Sunshine Getaways with Amanda Lamb

We were extremely professional in our excitement, of course. Polite conversation being made with A Place in the Sun star, Amanda Lamb, soon turned into fun and laughter as inhibitions around the cameras slipped away and the true spirit of our staff and accommodation shone through – as did the sun! Lucky, really, as the programme being shown on Channel 5 (Wednesday 17th January, 2024 at 6pm) is called Sunshine Getaways, and our very own Calcite Cabin was showcased as a fabulous getaway on the Lizard peninsula, Cornwall.

Calcite Cabin on Channel 5

It’s a great holiday home for anyone looking for a tucked away location with amazing views, private hot tub, on site facilities and close proximity to some of the best beaches and coves in the South West. Anyone is welcome here, no matter your age or ability, or even number of legs – we’ve dog-friendly places to stay, too.

Calcite Cabin is a quirky, luxury self-catering place to stay (and sunshine getaway!) perched metres from the edge of 10 acre freshwater Trevassack Lake near Helston. Stay here for a quiet retreat just the two of you (watersports optional!) and enjoy a hot tub under the stars, or bring family or friends for a fun adventure holiday, with lots and lots of getting wet!

The cabins are each cleverly converted from two large shipping containers, creating a spacious open plan living space with large wet-room. Every property has its own hot tub inset into the huge deck, perfect for al fresco breakfasts before the day’s adventures and retiring into bubbly heaven of an evening.

Holiday on the Lizard, Cornwall

The bonus of Trevassack is the entire site is fully accessible, so no matter your situation, you can enjoy time away from the mundane home routine in comfort and safety. As one of our wheelchair-using guests, who stayed in Bradbury House, remarked, ‘I don’t feel disabled here’. Mission accomplished.

Fancy a getaway in Cornwall? Check our live availability calendars – we just can’t promise you’ll see any celebrities!

Watch Channel 5’s Sunshine Getaways featuring Calcite Cabin, Trevassack Lake, on Catch Up >

The Finalists were announced in October for the 22^nd year of the Cornwall Tourism Awards and we are very proud to say that following our success last year, when our new Trevassack Lake HQ won two awards, we once again found ourselves in Truro Cathedral on 23^rd November 2023.

It’s taken three months of judging, to get to this stage of this year’s Cornwall Tourism Awards for us to learn whether we had won Gold, Silver or Bronze for our site at Trevassack Lake…

GOLD FOR CHILDREN’S SAILING TRUST’S TREVASSACK HOLIDAYS AT CORNWALL TOURISM AWARDS

• GOLD FOR ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSIVITY

Tourism Award for Trevassack Lake

“Winners were announced at a glittering ceremony in Truro Cathedral on 23rd November, with successful businesses in many categories fast tracked into the South West Tourism Excellence Awards in March 2024 with some invited to represent Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the 2024 national VisitEngland Awards, in which Cornwall has often excelled.”

The award categories covered everything from dog friendly, active experiences and cafes to glamping, hotels and pubs with a Winner of Winners title, a Tourism Leadership award and special Outstanding Contribution to Tourism award also presented on the night.

Jakie Jewell, CEO, attended the ceremony;

“It was a very exciting evening, receiving validation for everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve the past few years – the site has now been open for two seasons so we are blown away at achieving the Gold award so early in our journey. Trevassack Lake is the  HQ of Children’s Sailing Trust charity and our Centre of Excellence for accessible holidays and  watersports – Trevassack Holidays and CST Experiences are Not-For-Profit, and open to all ages and abilities, supporting the work we do with local schoolchildren and SEND groups. The feedback we’ve had so far has been humbling. I’d like to give special thanks to The Clare Milne Trust and The Bradbury Foundation for their funding and support of two of our three high-dependency lakeside holiday lodges and to our staff and trustees for their commitment and passion every single day.

I’d also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all involved – a huge congratulations to all of the finalists of CTA23. And we look forward to welcoming as many of you as possible to Trevassack Lake in the future.”

 L-R Jakie Jewell, CEO | Deborah Lawson, Accom Manager | Katie Chown, Marketing Manager

CST Background

2023 marks the 26th year of providing local children with sailing opportunities that they wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to take part in. Through spending time out on the water with their peers, young people learn skills that help them in all aspects of life; confidence, competence, resilience and critical thinking. Whether or not they choose to continue on towards further qualifications, each child comes away with a sense of pride and achievement.

The charity relies heavily on grants and donations in order to cover running costs of operating subsidised Helford River sailing courses as well as continue providing these amazing experiences for young people for another 25 years. Therefore, the development of Trevassack Lake is a forward-thinking strategy to ensure financial stability for the Trust while benefitting the local community.

All ages and abilities are welcome at Trevassack, with the whole site being developed to be as inclusive and accessible as possible, with hoists and adapted craft allowing our experienced staff to help people with disabilities to get out on the water. The location is unique and jaw-dropping – first time visitors always have the same, amazed reaction when they round the corner from the car park and the ex-quarry opens up before them. It’s still a beautifully natural location, with an array of bird life swooping the 10-acres of freshwater – plus it’s a chemical-free site, so no noisy engines or smelly petrol to disturb the environment with everything run on solar, underwater-source heat pumps or electric.

Children’s Sailing Trust’s purpose is to provide life-affirming watersports opportunities for young people. In 2016 we acquired a disused quarry near Helston, transforming it into an accessible watersports centre with purpose-built holiday accommodation. Trevassack Lake opened in October 2021, 6 months late but to fantastic feedback from customers near and far, who were delighted to finally have fully accessible, self- catering properties in a beautiful, fully accessible location with a great big cherry on top – fully accessible watersports. Oh, and there’s a waterside café, too.

This new CST venture is far from finished but has made a tremendous start, operating as a Not-For-Profit organisation, so that money goes back into helping the charity improve young lives.

SOLVING A NEED

Trevassack Lake is the only outdoor water facility that provides DDA compliant accommodation in the UK – the site was specifically designed to help families, children and adults with a range of physical and learning difficulties feel confident they can get away again.

Grant awards from the Coastal Communities Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural development, allowed for a neglected quarry with 10 acres of sheltered water to be transformed into a year-round watersports facility and this fully-accessible scheme ensures CST can continue to provide watersports that are inclusive for all.

ACCESSIBLE SELF-CATERING HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

High dependency holiday accommodation that includes all the required fixtures and fittings to support individuals and families with special educational needs and disabilities; Bradbury House and Clare Milne House were designed to meet Part M4(3) building regulations, making them fully-accessible units including an integrated ceiling hoist that can transfer a user from bedroom to bathroom. The kitchen is fully accessible with adjustable height hob and drop-down shelves for the wall-hung cupboards. And for 2024, dog-friendly Lizard House has had an integrated Guldmann ceiling hoist fitted, too.

There are 3 additional adapted cabins that can have mobile aids included on request.

ACCESSIBLE FACILITIES FOR ALL

Cornwall has a reputation for outstanding outdoor activities like swimming, sailing, kayaking and surfing but for many residents and holidaymakers, these activities just aren’t possible.

Accessible provisions are low so Trevassack Lake is providing the local community and beyond a place where families can try out watersports and visitors can holiday in accessible environments. The site is for both able-bodied people and those with disabilities to experience the innumerable benefits of watersports, exercise, time in nature and being together for their physical wellbeing and mental health, in a safe, level and welcoming environment. The centre delivers high quality, accessible watersports activities for all, outstanding disabled facilities and a wide range of specialist equipment with the state-of-the-art learning Centre facilitating educational development of local schools and communities.

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