Wynstowe

Wynstowe is a working town before it is anything else. Eleven boats still land here, the ice plant runs through the night in summer, and the harbour wall is repaired every spring whether or not the season has been kind. That working character is the reason the town has aged well while others on this coast have been hollowed out by second homes.

The bonded quarter along the eastern quay held wine and spirits in transit until the 1970s. Its warehouses have twenty-inch granite walls, cast-iron columns, and window openings sized for cargo rather than for views — which turns out to make superb apartments once the openings are carefully, and reversibly, enlarged.

Velora's own atelier is on this quay. It is the only part of the coast where you can live without a car, and the only part where you can buy a newspaper at seven in the morning in February.