|
| How we came to have Seacrest David’s association with Portballintrae goes back to 1950 when, at two years old, he stayed with his parents at the Bayhead Guesthouse next door. David’s stay of nine days cost his parents £2/11/- while the whole holiday cost just over £25, including 6/- for garaging the car! David’s great Aunt Annie, a maiden lady, when she retired from school teaching in Coleraine, lived in one of the little houses attached to the far side on the Bayhead Guesthouse for a number of years. She was very interested in the natural world and spent much of her time walking Portballintrae beach in search of unusual seaweeds. We still have her collection of dried seaweeds and a copy of a letter she wrote to a journal of nature recording some of her more unusual finds. She also collected ‘Ulsterisms’ which she kept carefully indexed and which we now treasure. A couple of weeks after David’s widowed mother died in January 1995, he and Ann took themselves off for a weekend to the north coast. Having tried several other hotels without success, we ended up in the Beach House Hotel, Portballintrae where we had spent a happy holiday many years earlier with our daughters, Jenni and Emma. We had just sold David’s mother’s apartment in Bangor and were looking for a home for the proceeds of the sale. On arrival in Portballintrae, we noticed the ‘for sale’ sign on the newly built ‘Port-trae’ apartments above the harbour. We enquired about them from Martin McClean of the Beach House Hotel and he it was who told us about the apartments which Trevor and Barbara Cooke, proprietors of the Bayhead Guesthouse, were building next door to themselves. Trevor showed us through the partially completed building and, despite the chilling sea breeze blowing through the window openings, we fell in love with number 6 apartment, which had been the first to sell, but the sale of which had fallen through. Next day we put in an offer and within a few more days the apartment was ours. The name Seacrest came naturally. It had been the name given by David’s Mum and Dad to the lovely house at Orlock, between Groomsport and Donaghadee, at the mouth of Belfast Lough, which they had bought as a retirement home - ‘Seek rest’ / ‘Seacrest’. Retired life for David’s Dad was, sadly, short-lived. He was able to enjoy his seaside home for only a couple of years until his death in 1973. David’s Mum stayed on at Orlock for several years, eventually moving to her apartment in Bangor. Naming our new apartment Seacrest seemed most appropriate, particularly in view of its position at the crest of the bank rising steeply from Portballintrae Bay. ‘Seabank’, the name of the cottage near Oban, where we spent our honeymoon, might have been our next choice! Holiday accommodation Provision of a holiday home for our family and an investment of resources were the twin aims of our acquiring Seacrest. We registered the apartment with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and were awarded their four-star classification. We trust you will find it lives up to this classification. Seacrest opened to visitors in the spring of 1996 and since then has had a steady stream of local and international visitors. Although we do advertise, most of our custom comes from repeat bookings and through word of mouth. We have quite a few ‘regulars’ whom we have come to know as friends. We hope you will join their ranks. Our aim It is our aim to provide comfortable, clean and tidy accommodation to the very highest standard, with a touch of luxury and at a reasonable cost. Seacrest in print The publishers of Northern Ireland Homes Interiors asked if they could feature Seacrest in their magazine and we willingly obliged. The article appeared in the July / August 1996 issue and we received many complements and some business in response. |
|