This beautifully renovated holiday let near Robin Hood's Bay has breathtaking sea views

Dawn Totty credits the The Yorkshire Post for its role in helping her property dreams come true. Keen renovators, she and her husband, Steven, climbed onto the housing ladder in Sheffield when they were 18-year-old newly-weds and steadily worked their way up.

By 1999 they were in a position to buy a holiday home on the coast when Dawn’s brother suggested they go one further. “He knew I fancied a change of lifestyle and, as our youngest son was about to leave school, he suggested that we make the move permanent and buy a family home rather than a small cottage,” she says. “That weekend we saw a farmhouse with a holiday let attached near Robin Hood’s Bay advertised in The Yorkshire Post. It felt like it was meant to be. We had always loved that part of the coast and had been on lots of family holidays there.”

Fate stepped in again when Dawn and Steven set off to view the property at Stoupe Bank, but decided to turn back without seeing it after deeming the location “too rural”. The only place to turn round was a drive, which they soon realised belonged to the farmstead they had decided to shun. As the car pulled in, the couple were greeted with the most incredible view. “It was amazing. The whole bay opened up in front of us and that was it. I didn’t need to see the house,” says Dawn.

The property is on the cliffs, right in the centre of the horseshoe-shaped bay and has spectacular sea views. Dawn and Stephen now enjoy them every day as they bought the property in 1999 and moved there permanently two years later.

Over the last 21 years, they have renovated the farmhouse and turned what was an annexe/holiday let at one end of their home into one of the most sought-after cottages on the Yorkshire coast. The aptly- named Bay View cottage, which is let via Unique Homestays, overlooks the sea thanks to French doors on its gable end. Open them and you can hear the sound of waves meeting the beach.

You might also spot rabbits, deer, pheasants, partridges, badgers and sheep who share the gardens and grounds with the Tottys.

“The holiday let was originally just two rooms with a connecting door into the main house but we have made it into a completely self-contained cottage,” says Dawn, who spared no expense on the conversion.

The connecting door was blocked up and the two rooms were stripped back to a stone shell by main contractor PM Straws. Along with giving the cottage its own entrance and more windows, Dawn and Steven added stairs and a mezzanine sleeping area. Moving the bedroom upstairs meant that the two ground-floor rooms could be made into one large, open-plan living space with a luxurious separate bathroom.

The kitchen units are in oak and were sourced from Whitby-based 3 Ways. Dawn added a vintage, foxed mirror at one end to create a cocktail area. The dining space features a zinc-topped table teamed with a multi-functional bench that has storage inside. A step leads down to the sitting area and the focal point here is a fabulous fireplace with wood-burning stove. Determined to make best use of space, Dawn added a built-in wardrobe next to it.

The bedroom is compact but has everything you need, including drawers and a shelf above the bed for books. Much of the lighting in the property is from Nigel Tyas, a South Yorkshire-based forge and workshop which also supplied the hit TV series Game of Thrones.

Accessories include cosy blankets so guests can sit out and drink in the view, even when it’s chilly. The cushions are from Soho House, the sound system is Bose and the walls feature an old map and photographs of the area. The furniture and decor has changed over the years and Dawn says: “People expect a luxurious look and feel now and that’s what we give them.”

Outside, the Tottys have created a deck that looks out to sea, along with a variety of seating areas built into the hillside. Guests can also enjoy the couple’s beautiful garden, which has ponds and lavender and yew-lined terraces leading down to woodland.

Dawn and Steve, who have planted over 500 trees, also have bee hives, a vegetable plot, a herb garden and an orchard with apple, cherry, pear and plum trees. “It can be breezy but we have been surprised at the diversity of what we’ve been able to grow here. We’ve even got a wisteria we brought with us from Sheffield and a productive fig tree,” says Dawn, who adds: “People really relax here, which is lovely. We were lucky enough to achieve our dream of finding a home by the sea and from the beginning we wanted to share our little piece of heaven.”

*Bay View, at Stoupe Bank, near Robin Hood’s Bay, is available to let via Unique Homestays, www.uniquehomestays.com; Building and joinery work by www.pmstrawbuilders.co.uk; Lighting by Nigel Tyas, www.nigeltyas.co.uk; Galvanised outdoor arch and railings by Godbolds, www.wroughtironsmith.com; Kitchen suppliers and fitters, 3 Ways, www.3ways-whitby.co.uk

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