Historic studio in Cornwall where Muse and Oasis recorded up for sale

A historic recording studio used by the likes of Oasis, Muse and Duran Duran is up for sale - for £2.25million.

Sawmills Studio is situated on the banks of the River Fowey in Cornwall and is only accessible via boat or on foot.

It opened in 1974 as one of the UK’s first residential recording studios and has since been used by some of the UK’s most influential artists.

The building itself is a 17th-century watermill, thought to have provided freshly sawn timber until the late 1800s.

Artists including Muse and the Stone Roses have used the studio - The Kooks, Jessie J and Oasis more recently.

Dennis Smith has owned Sawmills for more than 40 years. He has made the decision to sell now, largely as a result of the pandemic.

He told ITV: "In recent years, less artists have worked at the studio and at times when it's been quiet, we've even had to let the living area as a holiday let.

"The studio ran successfully and has always been regarded fondly in the industry, but come towards the pandemic everything shut down and we made the decision at that stage that we really did think it was time to move on.

"In a couple of years time it will be 50 years as a commercial recording studio, the first sessions happened around January 1974."

The 4,681 square foot property has five different buildings, with pontoons for 24/7 boat access via the town of Fowey.

Dennis said: "When I've asked people over the years about putting a road in to access Sawmills by car, without exception, everybody said it would ruin the atmosphere.

"The whole point of this place is that it's like an island, but it's not. You can walk off at any time, we're on a tidal creek and everybody loves it that way."

Dennis agrees that part of the attraction for well-respected artists is the studio's unique location.

"The studio still attracts artists that want to get away from it all, despite budget cuts," he said.

"It's surprising how many artists have come away from Sawmills with songs they hadn't written before they got there. I think the location definitely inspires that.

"The britpop period was really exciting. We had a band from Manchester, who had tried to record an album twice and it wasn't working so the manager booked 10 days with us.

"Long story short it was Oasis and the album was Definitely Maybe, one of the biggest and fastest selling albums of all time, which was recorded at the studio."

The main building is comprised of a control room and machine room, plus a live recording space.

Sawmills also has seven bedrooms, five bathrooms and two reception rooms.

Dennis said: "The full intention is that we find a buyer that wants to keep Sawmills as a residential recording studio, or at least as a recording studio, as it is now."