Beyond Paradise star Kris Marshall loved his Grade-II listed Cornwall home enough to do “a lot of work” on the property, but was forced to give it up for a heartbreaking reason. Kris – best known for his role as DI Humphrey Goodman in the BBC series and its companion show Death in Paradise – purchased a converted chapel called Kirk House.

Kris told The Times that the property had been “converted into a wow-factor holiday let” when he first purchased it, and that he has done work on the home to make it into a full-time holiday let, which he ran for 10 years. Sadly, it became “impractical” to keep letting out the house when he jetted off to the Caribbean so much for filming.

He said: “I still love Cornwall, especially when the sun is out, but there's give and take when you do holiday lets. We can’t just bolt down there as a family, and I don’t want to run the business any more. I’m quite busy and it's impractical to do it from the Caribbean — it's just too far."

Originally built in the 1850s, Kirk House featured an open-plan living room, vaulted cellars, a secluded courtyard outside and five bedrooms, along with three bathrooms and an outbuilding. It’s located in Polperro, Cornwall – an adorable fishing village with a working harbour and even a smugglers’ cave.

The tiny hamlet is an hour from Newquay beach and is known for being mainly pedestrianised, with limited opportunities for cars to access the village. Kris explained: “ had been to Polperro when I was 18, and liked the Cornishness and cutesiness of it. Then I walked into the house, with its vaulted ceilings and big beams, and I went, ‘Wow, it’s amazing.’”

Kris was keen to return to Cornwall after four “wonderful” years abroad, but caused controversy when he said his son was becoming “a bit too Caribbean”. Kris later apologised for the “naive use of words”.

Now, however, he lives in Bath, where he was born, with the rest of his family. He explained to ITV: “I am a West Country boy so anything that keeps me rooted in the West Country is great.”