We do love to live beside the seaside
The stunning family home with drop-dead-gorgeous views from (almost) every room
HAVING a home by the sea is a dream for many. But prices for such properties can be high, with fourbedroom houses in swanky Sandbanks i n Dorset – Britain’s most expensive seaside location – setting you back £4.5 million or more.
But if you are prepared to cast your net wider, there are dream homes on visually stunning shores at less than half the price. Llanpit Mawr in Pembrokeshire has seven bedrooms, six of which, like all the reception areas, enjoy panoramic views over Fishguard Harbour and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
Set in an acre and a half, the house has 100 square metres of terrace and a seamless glass balustrade encompassing the wraparound decking. A timber gate gives direct access to the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, and a few more paces take you to steps that lead down to Lampit Cove and its secluded little beach. All this is on the market with estate agents Fine & Country at £1.3 million.
For Ian O’Donoghue, an engineer, buying the house was a dream come true. He grew up in Fishguard, where his father was a local boatman. ‘We would go out fishing for mackerel and see the house sitting above the cliff. At school, we’d run past the property when we were doing crosscountry, so I was always aware of it but I never thought that one day I’d own it.’
Before buying Llanpit Mawr, he and his wife Angela had lived and worked in Hong Kong for 17 years. ‘We always intended to return home, so when the children’s education became an issue in 2012, we came back and bought the house,’ says Ian.
He and Angela bought the house ‘with a view to redeveloping it as a multi-generational family home’ as Angela’s widowed mother was coming to live with them. ‘We decided to make a self-contained annexe for her with enough room for her guests, so downstairs there are two bedrooms and a private stone-flagged patio,’ explains Ian.
In fact, Ian and Angela had the whole house redesigned. ‘We extended the building forward, moving the staircase, making as much of the ground floor as open-plan as possible and removing any encumbrances to the views,’ Ian says.
All the living and dining areas, and six of the seven bedrooms, now look out over the coastline, the sea, the bays of Fishguard and to the mountains beyond. ‘We are lucky in that we are surrounded by the National Park,’ says Ian. ‘In ordinary circumstances no building is permitted in the Park, but our redevelopment was legal because we fall within the boundary of the town.’
There is a double garage and parking for up to ten cars.
Ian and Angela – and children Katy and Jimmy – often go swimming in the cove in summer. If they are feeling less energetic there is a hot tub seating seven, set into the decking. The family are moving to Cardiff since the local education authority has announced plans to reorganise secondary schooling in the area.
WHILE Llanpit Mawr is handy for Fishguard’s f erries t o Rosslare, Craig y Don, in Anglesey, is less than half an hour from Holyhead, with its ferries to Dublin. Standing like a mini castle, in five acres of gardens and woodland, this white Victorian fairy tale of a property has wonderful views over the Menai Straits, 160 yards of water frontage and a small slipway. It is available for £1.75 million through Williams & Goodwin (tppuk.com).
Crown Yealm in Newton Ferrers, South Devon, sits on a sheltered deepwater harbour and lies in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It was built in the 1920s and remodelled seven years ago. It now has five bedrooms and three reception rooms, and the main open-plan sitting and dining room with kitchen give on to the stone-flagged terrace overlooking the river. Steps lead from the terrace through the garden to a private quay. It is available for £2.65 million through Marchand Petit (marchandpetit.co.uk).
In Dorset, Willow Lodge in Mudeford is a handsome Grade II listed four-bedroom family house with south-facing views across Christchurch Harbour and a garden running down to its own slipway. It is for sale for £1.995 million (spencers newforest.com).