It takes a certain amount of confidence in the quality of your property to name it The Haven. The implication would be that it would have to be a home of the highest standard, something approaching a ‘dream house’.
I imagine each of us have our own ideas of what perfection might look like. I, for example, enjoy my cricket, so would like my own pitch. Someone who likes horses (not me) would be keen on menages, or something like that, and paddocks, so that they can spend time with their giant unpredictable animals.
However, certain things strike me as universal. I think a kitchen island would be pretty much a staple for all these days, as would a top-tier bathroom with all the trimmings. If there’s one thing I know about most humans, it’s that they certainly would find heaven by spending time near the water.
Which leads me back to The Haven, near Newton Ferrers. This four-bedroom property – for sale with Marchand Petit for £1.95 million – certainly ticks the ‘near some water’ box, situated as it is above Newton Creek, which feeds directly into the River Yealm.
I’m trying to think of the correct way to describe the general atmosphere of this place. Nautical feels a little serious, so perhaps ‘seaside chic’ is what we’ll aim for — lots of white, lots of soft-blue hues, plenty of large windows throughout, seashells and wood.
Every bit of this property does what it can to make the most of the sensational setting, making sure it would never be more than a moment that you would lose sight of the Yealm and the Atlantic beyond.
The ground floor is set for entertaining, with large open-plan spaces forming the kitchen, dining and living rooms. Two bedrooms occupy the remainder of the ground floor, while the other two (including the master suite), take up the first floor.
Outside, the gardens wrap around the property and provide plenty of space to sit and enjoy the view with a coffee, as the photographs are desperate to prove, while a garage provides somewhere to park. The property offers water frontage with a mooring, subject to permission from the harbourmaster.
I’m not sure where I’d put my cricket pitch, and it seems unlikely that a horse could be stored here for long. But overall, I think The Haven just about lives up to its name.
Credit: Strutt and Parker
Best country houses for sale this week
An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for
Riverside living in a New-England style hillside home
Where the Truro and Tresillian Rivers meet, five bedroom Rivergarth is suitably positioned to take advantage
The Country Life Podcast
Listen to all the episodes of the Country Life Podcast.
Quentin Blake’s former home for sale, and it’s as wonderfully higgledy-piggledy as his illustrations
This 570-year-old house was until recently the home of the iconic children’s illustrator Quentin Blake. We stepped inside to take
-
How high is this mountain? It's the Country Life Quiz of the Day, October 27, 2025Happy Monday, here's your quiz of the day.
-
A portrait featuring a string of pearls stolen in one of Britain’s most notorious jewellery heists is going under the hammerA portrait by Philip de László features a headline-making pearl necklace that was stolen, recovered and stolen again — and it's coming up for auction this week.
-
The ultimate treehouse escape, where you can have a sauna and hot tub 12 metres above the forest floor, is for sale in DorsetGuy Mallinson's award-winning treehouses in Dorset are a true escape from the world. Anna White takes a look.
-
20 breathtaking country homes for sale, as seen in Country LifeWe take a look at some of the finest houses to come to market via Country Life in the past week.
-
The elegant country home of a motor racing daredevil who drove round the world in a 1936 Bentley and crashed a Range Rover into his own front porchPeasemore House, with its collection of barns, workshops, stables and more, is an ideal home from which to plan an adventure — something that was a passion of its present owners. Penny Churchill explains more.
-
The wisteria clad cottage where Noël Coward and Ivor Novello held court at the height of their fameThe 17th-century Follejon Cottage just outside Windsor was a perfect escape from the city for Noël Coward and his circle of friends. As it goes on the market, Penny Churchill takes a look.
-
A Cotswolds property that's the strangest mix of old and new we've ever seen... and yet somehow, it all worksThe Gasworks is a house quite unlike anything you've seen before — or at least anything you've seen all in one place. Toby Keel takes a closer look.
-
A country house near Windsor that could be straight from the pages of a Jilly Cooper novelPenny Churchill looks at the beautiful polo-lover's sanctuary that is Barkham Square Park.
-
The factory that once fuelled the Victorians' insatiable appetite for pianos has become a set of gorgeous, characterful apartmentsChappell & Co were a huge name in 19th century music, even working with Beethoven. Today, one of their old factories in Camden has become a series of beautiful apartments.
-
What £1 million buys you across Britain, from a Cornish cottage to a miniature castle in the HighlandsSprawling country houses, a mini-estate in Scotland and homes where the sea almost laps up at your feet are among the property options open to those with a seven-figure budget. Here's our pick of the best £1 million houses for sale across the land.
