Cornwall in Focus NewsUpton ... gone
Published 13 Jul 09 21:45
How much is a view worth? Many people say views are priceless, well today an unknown buyer has purchased the beach at Upton Towans between Gwithian and Hayle for £80,000.
The beach first came to the public's attention when it was offered for sale, by auction, by former owner Dennis Arbon in mid June. As reported widely in the press, Mr. Arbon, a patron of the Hall for Cornwall, decided that the time was right to sell this little piece of the Cornish coastline. Consisting of 71 acres of beach and 5 acres of dunes, (the word towan means dune in the Cornish language), the guide price was £50,000, realising almost double that today. The proceeds of today's sale will be donated by Mr. Arbon to the theatre hall in Truro.
What does the new owner get? Well, the area is a nature reserve and must remain open to the public. Conditions attached to the sale mean that the land cannot be developed, so it is hoped that the area will remain unspoiled.
The view is one that lingers in the memory and is thought to have been the inspiration for Virginia Woolf's 1927 book 'To the Lighthouse'. Although set on the Isle of Skye, the author is known to have stayed nearby at St. Ives from which the lighthouse can be clearly seen. An iconic piece of Cornwall.
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