A homeowner from north Norfolk has moved into the flat downstairs after converting her original home - on the first floor - into a boutique holiday let. And now she's opening it up to others to display and sell the 'treasures' collected on her travels abroad.
As holiday homes go, Sarah’s in Holt is about as unique as it gets.
It’s the kind of place where you’ll find complimentary welcome Pentire drinks and fresh (homemade) marmalade in the kitchen. Where cookery books perch on shelves and blue and white china and proper cutlery wait to be used. Where seedheads and houseplants grace tables and maps line the walls – bright, bold pops of colour that are propped up against fishing nets – and where sweet bowls are filled with seashells.
Sarah Tribe bought the property, a two-bedroom, second-floor apartment overlooking the high street almost 20 years ago, after several years spent “criss-crossing” the globe.
At the time, the apartment was one of two in the building, a converted Georgian townhouse which had previously been a Victorian beer and wine merchant, and later a teashop and bakery.
She lived in it for years, she says, watching her neighbours, three or four different owners who lived downstairs in the apartment below, come and go. But she says she always wondered if she might one day be able to buy the other one too.
“It kept selling and going and I knew it would work but I couldn’t make a bid for it because I was still financially obligated to the original one,” she said.
“And then suddenly the people below me needed to sell, the timing was finally right, and I said ‘yes please!’
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After the sale went through, Sarah says she’d take something with her every time she needed to go downstairs, putting it in situ in her new home. “It was a really easy move, I was the removals” she laughs.
Eventually, this freed up the second-floor apartment to become Sarah’s – a holiday home with a difference, she says, although it did need a bit of work.
“It’s kind of like one property split into two but it isn’t – it is two separate flats,” she says. It took around eight months to make the top-floor apartment ready for guests, most of it carried out in the winter before the first Covid-19 lockdown. Nothing was left untouched.
“I ripped out the kitchen, ripped out the bathroom, uncovered the glorious original Georgian floors,” she says. “I installed the living room panelling, a wonderful way to anchor the enormous living room and to add colour – and I spent most weekends painting.”
Racing to finish for spring 2020, Covid then suddenly hit and Sarah’s door was forced to remain closed. Once restrictions were lifted however, it all proved worth it. “It was just mad,” admits Sarah. “I had my first two years absolutely flat out – you’d have to wait six months or more to get a weekend booking.”
Part of the charm of Sarah’s is not just the little touches to make people feel at home – the travel journals and town historical books, for example, or the summertime bowls of fruit – but the overall aesthetic. It feels homely, comforting, lived in.
In fact, to say that Sarah has an eye for interior design feels like a bit of an understatement.
She had previously managed Mark Elliot Furniture and The Tannery, both in Holt, and then joined forces with Byfords’ Iain Wilson when he opened The Dial House in Reepham back in 2016.
“I’d never done it before,” Sarah admits. “I just enjoyed interiors. I had never actually bought to sell, and I had never sourced.”
Soon, though, she had found her feet and was sourcing items for The Dial House’s showroom-restaurant around the clock.
Everything was for sale. “Sofas, chairs, tables – you could dine at a table and literally buy it, and people did. They loved it,” she says.
“They’d always come in to see how I’d dressed things. There was nothing quite like it. It was a huge Georgian building and you’d come in and there would be a sideboard with some sort of display, and you would come in a week later and it would be [different].
“It gave people ideas on how to do things and sometimes they would buy things and say, ‘I’m just going to go home and do that.’ It was fantastically popular – which meant I was always running around! Random people still stop me on the street and reminisce over those Dial House days!”
And when Mr Wilson bought the Ffolkes Arms in Hillington, near Sandringham, she says she was responsible for the interiors there too.
“There were six bedrooms, a bar, garden room, restaurant, dining tables, chairs, dressing – everything. It took about a year with a white van to go and find everything.”
Sarah suggested the space should be styled as per its original function - a Georgian coaching inn. “Off I went around fairs and dealers and bought everything, and then I made up six room styles. I loved it – I absolutely loved it.
“To me, it’s making everyday objects look interesting. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to make somewhere special or comfy, sometimes you just have to have one or two things in a room that really anchor it.”
Going to so many fairs and markets has meant that Sarah now has an enviable contact book. So much so that she’s incorporating a bit of that Dial House magic – which has since changed hands – into her own venture, all while celebrating her home’s unique placement on the high street.
“You could rent it and spend the night and rest your head here,” she says, “but it is [still] a space on the high street, so it could be used for a lot of other different things.
“People seem to love the interiors, and they love the odd different objects, so I’ve started buying a few things to sell and I want to do more of that.”
Sarah says she would like to host monthly events where people “can just come, meet, have a drink and a chat and look around at new stock.” This month, in fact, she is introducing an 'open house' where people are invited to see inside, view new stock, network and chat.
She hopes to list new for-sale items on the website, which is also where prospective guests can find out about local life in Holt and its surroundings.
“People could just pick something up, buy it and take it with them,” she says. “As long as I’ve got a bit of stock, I can redress.” She refers to her stock as “traveling treasures” or a new spin on a souvenir: something to pick up and take home, knowing it’s had another life before it’s changed hands.
Many of the things Sarah has collected have come from – or are inspired by – her travels abroad. She has traveled extensively across Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East but Holt, she says, is home.
“The town has given me everything,” she says. “It’s given me friends, income, two allotments, bees, and Nelson, my much-loved classic car – it’s all there for the taking. It’s up to you what you make of each opportunity.
“There are many different ways to live a life. I could be hiring a cleaner to do this, but that’s not really me.
“I’m really happy doing the changeovers. I’ve just said goodbye to people, some new people are coming. It’s evoking those happy days of life on the road. I strip the beds, I make the beds – it’s a very fulfilling, nice way to earn a living.”
Sarah offers a minimum of a three-night stay and guests can enjoy as much or as little input or communication as they like.
She has several guides on the website and can also organise excursions for those who want to explore the lesser-known parts of the county – a saltmarsh charter using traditional Norfolk fishing boats with Coastal Exploration Co, for example, or your very own Landrover North Norfolk nature safari.
“I’ve stayed in some really bizarre places,” she laughs. “And I’ve stayed in some dead boring places like Palmyra Syria that had been dressed up to look super cool but in reality was just a breezeblock concrete box.
“You think you have to go somewhere exotic for a month to have a travelling experience, but you don’t have to. You can come to north Norfolk.”
That’s partly why a sign on the door refers to Sarah’s as “traveler’s lodgings”, aimed at making the most of a stay to the area, but also to reflect Sarah’s earlier nomadic life abroad.
And as for her big move… Which does she prefer?
“It’s a tough question,” she laughs. “They’re totally different.
“I love the big sash windows and the fact I can step outside downstairs, but then I come up here and there’s loads of space, barreled ceilings and it’s bright and it’s really quiet. I like the blue and I like the floors.
“I’d still prefer to live downstairs,” she says, “but my original apartment comes a great close second.”
The Sarah's 'open house' will take place on June 12 from 3pm-5pm. RSVP by emailing stayatsarahs@gmail.com. For more information, visit stayatsarahs.org
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