pears Group, one of Britain's largest property companies, for just under £14 million ($17m), according to Land Registry documents. The medieval hamlet comprises 1,200 acres and includes six farms and 17 houses and cottages. However, residents have serious concerns about the sale. Click or scroll on to take a tour of this captivating village, and discover why the local community has its reservations...

All is not well behind the doors of the picture-postcard cottages. Tenants of Trevalga, some of which go back three generations or more, fear the new owner will evict them in order to capitalise on the region’s popularity as a tourist hotspot. Trustees previously tried to sell the estate in 2010, but local residents successfully blocked the attempt. This time around, they were not so lucky. Despite setting up a petition to fight the sale, they fell just short of collecting the 4,000 signatures they were aiming for, and in September 2022, the government declared the trustees had a legal right to sell and declined to intervene. According to Cornwall Live, campaigners eventually backed down as they did not want to cause upset between a potential new buyer and the tenants. 

The new owner is Castle Lane Securities Ltd., part of the William Pears Group, which is run by billionaire brothers Sir Trevor, Mark and David Pears, according to ITV News. Sir Trevor is pictured here, second from left, along with other prominent names supporting a charity initiative launched by the investment group in 2012. The family was ranked 55th on the 2023 Times Rich List with a fortune of more than £3.3 billion ($4bn). Their real estate and development group is one of the largest in the UK and has links to multiple companies, including Telereal, the UK's largest property outsourcing company. 

In 2019, one of the William Pears Group's subsidiary companies, MTD Housing, registered as a social landlord "for those for whom the private sector is not an affordable option." However, actions taken by the group's international arm, Pears Global, have led to protests in the past, including one outside their London office in 2018 (pictured). The demonstration was sparked by dramatic rent increases and the eviction of a community centre and pub in Berlin, where Pears Global is said to own thousands of apartments, according to Correctiv, a German nonprofit investigative outlet. Their report alleges that the William Pears Group is linked to around 25 companies owning properties in Berlin, via firms in Luxembourg, Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands. Evictions are top of the list of concerns for residents of Trevalga too...

According to tenant Serena Partrick, trustees of the Cornish village have started to use short-hold tenancies in recent years, meaning many residents are now "vulnerable to eviction". However, Peter Pracownik, who has rented the estate's manor house for 28 years, remains hopeful. "Their deal is to make sure everybody remains where they’ve always remained and all the repairs will be done," he told ITV News. Pracownik claims his house needs more than £50,000 ($61k) in repairs, but that the new owners are "working on that" for him. Meanwhile, local councillor Barry Jordan is keen to know what the William Pears Group is planning for the area. "The residents need security of tenure, they need to know they’re going to be safe in their properties and not be kicked out in 12 months' time," he said.

The estate was originally bestowed to Robert, Earl of Morton by William the Conqueror when he made him Earl of Cornwall in the 11th century. Its last private owner, Gerald Curgenven (pictured), purchased the village for £14,000 in 1934, the equivalent of £824,000 ($1m) in today's money. After his death in 1959, the hamlet was left in trust to his old school, Marlborough College in Wiltshire, where Catherine, Princess of Wales was a former pupil, as he had no children or heirs. The will trust was created more than 60 years ago so the estate could be "preserved and improved and as far as possible not sold or broken up," according to a report in the Daily Mail. 

Unusually for Cornwall, development on the unspoilt estate has been kept to a minimum and rental prices have remained affordable. The tight-knit community goes back generations – many residents have called this idyllic spot home for most of their lives and have grown up alongside their neighbours. Let's take a look around the remarkable estate and see exactly what residents are worried about losing...

Glistening blue waters, lush countryside and craggy cliffs are the backdrop to the Trevalga estate, which was held by the Crown when it was mentioned in the Domesday Book – a land survey commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1085. The quaint village is a piece of heaven on earth in one of the UK's most beautiful locations and has even been referenced by poet John Betjemen. 

Poldark fans will recognise the landscape from the popular series. Scenes with its dashing hero Ross, played by actor Aidan Turner, galloping on horseback across the clifftops, were actually filmed nearby at Park Head near Porthcothan. The property includes a coastline of about a mile, as well as a few rocky islands lying just off the coast, including Short Island and Long Island, where razorbills, guillemots and puffins can be spotted.

There's no end of beautiful homes in the village. The clifftop stately home, currently let to a local resident, is within easy reach of North Cornwall’s famous coastal paths and stunning beaches. Surprisingly, real estate agents Savills say the property is unlisted and could offer huge potential for redevelopment in the future, though many would like to see this idyllic corner of the world preserved and protected.

Other properties in the sleepy hamlet include a range of idyllic traditional stone cottages with slate roofs, that date back to when there was a functional slate quarry in the parish. According to the listing, which has been taken down following the sale, most are let on Assured Shorthold Tenancies, meaning landlords can evict without reason as long as they give notice, which is a concern among residents. Meanwhile, three are let on regulated tenancies and two have vacant possession.

Dominating the scenic area is the estate’s main working farm, which is let on a Farm Business Tenancy until 2031. There are four more fully equipped farms and further land and buildings, which are currently being let on Agricultural Holdings Act Tenancies. Trevalga has been a farming community for generations, with much of its green pastures given over to beef and dairy cattle, as well as vegetable and cereal growing. 

Located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with a coastline that's a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Trevalga is a popular tourist destination. The walk from Boscastle to Tintagel along the cliff edge, with the wild Atlantic sea on one side and the rolling hills on the other, is consistently rated as one of the top five walks in Cornwall. Other highlights include King Arthur’s Tintagel Castle and the nearby views and sand dunes of the Camel Estuary in and around Rock and Padstow.

With no details forthcoming from the new owners, the future of the estate is shrouded in mystery. Trevalga is one of only a few villages in North Cornwall with no second homes, nor holiday cottages. It remains a thriving, diverse, rural community, which provides affordable housing for local people, as the late Gerald Curgenven intended. Perhaps the William Pears Group will be similarly dedicated to upholding its unique culture. Only time will tell...

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