Blinds in Clifton

Clifton sits just around the shoulder from Fresnaye, its four numbered beaches divided by granite boulders and reached down stairways rather than by road. The houses follow the same rule: small plots stacked steeply down the slope, no front garden to speak of, and a mix of restored older cottages alongside the glass-fronted homes that have replaced most of them. Almost every one of these faces west or south-west, holding the same Atlantic sunset that the beaches are known for.

That orientation means most of Clifton's glazing takes the lowest, hardest sun of the day, straight on, with a second dose bounced up off the open water below. Sitting slightly further round the mountain than Fresnaye and Bantry Bay, Clifton is also one of the more sheltered stretches from the full force of the south-easter — real, but relative: exposed upper-storey glass and open decks still feel it, and every exterior fitting still gets salt-rated hardware regardless.