Kathryn’s connection to Porthcawl and Rest Bay was established via her family and her son’s surfing: little did she realise when she first set eyes on The Links 14 years ago in 2006 that one day it would be home.
Born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, Kathryn lived in Birmingham for nearly 50 years, where she married, raised a family and started her career with the GPO (now BT), before moving to Shrewsbury, where she continued to work for BT until retiring in 2000.
Eldest son Rob had been studying at Plymouth University, where he discovered a passion for surfing. Following the completion of his degree there were few employment opportunities in Birmingham. He was looking for work and decided to move down to Cardiff, where younger brother, Jim, been had studying at Cardiff University. They both liked the city and both found jobs there: Rob also found the surfing beaches of South Wales.
Jim’s career took him out of Cardiff to work in Asia, while Rob found his partner and decided to make his life with her and their two children, Kathryn’s granddaughters. They moved to Porthcawl in 2014.
It was while visiting Rob and family in Porthcawl that Kathryn and her husband noticed the imposing and exceptionally well positioned building on the headland as they walked the coastal path – never thinking that one day it might be home.
The Careys have always been a very close knit family and prior to being widowed in 2017 Kathryn had not considered moving from Shrewsbury, but, after a conversation with her sons felt that she wanted to be closer to family. No firm course of action or timeframe was settled.
Although she wasn’t looking for property, on one visit to Porthcawl, while out walking, one of Kathryn’s hobbies, she noticed that signs had gone up on the site announcing The Links and so decided to make an initial enquiry.
Kathryn said, “Once the marketing suite opened I decided to go for it and reserved a sea facing apartment. I hadn’t even sold the house in Shrewsbury!”
“It just seemed the right thing to do: the location, the layout. There is nothing to compare to it: I didn’t see the point in looking at other properties, so didn’t.”
“It seemed to offer everything I was looking for and more. I wanted to be reasonably close to Rob and family. I wanted somewhere that would allow me to take walks and the prospect of a westerly facing sea view, with my own terrace seemed like a dream. I had never lived in an apartment before so that was going to be a first.”
“The house sold in Shrewsbury and I came down to Porthcawl a month before moving in. Having lived here almost a year I can say it’s like living in a dream. The view, the sunsets. It is all better than I had imagined and the level and specification of the finished product has been spot on.”
“The community both at The Links and in Rest Bay is lovely. Prior to lock-down I had been going to local Line Dancing groups three times and week and I love my walks by the sea.
“An unexpected but really lovely part of being here is my neighbours – we are all very different but have got to know each other very quickly, mainly because of a shared pleasure in living in such a lovely place.”
With over 75% of homes sold within the Grade II listed building, get in touch with us now to reserve your dream coastal home.
