Back at home in County Down

Joyce and Steve Brownless’s boutique guest house at Scarva in County Down is one of a small cadre of exclusive Ulster bed and breakfasts to be awarded five-star status by assessors from Tourism NI. LCN has been talking to one of those behind this eye-catching new project…

It’s little more than a year since Blackwell House opened for business yet a busy summer season saw occupancy rates in the three guest bedrooms at the luxury property soar to almost 80 per cent.

That’s been a welcome relief for Joyce Brownless who had no previous experience of running a guest house when she and husband, Steve decided on their new business venture a couple of years ago. The couple had been living in Wiltshire and working in London, where Joyce was head of talent and development for communications giant, Vodafone.

By her own admission, however, Joyce found London to be a “soulless” place and the four-hour round trip to work in the city each day had become a burden that she was increasingly loathe to endure:

“We didn’t make the decision to open a guest house straight away,” she told LCN recently. “But I knew that I had to get away from London. Everyone is very friendly there but everything is always on the move. I enjoyed what I did and I got lots of experience, but I just felt that the time was right to leave.”

“I took a few months off and during that time, Steve and I began to think about our future,” explained Joyce, who comes originally from County Down. “We were living in Wiltshire, Steve is English, but he always loved coming back to Northern Ireland with me. I knew I wasn’t going to be happy in England long term and Steve loved it over here, so I thought, this might be the time to make a move.

“We’d travelled extensively”, added Joyce, “and we’d noticed that in other countries – South Africa in particular – there are lots more boutique guest houses than there are in Northern Ireland despite all the stunning places that we have here.

“Opening a guest house was something that we had always talked about doing and when we were looking for somewhere to live, we always had that in mind. When we saw this place, we absolutely fell in love with it and shortly after we moved in, we thought, let’s just go for it.”

Joyce also says that during the process of finding their new home in Northern Ireland, one of the couple’s prime considerations had been to find a house that was capable of accommodating their over-sized dining room table. That critical piece of furniture, which had played such an important role in the couple’s lives before, now provides an ideal focus for communal meal times in Blackwell House.

“It’s the perfect place for breakfast and everyone sits around the table together,” said Joyce. “It’s something we thought we’d try initially. We thought that if people aren’t comfortable with it, we can bring in smaller tables. But it’s worked fantastically, people seem to really enjoy the opportunity to have a chat together in the mornings.”

Blackwell House is only around 20 years old, although it gives the deliberate impression that it’s a much older dwelling.

“The place was owned and built by a professional builder and he put a lot of effort and attention into it, it has loads of character,” added Joyce. “We have thick walls and high ceilings, all the floors and doors are made from reclaimed pine, so it’s just full of traditional appeal and the guests just seem to love that.”

Three of the bedrooms at Blackwell House have been designated for guests, so maximum occupancy at the B&B is six at any one time. Joyce and Steve are both self-confessed foodies and meal-times are a central element of any stay at the house.

“Our menus are a mixture of wholesome, traditional family recipes handed down through three generations,” explained Joyce. “We still have my great-aunt Maggie’s old handwritten cookery books and we make all our soda bread on my granny Lily’s old griddle. Our food is always locally sourced and often cooked with a modern twist on our Aga stove. The emphasis is on great menus, tailored to suit our guests and served in relaxing surroundings.”

On the three nights prior to Joyce’s conversation with LCN, Blackwell House had been fully booked.

“We really are totally surprised by the success that we’ve enjoyed,” remarked Joyce, who takes day-to-day responsibility for the business while Steve continues to work in England. “Before we opened the business, we did a lot of research and we looked at Tourist Board figures that said that guest houses here were averaging 22 per cent occupancy. I thought, if we can manage to hit that in our second year then that would be OK. I haven’t checked the figures for the summer yet, but we are certainly running at the minute at about 78 per cent occupancy and we couldn’t be more delighted.”

Going forward, Joyce believes that there are “lots of opportunities” for growth at Blackwell House. They are very keen to introduce afternoon tea for guests, which they will do shortly, and Joyce believes that there is considerable potential for hosting small, intimate weddings at the property.

“What I’m really doing here is following my passion,” she added. “Both of us are so happy that we went with our hearts and came back here to do this, it’s been so enjoyable, we’re just loving it.”

As for the five stars for Tourism NI, Joyce concedes that she was “absolutely flabbergasted”:

“That was what we wanted but we kind of thought, they’ll give us four. But they were very happy with us and said that we’d ticked all the boxes for the top accreditation.

“Now I think we just keep doing more of the same. Steve and I love what we’re doing here and we’re looking forward to seeing what more we can do with the business and how we can develop it further.

“We’ve been so lucky during our first year to find help and support from so many people who went out of their way to assist us in learning what we needed to do to succeed in the hospitality business. It’s thanks to them that we find ourselves at the end of a successful first year of trading.”