Hello there – and thanks for coming by to visit the St Cuthbert’s House website!
We’ve prepared this page to let you know that we won’t be receiving guests to SCH in the future.
Perhaps that’s as much as you need to know. But if it would help for us to give you a little more background, then do read on…
This news may well be disappointing for you, and might even have come as a bit of a shock, if you were looking to make a return visit. It is, however, a decision we’ve made together after a lot of heart-searching, and much consideration.
Whilst the timing of this decision has certainly been prompted by the pandemic and its effects on the world as we’ve come to know it, we don’t want to portray it as a negative thing or suggest that our business is somehow a victim of the pandemic. We are aware that countless businesses certainly have been crushed by it, and that so many people have lost their jobs and will suffer incredible hardship. But that’s not why we have decided to step aside at this time.
We acquired St Cuthbert’s House almost accidentally back in 1998, when it closed its doors as a church. We had no clue - at all! - as to what the future of the house entailed, and what it would come to mean to us. It was an exciting time; we were moving into a new chapter of life as a family, fulfilling a deep desire to relocate to Northumberland, and we were on a journey without maps…
Eventually, after several years, we undertook a painstaking restoration and rebuild of this ancient and beautiful building, and it became ‘St Cuthbert’s House’, a haven for visitors to the Northumberland Coast – a landscape so beautiful that it’s hard even to fathom or communicate its calming effect on the human heart and condition… (if you’ve not yet visited, then please press on to find somewhere lovely to stay; Northumberland will reward you, beyond measure!)
It has been a privilege to share so many special days (and evenings!) with so many special people, many of whom have become special friends over the years. Our lives have been enriched as we’ve shared such lovely encounters with folks - who arrived as guests, but often left as friends. We do not take that for granted, and it hasn’t felt like ‘hard work’ very often at all.
But, there are seasons in life. We’d already begun to consider what shape the next season of our life together might take, before the pandemic’s chaos arrived. During lockdown#1, we came to the clear realisation that it was time to make a significant change, and the roots of that realisation have grown deeper over recent months. And so it is a deliberate decision, carefully taken and for positive reasons - and one which we hope will open up new opportunities for us even in the midst of such present uncertainty. We are very blessed, and very fortunate, and we hope to live the next chapter of our life in the light of that truth.
Having said all that, the decision to bring to an end something we’ve so loved doing is tinged with genuine sadness. We’ve enjoyed such good company, and shared the ‘stuff of life’ in so many unexpected ways with such lovely people. We’ll miss those encounters, for sure.
We are genuinely thankful for all the lovely affirmation and comments we’ve received over the years, for the recognition and reputation which SCH has garnered, and for the opportunity to be steered and stimulated by all that’s involved with running a successful small business.
Thank you, to those of you who have been part of the journey with us. We sincerely hope that perhaps our roads may intersect again…
If you need to be in touch with us, then you can still leave a message on the answering machine, or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.