Location, location, location
Uncategorized | Jun 16, 2017
Dorset has always been our location of choice. We visited Weymouth years ago when I was in the early stages of pregnancy, and sat in our B&B room looking out over the beautiful beach, which incidentally is No. 1 this year in the UK! We visited again a few years later with Chloe and Andy’s Mum and really fell in love. Weymouth has such contrasts – the typical summer holiday beach complete with Punch & Judy, along with the harbour – quaint and still functioning as a fishing port.
But – and there had to be a but, many of the traditional B&Bs along the sea front in Weymouth are leasehold, which didn’t feel like a good move to us. Both because I believe it makes it harder to sell but also the ground rent consideration. Having to pay thousands of pounds to the local council didn’t make it an attractive proposition, despite the lovely sea-views. This was the reason we started the treks down to Devon, in particular Torbay. Numerous freehold properties at achievable prices! Don’t get me wrong, we really like Torquay and Paignton but don’t particularly like the distance and time to get there and more importantly the impact on the family. We also started to question whether Torbay would give us the year round trade that we were after.
So Dorset, or more importantly Weymouth came back on the radar. A property popped into our inbox – not sea-front but definitely sea-views and freehold. We got very excited. We could afford it, it had parking and enough rooms to make it a good business. Early Victorian, it had a lovely welcoming feel, large entrance hall with beautiful original tiling. All with 10 modern contemporary bedrooms. A little quirky at present (knitted toys everywhere!) with room for us to add our mark and also know that we could hit the ground running as far as bookings were concerned.
However it had the added complication of a beautiful annex that we didn’t necessarily want but that couldn’t be detached. The owner suggested separating it from the B&B sale but that felt complicated – new gas/electricity supply, new land registry, less parking and neighbours too close for comfort. We deliberated long and hard about how it could work for us but to no joy and we had to walk away. But on a positive note it meant that Weymouth became a viable choice, THE choice and searching has started with a vengeance!
You must be logged in to post a comment.