From Hong Kong to Snowdonia in £750K deal
A HONG Kong-based husband-and-wife team has bought into the North Wales hospitality market with the acquisition of a Grade II-listed former rectory in the Snowdonia National Park.
Nigel Wightman and Margaret Lapthorn have bought Abercelyn Country House and Cottages, dating back to 1729, at Llanycil, adjacent to Lake Bala from an asking price of £735K.
The deal was brokered by the hotels and licensed property team of real estate advisers Colliers International.
After living in the former colony for 30 years, Nigel and Margaret will return to the UK in early 2017 to take over the business from Ray and Lindsay Hind, the previous owners who are retiring after acquiring Abercelyn in 2000 and consequently upgrading and improving its facilities.
Abercelyn is now a five-star, Gold Award bed and breakfast and self-catering complex with six bedrooms and three traditional self-catering five and four-star cottages, set in about two acres of landscaped gardens and five acres of pastureland.
Neil Thomson, associate director, hotels and licensed property at the Manchester office of Colliers International, secured the sale on behalf of Ray and Lindsay Hind.
Thomson said: “Nigel and Margaret are among a rising number of overseas investors looking to exploit great value in the UK hospitality market because of the current exchange rate of sterling against other major currencies.
“The deal itself was one of the quickest I have ever managed, with Nigel arriving from Hong Kong to view Abercelyn, and from deciding to acquire the property to completion of purchase in just 10 days. The speed of the buying process is in itself a reflection of increasing investor confidence in the enduring quality of the North Wales hospitality market.”
