After nearly seven years of hard slog, Jenny and Richard Osborne were starting to feel a sense of accomplishment about the renovations they had made to the Happy Wanderers Holiday Resort at Kelso on the South Coast.
When high seas struck on March 19, they were lucky to avoid any major storm damage to their resort, which dates back to 1964.
But now they are in the middle of a nightmare as the sea advances ever closer up the beach, gradually wrecking the holiday resort they bought in 2000.
Earlier this week, two swimming pools on the front lawn collapsed into the sea. They have dismantled wooden decks, pulled up trampolines and other holiday amenities, but now the sea has reached the resort's front doors.
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| 'They are in the middle of a nightmare' |
Two nights ago the waves knocked down the front wall of the bar and diningroom area and undermined the foundations of a newly refurbished block of 16 chalets.
"What can I say? We are in the middle of a nightmare, and the sea just has no mercy," Jenny Osborne said last night.
She said that, about two months ago, they had begun to notice that the 70m-wide strip of beach in front of the resort was getting thinner.
"The March 19 storm stripped away the sandbank and now there is nothing to stop the waves. During the spring high tide about two weeks ago the waves really started to wreak havoc.
"The beach just got narrower and narrower and the sea started to whack us fast and furious.
| 'The waves really started to wreak havoc' |
"The sea will take what it wants, but we will never say die and just hope that we can survive the next few days while we reinforce the front of the resort with 5-ton sandbags."
Osborne said that contractors and staff had been working until 9pm during the past few nights to pile sandbags in front of the resort.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Mercury on August 02, 2007
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