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The lighthouse beach that inspired To the Lighthouse sold for £80k, reports Amol Rajan THE Cornish beach that inspired Virginia Woolf’s novel To The Lighthouse has been sold for £380,000. A private buyer from London who originally hails from Cornwall bought Upton Towans beach in Gwithian, complete with a view of the Godrevy Island lighthouse, at auction.
The guide price for the 76 acres of beach near Hayle was £50,000. Woolf’s novel, published in 1927, was set in the Hebrides but drew on her childhood holidays in St Ives, where she stayed at a house from which Godrevy Island was visible. A landmark of early 20th century literature, Woolf called her most autobiographical work "easily the best of my books". She used the money garnered from sales to buy a car. Planning restrictions mean the new owner is not allowed to build on the land or excavate minerals. The auction generated interest from the US and Russia, and a three-way bidding war was conducted by telephone. A spokesman for estate agents Colliers CRE said: "The winning bidder now has their own 71 acres of sands and five acres of dunes to play with. Not many people can say that." — By arrangement with The Independent
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All the proceeds will go
to the Hall for Cornwall theatre in Truro because Dennis Arbon, a
trustee of the performing arts venue who has owned the beach for the
past 19 years, wants the sale to be of benefit to the people of
Cornwall.