History Of The Chocolate Box (One of the holiday cottages at Poldhu Cove, Cornwall)

In a photo album that you can access here you can view pictures of the cottage over the years since it was built in 1912.

Originally the "Chocolate Box" was a pumphouse for the main house at Trewoon. As you might expect at the beginning of the 20th century there was no mains water supply to the few properties at Poldhu Cove. Even today  there is a well directly under the cottage floor and an additional (working) well to the right hand side of the cottage. The well is approximately 30 feet deep. The well is now fitted with a pump to "top up" the series of ponds in Trewoon's gardens.

The earliest picture, of what is now the "Chocolate Box", that we have appears to show what might be a hexagonal or circular building with a thatched conical roof.   

Back in the early 1900's Trewoon was a holiday home for the Hales family. We have been told that the family would come down to Poldhu Cove from their home in Surrey and would stay until the well ran dry! This had the clear disadvantage that if the summer was sunny without much rain to replenish the well the less time the family were able to stay on holiday. The Hales family lived at ????? and we understand earned their fortune in the sugar importing business.

A later picture (date unknown) shows the cottage surrounded by long grass. At this time the cottage was in a near rectangular form with, what we believe is,  a covering of stone from Gunwalloe beach and  local slate.  At this time the cottage was known as "Cadgwith".

Soon after we bought Trewoon in 2003 the cottage was painted and a new thatched roof was installed. Later in 2009 the cottage was extended and the interior was completely redesigned and refurbished.

The holiday cottage was called "Cadgwith" up until the summer of 2011 when it was renamed as the "Chocolate Box". The renaming arose from the fact that the "Cadgwith" name could cause some confusion with holiday makers with the fishing village of the same name - which is some eight miles away from Trewoon at Poldhu Cove.