Three pounds and many years later

Fairlight Beach House got its name in the days of ox wagons and pounds and is now a much-loved four star bed and breakfast in Umdloti.

The house with the motto “Keep it simple. Simply the best” is being run by Colin Deeb, whose family were part of Umdloti’s forefathers.

“My father, Bruce Deeb’s great aunt, Margaret, married Squire Bacon, who was a prospector in Kimberley and bought 12 acres of land in Umdloti, from a map that was brought up there by an agent,” said Deeb.

It is difficult to imagine that the prime property, which is now worth more than what most people earn in a lifetime, was bought for a mere £3 near the end of the 19th century.

“When Bacon came to see the property, he hired an ox wagon in Verulam and trekked for three days along the Umdloti river to get to his plot, which is now a ten minute drive.”

Deeb said Bacon built a wood and steel cottage, which became the first house ever in Umdloti. He named it Fairlight, after a schooner that traded between Port Natal and Mozambique, passing close to Umdloti’s shoreline.

“We moved from Johannesburg to Umdloti and I remember my dad giving us hammers one day, telling us to tear down the cottage, because it was time to build a house,” said Deeb, who vividly remembers pounding the hammer into the old wood in 1983 when he was just four years old.

Building was not all they did, as the stunning beach and the barrelling waves soon got Deeb’s father and uncles thinking.

“My dad and his brothers started making their own surfboards and so initiated surfing in Umdloti,” said Deeb, who is himself a keen surfer, a common passion he shares with many locals.

The family home gradually turned into a bed and breakfast as the five children started moving out, leaving empty bedrooms behind which the parents rented out.

Seventeen years later, it is a flourishing bed and breakfast, which has been expanded numerous times and is currently undergoing a major upgrade.

“After visiting 46 countries, I had enough of travelling and wanted to come back home and so I took over the bed and breakfast from my parents and now it is their turn to travel and have fun,” said Deeb, who loves his family home and lives and breathes Umdloti life.

Deeb has seen Umdloti evolve tremendously over the years and is quite happy with the way it has grown.

“There was not even a proper road when we moved here, in fact we took a bus via a dirt road through the sugarcane to school in Umhlanga and now look at it!

“It is great to see that people have built with nature in mind and have tried to keep the natural beauty of Umdloti unharmed.”

Deeb explained that Umdloti is known as the Cinderella town of the North Coast, which he enjoys.

“I love being Cinderella and I do not want the town to become overpopulated. Although I welcome change and progress, we have to be mindful when doing so,” he said.

So if you are ever offered a piece of land in the middle of nowhere, think about Bacon and take the plunge, you never know what treasure you will find.