The Story Behind Us and Seaborne House
I am thrilled to share the story behind our beloved Seaborne House, tucked away in the picturesque town of Newport, Pembrokeshire. There are many reasons why this charming mariner’s cottage captured my heart and became a cherished sanctuary for unforgettable family holidays.
Reasons why we fell in love with Seaborne House
We have been visiting Pembrokeshire for the past 35 years, ever since our older son William was just a baby. Rhys and I had just been married a few years and were living in London, and he wanted to show me lots of beautiful places in Wales he remembered from his childhood, from Ynys Môn and Betws y Coed in the north of Wales (where his paternal grandmother lived) to Marros, near Pendine in the Gower in south Pembrokeshire (where his maternal grandmother had been born).
My husband's maternal grandfather was from St Dogmaels, and there is a long history of sea-going in his family. My own family are seafarers too, with my father an experienced sailor, having learnt with fishermen on the east coast of Barbados how to steer a small boat home through the reefs of Tent Bay. Anyone who has ever experienced the wild Atlantic shores of Bathsheba or Cattlewash will know instantly how rough that coast can be! Two of our boys are already connected to the sea, with our oldest boy a Captain in the Royal Marines and our second son aiming to get his Master’s ticket soon for his work on a superyacht.
Both North Wales and the Gower were stunning, beautiful, restful places, as Wales is wont to offer the well-travelled explorer. But when I first caught sight of the rugged and wild beauty of the north Pembrokeshire coastline, I was instantly reminded of the east coast of Barbados, where I grew up and had spent many happy summer holidays as a child. The combination of the dark cliffs, beautiful beaches, and the wildness of the coastline evokes a sense of nostalgia and familiarity in me. It feels like a piece of my childhood has been given back to me, making north Pembrokeshire the perfect place for us to create new memories with our own family. So the search for somewhere to call our own in Pembrokeshire started a long time ago!
Why we chose Newport Pembrokeshire
We were lucky enough to have friends with family homes in New Quay, and we stayed in lovely hotels and cottages from Solva and St Davids to Aberaeron and Llandysul. But when we came to Newport, where Rhys had stayed as a teenager, I found my ideal home.
Over the years we rented cottages in Newport from others lucky enough to have a place of their own here, and generous enough to share, and when we couldn’t find somewhere to stay, we camped. My husband prefers 5-star hotels, but even he couldn’t resist a bit of Newport sea air and the de-stressing of a week in this lovely town with all its rich history and interesting people. So camping it was - even though in August sometimes it can really get chilly early in the morning up Feidr Brenin in a tent in a field! But what a view! And how lovely it was to wander down to the Parrog to go crabbing with our next two “little” boys, or eat fish and chips from Dinas at Cwm Yr Eglwys at dusk, or watch the boats being winched in at Pwllgwaelod? It made all the business of London or wherever our “real” life was going on elsewhere at the time seem like a pale imitation of “real’ life in and around Newport.
How we found and fell in love with Seaborne
So we did what many of the Welsh diaspora do, and we looked for a house in Newport. We hunted for years until Seaborne House came onto the market. When we first looked at it, as many others locally did, we were made painfully aware of how much it needed doing to it. The lady who owned Seaborne had sadly been left a widow for much of her life and had not been able to spend much on its upkeep. It had been on the market for two years - almost unheard of in the town.
Like many old stone cottages throughout Wales, it had been coated externally in cement and lined inside with concrete and gypsum plaster and was soaking wet, not just damp. I loved its location, however, with a large sunny south-facing garden and off the main street through Newport. I was aware of how noisy it can sometimes be in Newport once the young ones start leaving the pub at 11:30 p.m., and I was determined to have somewhere quiet. And now with four sons, and hopefully grandchildren on the horizon, and lots of Welsh friends I owed hospitality to, I wanted somewhere big enough for an extended family gathering.
Our love story with Seaborne and Newport, Pembrokeshire
If this sounds like a love story, it is. And as with all love stories, sometimes the going gets tough! It took us three years to completely strip Seaborne back to its bare stone walls, dry it out, and learn how to use lime natural insulation and other materials to let the house breathe again. You can almost feel how grateful the house is for this when you stay there - it feels like you are surrounded by a very natural environment inside. And the friends we made along the way with all who helped us and worked on Seaborne with us are still friends today. You can’t say that about many other places! It is a testament to how welcoming and lovely Newportians are.
What I was hoping to achieve with Seaborne was to recreate the atmosphere and setting of my childhood family holidays. We used to wander backwards and forwards from the beach into my grandfather’s house at Cattlewash but there was always a hosepipe outside to wash sandy feet and safe places to leave your bucket and crabs or shells. I wanted to be practical, thinking of how to combine sandy, wet children and dogs, with somewhere really cosy and comfortable for evenings and rainy days. One of my first (and favourite!) guests described what we had achieved at Seaborne as “laid-back luxury” and I cannot put it any better myself - this was exactly what I was aiming for.
In a world where time seems to fly by, finding a place that offers respite from the chaos is truly a treasure. With our first baby now nearly 35 with sons of his own, the fact that our lives are short has never felt so true to me. Seaborne House, with its chosen location, rich history, and warm ambience, has become Rhys’ and my sanctuary. It's a place where I can escape, rejuvenate, and create lasting memories with my loved ones. Newport, Pembrokeshire, and Seaborne House have become an inseparable part of my life, a place where I always feel at peace. If you're yearning for a peaceful retreat, I wholeheartedly recommend exploring the wonders of Newport and considering Seaborne House as your own tranquil haven.
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