Beautiful West Country village dubbed 'mini-Hollywood' home to A-list celebs
A beautiful seaside village where homes regularly sell for at least £1million has been dubbed "mini-Hollywood" because of the A-list celebrities who have moved there.
Mawgan Porth, near Newquay on the north coast of Cornwall, is home to a number of high-profile stars such as Oscar-winning Australian actress Cate Blanchett, action man Jason Statham and Aquaman actor Jason Momoa. Actress Imogen Stubbs, Fifty Shades of Grey actor Jamie Dornan, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and Hollywood actor Stanley Tucci are also reported to have bought properties in the village.
Residents have even revealed they can also bump into the likes of Kate Winslet and Noel Gallagher on the beach during the warmer periods of the year, reports Cornwall Live. However, the seaside town's popularity does come with its problems, with many of the homes in the area now being built from scratch, which means some of the old, dainty properties have been knocked down.
Kim Prophet, 30, works as a travel agent in the area and runs her own coffee and cake van during the summer months. She said the village now has a 'mini-Hollywood vibe' to it and she has to book numerous cottages for celebs on their summer breaks.
Kim, from St Austell, said: “I come here with my coffee and cake van. This is my first summer of doing it regularly. It does have a mini-Hollywood vibe. I think it’s doubled in size in terms of properties. People now call me and ask us specifically for the area.
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Kim Prophet works as a travel agent and has to book numerous cottages for celebs on their summer breaks (SWNS)“They’ve knocked down a lot of the old houses. They'll buy them for one million pounds then flatten them. I think it’s not losing its charm for the people who want the luxurious high-end properties. It's now a building site forever, I guess.
“If you just look now at the cliff everything is a building site. It gets more and more expensive. It's dead during the winter, it’s great as a local. I wouldn’t go here for a beach day here in the summer. The car park is rammed.”
Dad-of-two Dan Conquest, 50, and wife Charlotte, 52, a theatre and TV director, have been visiting Mawgan Porth every year for the past four years. They had intended to buy a property but the rising prices due to extreme demand mean they may not ever be able to afford too.
IT worker Dan, from Guildford, Surrey, said: "We're probably about 20 years too late. If we'd bought a house here then it would probably be worth six or seven times that price now. Unlike many buying here we would happily live here but many of the properties are empty most of the time as they are bought as second homes.
"When we first started coming there was hardly anyone on the beach but this year in particular we've found it's a lot busier. More and more people seem to be hearing about the place.
"Speaking to locals you get the impression it's a double-edged sword. The increased footfall and tourism gives a boost to the local economy. But the glitterati descending on the area inflates the prices and therefore the cost of living here. We've heard about all the celebrities buying in Mawgan Porth but we've never seen them ourselves - probably because they are hardly ever here."
Dan and Charlotte Conquest have been visiting Mawgan Porth every year for the past four years (SWNS)NHS worker Kim Emmett, who works in a hospital A&E, revealed her mum has had people walk by her house and offer £2million for their family home even though it is not for sale. “It has always been a popular holiday destination as it’s between Newquay and Padstow and near a National Trust hotspot," the 51-year-old said. "It's become more and more popular every year. The locals have sold up here and the properties have been taken down and there’s modern complex, cube-shaped, Californian-style buildings instead of your 1930s bungalows.
“There's a lot of posh cubed modern buildings. Those properties are now going for over a million. You can’t buy a property here for under one million. Not one local can afford to buy anything here. We're near the Scarlet Hotel which attracts a lot of celebrities. There's a certain clientele."
While Kim says her mum has met several celebrities over the years, she believes it's not a good thing so many of the old properties are being knocked down and turned into modern homes. She said: “My mum used to meet Kate Winslet as she lived here. My mum has met a few celebrities on the beach. She met Noel Gallagher but she didn’t know who he was. Gordon Ramsay also lives a few villages over.
"It is sad to see it changing so much. All the old properties we used to know had been demolished. The good thing is that there isn’t that much space to build or extend. I don’t think it will lose its quaintness, but no one can afford to live here."
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