What could be more suitable for a spy than a house in the middle of a remote rugged landscape complete with a safe room and features made from WWII planes? Well, that’s basically the house that novelist and former intelligence agent John Le Carré lived in right up until his death in 2020.
And now it’s for sale! Named Tregiffian Cottage, it sits on the Cornish coastline between the villages of Lamorna and Porthcurno and has just hit the market for £3 million. Espionage experience not required.
Before Le Carré bought the property, Tregiffian Cottage existed as three former fishermen’s cottages. The author purchased, restored and adapted them into a single family home with his wife in the 1960s. It was where the novelist (and former secret agent) wrote some of his best known works, including ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ and ‘Smiley’s People’.
The house has four bedrooms, a self-contained guest wing, a sea-facing conservatory and an indoor swimming pool. As one would only expect, there’s also a library with floor to ceiling bookcases and a feature window glazed with what is thought to be part of the canopy from a World War II fighter plane, as well as a detached studio building that Le Carré used as his writing room.
The new owner can also enjoy a wine store and a safe room, should any of Le Carré’s spy stories suddenly become real life. The gardens extend for 3.3 acres and with its dramatic surrounding sea views, you can see as far as the Scilly Isles on a clear day. Here are a few pics of the place.
His son Nick Cornwell wrote of the house: ‘My earliest memories are of playing in the garden at Tregiffian and adventuring along the coastal path. The whole place is alive with butterflies, rabbits, swallows, foxes and occasionally badgers.
‘In winter, you bank up a log fire and listen to the wind around the house and feel as if you’re in a castle or a lighthouse. The storms are dramatic and beautiful and when they’re gone you get that wild horizontal sun. It’s a wonderful place to rest, or work or just be yourself.’
Since Le Carré died in 2020, Tregiffian Cottage isn’t the only one of his properties to have hit the market. Back in June, his old country pad in Wells, Somerset, also went up for sale for £1.9 million.
You can check out the listing for Tregiffian Cottage on Savills here.
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