With luxury seafront cottages in Sandsend attracting visitors from all over the world, Ruth Addicott talks to one owner about how these holiday homes have been transformed.

WAKING up to spectacular sea views and breakfast on the terrace sounds more like a scene from Santorini than Sandsend, but if it’s peace and quiet closer to home you’re after, the pretty village on the North Yorkshire coast is the next best thing.

Whether it’s a honeymoon destination, a place to take the family or some time out to just sit back and watch the waves, Sandsend Cottages are attracting tourists from all over the world.

Helen and Malcolm Lloyd left Leeds and settled in Sandsend four years ago where they now run three holiday cottages – Howdale, Craigmore and Melrose.

One of their biggest achievements to date, however, is the transformation of The Porthole, a run-down shed which they have turned into a chic B&B.

It sleeps two people and sits in the grounds of their own home, Beacon Hill, which they share with their golden retrievers, Amber and Toffee.

Just a stone’s throw from the beach with views stretching out towards Whitby Abbey, The Porthole is believed to date back to 1890, when two brothers began building a house on the headland at Sandsend, before falling out, and attempting to build separate houses 50 metres apart. Realising how foolish it was, they eventually made up, leaving a half finished ‘bunker’ in the grounds of Beacon Hill.

It was nothing more than a tatty old storage shed when Helen and Malcolm first moved in.

“The roof was falling in, it really was a house for pigeons,” says Helen. “I thought it would be a good idea to renovate it. We both love gardening and I was desperate to get the garden sorted out, but we had two JCBs parked on the lawn for four months and couldn’t get the garden finished until we’d done The Porthole.”

They put up a new roof, laid wooden floors, installed new heating and wiring and added French windows and a private terrace. Helen then began combing antique shops in Whitby for quirky pieces to create a nautical theme. She found original ships’ lanterns to use as lights and made a mirror out of shells and driftwood from the beach. “The most difficult part was visualising what it was going to be like because we had to do it step by step,” she says.

It took nine months to complete, but has since attracted tourists as far as Canada, China and Japan.

“We have a huge number of people coming for birthdays and anniversaries,” says Helen.

“We’ve also have a lot of honeymoon couples because it’s on its own and is not overlooked.

It’s very romantic.”

A couple of doors down from Beacon Hill lies Craigmore, which sleeps two to seven people.

Craigmore has also been recently refurbished with a larger kitchen dining room and glass roof allowing the sun to stream in. It has a sitting room, garden room with wicker furniture and French windows leading to the patio and garden as well as three bedrooms, two full bathrooms and an extra shower room with Fifties art deco upstairs. “We’ve also made the most of the curved walls in the property, which are a feature,” says Helen. Like The Porthole and Melrose, the walls are made from Sandsend cement (a precursor to Portland cement), from the former cement works.

Just minutes from the beach, shop, cafes and restaurants, Craigmore also has spectacular views.

At the end of the row is Howdale, which Helen calls “a real character cottage”. It dates back to the early 1700s and features in a lot of the Victorian photography by Frank Sutcliffe.

Helen recalls seeing it as a child. “I used to come to Sandsend when I was young,” she says.

“My father and grandmother used to come for holidays when they were young too – we have a picture of my father in 1920 standing in front of Howdale.”

Helen and Malcolm bought the cottage 30 years ago, a long time before the others. The ceilings are made from old ship timbers and it has an old Whitby cast-iron fireplace inside.

“My father said there wasn’t anywhere in the garden you could put a deckchair because it was all slope, so Malcolm spent a lot of time flattening it,” says Helen.

The last holiday home and by far the grandest is Melrose, the stylish large Edwardian villa on the sea front. It has three floors, sleeps up to 12 and has stunning views straight out to sea. According to Helen, when there’s a really high, heavy sea you can feel the vibrations in the house.

With locals, tourists, honeymooners, children and even “well-behaved2 dogs welcome at the cottages, there is no excuse not to check them out.

■ For further information, call 01947-893500 or visit sandsendcottages.co.uk