Cornish Holiday Cottages was founded before I was born. The exact year and month are debated by my family and our oldest, dear customers from Holland, who say they have a photo from 1976 of them staying in Gran’s chalet, ‘The Hut’, near the cliff on West Bay, Maenporth, which is essentially from where it all began.

Regardless of the actual start date, I have never known a time without Cornish Holiday Cottages. The business has been a part of my whole family’s life, but none more so than Gran, Ruth Austen, who ran it from 1976 (or thereabouts!) until 2004, and myself for the last 20 years. I swore blind as a teenager that I would not get involved as an adult, but when a decision had to be made because of Gran’s declining physical health at age 82, I made a commitment to her and to the business, bought her out, and intended to give it a few good years. I never envisaged 20, however, why would I stop doing what I love?!

Growing up in Cornwall, I was probably always going to return here. The pace of life moves more slowly, intrinsically linked to nature and the seasons. And once you have lived by the sea, you can’t be away from it for too long. The endless blue horizons and refreshing salt water, are a comfort blanket for the soul. I adore that my work is essentially connecting people with the sea, the coast and each other, as memories are made.

I love that so many guests still remember Gran, despite the fact that she passed away 12 years ago. Her frankly quite formidable character, eccentric style, vivacious cackle, strong voice and ability to light up any room with wit and spark was what set her apart. In the early days, she would go out in her ‘Moggie’ Morris Minor, to collect the ‘rent’ and would be away for hours. Later we would learn of the G&Ts she would have shared on the terrace at Ridifarne, or the beach barbeques she would have joined at Durgan.  She was a great entertainer with a huge soft spot for dogs and small people. Her favourite phrase of endearment, ‘och och’ is repeated by family and friends often.

My overriding memories of CHC as a child, are the screams of ‘there’s a drama’ coming down the stairs from the small office in the family home. Often it wasn’t much more than a broken toaster, but if a guest took the time to report it out of hours, then Gran would want to resolve the matter asap. We were all drawn into the repair and often she would reside at home, by the old Bakelite wind-up phone whilst we were sent out to sort the offending drama. There were exploding drains, amongst a myriad of other things and what I seem to remember as being an inordinate amount of floods. Either my memory has served me wrong, or plumbing has got a lot better in recent years.

Our round the clock care is what I believe sets CHC apart from many other agents. Our guests are here 24/7, so therefore we believe we need to be available too. This wrap around care also enables us to be the best custodians of our clients’ much loved holiday homes.

In the early days, in the office, the accounts were all done by hand, in a red ledger book and no matter how many people checked Mr Garton’s account, he always seemed to have one small error in it. It was like the Where’s Wally of accounting tasks! The ‘brochures’ were hand folded, printed bits of paper, with actual photos stuck on. To show the availability we would mark off the booked days in red. Our booking system was a laminated wall chart on the wall, with stickers to denote what stage of the booking phase it was in, and the guest’s name in whiteboard pen. All very well until some friendly electrician came into the office, chatting about village life, and leant against it wiping off a lot of the data with his sweater!

Then there was the ansaphone that was a micro tape in a corded machine, and when Gran or Elaine, (her right hand woman), or I, would try to record a message we would descend into giggles. Guest expectations were different then in terms of quality, but if someone wanted a cot and high chair Gran would make sure they had it. Of course, there were no travel cots in those days and I remember once we closed the office and the three of us, caught the foot ferry from Helford Passage and walked 15 minutes down the towpath to Helford Village, with the 76 parts that made up this old wooden cot and a Victorian high chair. Why we did not think to ask them to just bring their own I do not know! But that was Gran in a nutshell, always eager to please and up for an adventure.

When I took over from Gran I had a plan to develop the marketing and enhance the portfolio. She never once questioned any of my decisions and for a strong and determined woman such as her, that must have taken quite a lot of resolve to let go and trust me. I will forever be grateful to her for that, as I am for many things.

I was 26 when I signed the paperwork for CHC. For the first few years I ran the business as a sole trader, learning so much along the way. It was an exciting phase, but there have been so many of those along the way. No sooner has one project finished and another is on the boil – the joy of running a small business in a dynamic, ever evolving industry.

In 2012 we moved the office to Goldmartin House in the centre of Mawnan Smith village and we became a limited company. I had to shed a lot of Gran’s embedded fears over VAT and incorporation to get there! She didn’t even trust a calculator!

There have been four booking systems, five websites, many a brochure and around 250 clients who have loyally and faithfully entrusted us to manage their coastal cottages. I always think it takes a special person, to open up their home and welcome strangers into it as guests, and to ensure that the visitor experience is a positive and truly comfortable one. Unless you have owned a holiday house, I don’t think you can truly understand the love, investment and effort that goes into making it successful.

Many of our owners have been with us for 20 years, some as many as 38 years and these relationships are cherished and for which I am deeply grateful.

Our guests bring so much joy. To enable and facilitate holiday experiences for couples, families and friends is truly an honour. The cream of life events of people celebrating births, marriages, anniversaries and special days – I am lucky to be playing some small part in these happy moments. If ever I am having a challenging day, I take five to read some of the reviews, and I am immediately buoyed up and connected once again to the love of humans and the compassion and kindness displayed every day by everyone involved.

It’s a threefold relationship, the clients, the guests and CHC. A fusion of the property owner/facilitators, the end users and the service provider, all with their own specific goals.  I am not going to soften the truth, it has not always been easy to keep everyone happy, but over the years I have learnt to onboard clients with similar values and expectations. We would be nothing without the diligent, hardworking housekeepers who show up tirelessly on Fridays and Saturdays and the various trades who implement their skills to iron out any niggles at all times of day, and sometimes even night.

My team here at CHC are like family. I don’t need to tell those of you who know them, but if you are yet to meet Mel, Debbie, Lizzi, Madeline and Sarah, then they are the most caring, thoughtful, detail orientated and thorough bunch of wonderful women who so often go above and beyond. We work hard and smile often.

Last but not least a thank you to my family, who have stuck by me and nurtured CHC too, these last 20+ years. To my children Felix and Rosie, who were dragged around faulty boilers as small children, when really they should have been at a birthday party, and now help to fix erroneous TVs and broken doors on weekends. To my parents Jane and Gerry, plus step-Dad ‘Bone’, who stepped in countless times when the kids were small to watch them when I was called out or had to work late, and for the hours of listening and advice when I was learning how to grow and nurture a business.

The peak of my career to date has been achieving B Corp certification. To be able to align your company so that it operates for the benefit of all stakeholders, including our silent and most benevolent partner, the planet, is everything that I have wanted to achieve in one comprehensive nutshell!

It takes a village to make something meaningful, worthwhile and magical. To each and every one of you who has been a part of the last 20+ years – thank you.

Emily Xx

Top Photo: Emily, Mingo, and Marvin on the Rinsey cliffs. © Anthony Greenwood