Port Isaac is a historic fishing village on the north-west coast of Cornwall. To outsiders, it’s largest claim to fame is the filming of ‘Doc Martin’, a story of a straight-faced petulant doctor that serves a close-knit community, the intimacy of which is a direct result of the spatial isolation. Although to some extent Kernow is a separate entity from England, Port Isaac is remote even by Cornish standards; it’s located in a cove, barely visible from the farms above. It is not a place for the faint-hearted urbanite as it’s still beyond the reaches of broadband, instead the community are dependent on each other and the landscape. It is both rural landscape and seascape, composed of slate and shale cliffs with individually crafted houses made from local stones.
In relation to the housing crisis, the most relevant lesson to learn from Port Isaac is to vary from the next village. Materialistically and compositionally, Port Isaac utilises the naturally provided landscape; in a county full of topographically, geologically, and ecologically dynamic resources, this method of building results in intriguing and characterful settlements.
