A mother-of-two has found her own little piece of Heaven on the North Yorkshire coast. She tells Ruth Campbell how she and her husband now love sharing it with friends and family, along with a few lucky paying guests

DAWN Totty might never have discovered the home of her dreams had serendipity not intervened when she asked her husband to turn their car around at the end of a house hunt.

The round-about directions the estate agents provided for the North Yorkshire farmhouse by the sea took them several miles along an old, disused railway track and Dawn, thinking it was far too isolated, suggested Steven turn back at the first opportunity. “I said maybe we should phone the agents and tell them it was too remote,” she says.

But the only place they could turn round onthe narrow track led them straight into the kind of house they had been searching for – and what they saw simply took their breath away.

As they crawled down the steep drive, the whole bay, stretching from the quaint little fishing village of Robin Hood’s Bay to the dramatic cliffs of Ravenscar, opened out in front of them, with a coastal path directly below leading to the beach. “There was this huge, amazing view, with big, open skies, spread out.

We didn’t need to see the house,” says Dawn.

For the couple, who had always lived in Sheffield, it was a moment that signalled a dramatic change of lifestyle.

Fifteen years on, the enterprising pair have converted the property into two stunning holiday lets, which means, for now, they spend most of their summer months living in what Dawn jokingly refers to as “the shed”, a small, unheated wooden stable block with no running water which they are in the process of converting on the 15-acre site.

Despite this, they enjoy the experience, and the breath-taking views of the World Heritage coastline from their stable door certainly make up for any lack of home comforts.

But then Dawn and Steve, whose job involves travelling all over the country, including 4am starts to get to London from this rural haven, are no strangers to hard work.

Having met when they were at school, they were just 18 when they bought their first home together, a two-bedroomed housing trust semi for £7,500, which they went on to renovate and extend in order to start climbing up the property ladder.

By 1999, just when they felt ready for a new challenge, the pretty 1800s sandstone farmhouse built into the hillside on the North Yorkshire coast captured their imaginations perfectly.

Initially looking for a holiday home in this area, where they had enjoyed family holidays with their children, a relative suggested they do something bolder. With their two children grown up, they realised there was no reason why they shouldn’t relocate to the coast and run their own small holiday cottage business from there.

It’s a part of the country they have always loved. “We used to come with our young children and stay in a bed and breakfast looking across the bay,” says Dawn. “We had walked along the coast path so many times, and must have passed the house, but never in a million years did we ever think we would end up here.”

Originally using it as a weekend home, Dawn, 54, eventually gave up her work as a business advisor to project manage the development full time.

While living in the old farmhouse, which had lain derelict until it was made habitable by the previous owners 25 years before, she and Steven first turned two outlying rooms into a separate, one-bedroomed luxury holiday cottage six years ago. “We always knew we wanted to offer others the opportunity to experience such a wonderful location and wanted to make more of the outside and the farreaching views.” Dawn shopped online for everything from the fitted kitchen to bathroom furniture and they soon found a team of reliable and skilled local builders and tradespeople, along with a contemporary-style architect a neighbour recommended.

“Using photographs from home magazines was helpful in creating the contemporary, open feel I was looking for, as I am a visual person and find it harder to explain in words.

“My mantra, which the builders must have been sick of hearing, was ‘millimetres matter’. But we were working with a small space and I wanted to ensure people would enjoy the luxury of all those things they have in their own homes. It took meticulous planning to get in all those details.”

As well as introducing as much glass and light as they could, the couple wanted to use natural materials, so sourced slate from the Lake District and used as much stone and oak as possible.

Once the holiday cottage was up and running, Dawn and Steven set about adding a modern kitchen and dining room extension, complete with a stunning glass wall with sea views, to the main house.

They lived in it throughout, while internal and external walls were demolished and foundations excavated: “We started in September 2011 and worked through winter with the aim of eating Christmas dinner in the new extension.”

Having bought the three-bedroomed farmhouse for £210,000, they spent £100,000 doing up the cottage and £90,000 on the farmhouse, which now boasts an Aga, underfloor heating, woodburning stove and a top quality stone tiled wetroom. But it is a constant, ongoing project.

The couple are also developing the grounds and have planted 1,000 trees, including 40 cherry, apple, pear and plum trees, while establishing several pretty enclosed terraces, two ponds, a vegetable patch and beehives. There’s even an outdoor pizza oven.

While the property has more than tripled in value since they took it on, to Dawn it has never been about making money. “We bought it knowing it would be a lifetime project and with a view that we wanted to share the experience of living here with others. It’s not just about adding monetary value, it’s about a way of life. It’s about waking up in the morning no matter what the weather and looking out at the ever changing view and stunning beauty of North Yorkshire.

“The sound of the sea is wonderful and you can even hear and see the seals below. You can walk out of the front door for miles in any direction, and take a barbecue down to the beach, which is never crowded.”

One of the things Dawn particularly loves is the huge skies. “Depending on the light and the season, every single day of the year has something to offer.

And at night, when the sky is clear, the stars are incredible and you see the moon reflected on the sea. It is just a little piece of heaven,” she says.

“I am a city girl, born and bred, and still need occasional fixes of the city, but this is home now. I am never lonely, I feel I am myself here. We adore the experience of living here and creating the opportunity to share the experience with our guests.”

And this summer, while scores of holidaymakers, from all over the UK and beyond, including Germany, Austria and America, will be enjoying the stylish comforts of their farmhouse and holiday cottage, Dawn, too, will be feeling spoilt. Steven has almost finished installing a few home comforts, including a shower, in their “shed”. After having to make do with just one, cold outdoor tap last summer, it will be pure luxury.

  • Bramblewick (April to Sept) and Bay View (all year) are available for couples as holiday rentals through Unique Home Stays. W: uniquehomestays.com; T: 01637-881183