A STRETCH of beach overlooking a lighthouse which inspired one of Virginia Woolf's most famous novels has fetched £80,000 at auction.

The 76-acre Upton Towans beach in Gwithian, West Cornwall, overlooks the lighthouse on the headland at nearby Godrevy Island.

Virginia Woolf spent many holidays there with her family as a child and the watchtower became the inspiration for her 1927 novel To The Lighthouse.

For the past 19 years the stunning beach has been owned by Dennis Arbon, a trustee of the Hall for Cornwall, a performing arts venue in Truro.

But he donated the beach to the hall so it could raise funds and yesterday it was bought by an anonymous bidder for £80,000, well above its £50,000 guide price.

The beach must remain public so the new owner can only make the money back with services such as ice creams or donkey rides. A spokesman for estate agents Colliers CRE said: "The nature of this sale meant there was a lot of interest, as it is very unusual to see something like this at auction.

"There was particular interest because of the link with Virginia Woolf and the lighthouse nearby.

"The winning bidder now has their own 71 acres of sands and five acres of dunes to play with. Not many people can say that.

"We had a bidding war between three telephone bidders and the price crept up above the guide price as we expected it might."

Competition between three telephone bidders pushed the final price up at the auction at Portman Square, London.

It was bought by a Cornishman, based in London, but planning rules means he will not be able to build or excavate minerals.