Holiday cottages venture set to cross new frontiers

5:05pm Friday 11th May 2007

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The small north Pembrokeshire village which recently turned out a Grand National runner-up has also produced a high flyer in the business world.

Little Newcastle-born Margaret Rees runs Quality Cottages, Wales with her ex-husband Leonard, and is expanding the portfolio of holiday cottages to include properties in England and Ireland this month.

The pair started letting out their converted farm buildings at Cerbid, near Solva, 44 years ago.

The holiday programme Wish You Were Here' ran a feature on the Solva properties, which prompted great interest.

Margaret said: "The demand was so great, we couldn't help the hundreds of people who wanted to come here, so we started the agency and slowly built it up over the years."

The company now has 250 Welsh cottages on its books, but Margaret stresses the secret of its success is quality not quantity.

She said: "We are very selective about our properties and reject more than we take on.

"It's not about having hundreds of properties on the list, quality is the most important thing."

She added: "The ethos on the Irish and English properties will be exactly the same; they have to have the right quality, location and owner/caretaker."

This year is also Margaret's 21st as a French villa specialist, and, in addition to managing a portfolio of properties in Italy and Corsica, she is now planning to branch out into Morocco.

The hub of Quality Cottages is still based at Cerbid. The office employs a number of local people and Margaret plans to employ more once the business expands.

She said: "We are spoilt with the quality of people in the area who work for us. They're fantastic."

"I'm very proud of being Welsh and of my Pembrokeshire roots, my family still live in the Fishguard area.

"I love this place, and really enjoy being here, it's just wonderful."