History at Olive House Rock

Olive House was built in 1903 for one Mr Hancock, of London.  He had purchased the land, some ten acres, in1887, essentially the entire block from Glyddins to ShoresLane,and back as far as the stream.

The house was named for his daughter Olive, who lived thereuntil 1927, when Tremead next door was built for her,and the main house sold.

In 1945 the house was bought by  Mr Warn, a Police Inspector from Wadebridge., not related to the Warnesin Tremead, who have a different spelling, andarrived in 1957 to teach at WadebridgeSchool.When we bought the house in 2000, Mr Warn was believed to be still living locallyin Padstow.

In 1955, Olive House was bought by Arthur and Phyllis Eddy,farmers from Redruth, who ran it as a guesthouseuntil they retired.  They still live inthe village (Jan 2003).

From 1986 to April 2000, the house was owned by the Ramsays, again still living in the village, who ran it asan old peoples’ home.

Finally, in April 2000, we, Philip and Karen Mattos, bought it for use as a holiday home and for laterretirement.  Our previous house in thevillage was Sunnyside, much nearer the beach, but very small, with only twobedrooms, and a queue for the one small bathroom.

In time for the Summer 2000 season,we were only able to refurbish the main kitchen, iethe part with the AGA, fitting new units, lights and flooring after combining thekitchen, pantry and corridor into one room. The breakfast room was so bad itwas locked up out of use for the year.

In time for Summer 2001 we reopened the breakfast room, andthe extended kitchen…..the sink area was previously a utility room, a bathroom,and the staff smoking room !!! The AGA was renewed,and the SouthWest face of the house sealed, paintedand chimneys re-rendered.

In time for Summer 2002 we added a shower in bedroom 7(downstairs), demolished partitions in the garden room, the lobby, thedownstairs hall and the upstairs landing…. effectively returning the house toits pre-old-peoples-home design as a large family home. (Sleeps 12…. Mummy,Daddy and 10 children !!!… or more often in itsholiday use, Granddad and Grandma, Mummy and Daddy, Uncle and Aunt plus up to 6children… matching the 3 double beds and 6 singles !!!)

Winter 2002/3, the project was to completely refurbish themain bathroom, with new window, replastered, newchinaware and a shower.

Winter 2003/4 we had an easy time, just replacing two backdoors (kitchen and loo) and double glazing adjacent, and refurbishing theunder-stairs loo

Winter 2004/5 we demolished the wall between the two sittingrooms, replacing it with a glass partition. At thesame time we redecorated sitting room and dining room.

Winter 2005/6 we refurbished bedroom 3, which was mainlyremoving wallpaper and repainting.

Winter 2006/7 we refurbished bedroom 6, replacing its ensuite with a smaller, lighter one that imposed less onthe room.

Winter 2007/8 we refurbished bedroom 4, removing its box ensuite and connecting it to the old bedroom 5, nowconverted to full ensuite bathroom.

Summers are spent working on the owner’s cottage in the backgarden!

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