WE MADE THE MOVE
THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT
Joe and Emily Reilly left London to set up an architecture and interior design business in the coastal village of St Agnes, Cornwall – renovating their own cottage along the way WORDS ALICE WRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHS ANYA RICE
‘O
ur working day often depends on what the tide’s doing,’ says Joe Reilly, who heads out for a morning surf whenever possible. Alternatively, the couple might take their baby Ozzy for a stroll along the coastal path before firing up their laptops. It’s a far cry from their previous 45-minute commute through London, and it was a desire for a radical shift in lifestyle that inspired the Reillys to quit their jobs in the capital and move to Cornwall. Joe, an architect, and Emily, an interior designer, grew up in Leicestershire and Dorset respectively before heading to London, where they met. But after several years there, they began to tire of city life, and fell in love with St Agnes on holidays in Cornwall. Aside from its enviable position on the North Cornish coast, the 9 2 co as t magazin e.co.uk
vibrant year-round community appealed to the young couple. ‘There are so many passionate, interesting people here, living an amazing quality of life, and we wanted a slice of it,’ explains Emily. So in 2016 they decided to move down and set up their own business, Coal Cornwall. They knew they wanted a home within walking distance of the village and the sea. The first place they saw was a two-bed terraced cottage in the hamlet of Goonbell, on the outskirts of St Agnes. The surrounding area has a rich mining history and the lane running by the front of the house was once the route to the local tin mine. Although charming, like many of its type, the building was dark and cramped. The previous owners were an elderly couple who had lived there for 30 years, and the interior was ‘fairly grim’, Emily recalls.
